Climbs and Cafes: Cavorting through Austria, Slovakia, And Slovenia

This summer, the world started to travel again en masse for the first time in two years, and while my wanderings have been less curtailed by the pandemic, I certainly was not about to miss out joining the newly mobile crowds – even with changing jobs (and PTO balances) in early May. This trip was far less straightforward to plan than some – my destination idea jumped between Malta, Portugal, and more before my eyes were drawn on to one of the two countries of former Yugoslavia I was yet to visit, Slovenia (sorry Serbia, you’ll have to be a later destination). I was focused on a country that offered easy access to hiking spots, but also charming cities with enough modern features and transportation options to avoid the potential risks of traveling during a still extant, if more limited, pandemic. Slovenia fit the bill perfectly – though barely the size of Maryland, Slovenian tourism is booming as Europeans and Americans alike discover its gorgeous mountains, rivers, and rural villages only a stone’s throw from other major European cities. While not quite popular enough to have direct flights to DC, its location also gave me the long-awaited opportunity to catch up in person with friends from my program in Sweden in relatively nearby Vienna, itself a top-tier destination. And I could not resist checking off one more country with a quick day trip from Vienna across the Danube into Slovakia. Even better, the day before I traveled the US eliminated its COVID testing entry requirement, as my greatest worry around international travel had been getting stuck in a foreign country (as had recently happened to my dad). So, with thanks to the new federal holiday of Juneteenth giving me an extra day to explore, I crammed a full itinerary into a long week and returned to Europe for the first time since leaving Sweden.

After reminiscing about trips back and forth to Lund while on layover in the Copenhagen airport, I arrived on a sunny Saturday morning in Vienna. Vienna is a grand and diverse enough city to satisfy any tourist’s interests, and I was certainly no exception. While I skipped several of the main museums, palaces, and entertainment options due to time, cost, or more appealing alternatives (alas no Lipizzaner stallions, Mozart concerts, or modern art), my days were certainly packed – wandering the wine hills and eating traditional rural cuisine on the outskirts of town, strolling the expansive grounds of Schonbrunn Palace, popping into a few of the museums that most struck my fancy, catching an avant-garde local orchestra concert at the Musikverein. Even some brief rain barely interfered. Perhaps given how many ways one could amuse themselves in Vienna, dividing up the crowds, Vienna seemed much more comfortable than overwhelming. And while I moved too quickly to really relax in the ubiquitous cafes, my sweet tooth could definitely not resist the sprawling array of dessert options (especially as I particularly love apricots).

Only an hour away from downtown Vienna, Bratislava is a popular next stop on European tours – or for many, just a day trip from Vienna. While of less historical prominence and thus offering far fewer impressive sites, Bratislava nonetheless possesses an attractive old city, several unique attractions (besides the usual national history and art museums and hilltop castle), and an excellent cuisine I knew little about previously. Still, especially with certain attractions closed due to renovation it’s easy to traverse in a few hours, so I supplemented my day trip there with a short bus ride up along the Danube to the ruins of Devin Castle, a historic outpost in a strategic perch, well cleaned up though not restored from its destruction by Napoleonic forces.

Returning from Bratislava gave me just enough time to eat dinner on the Donauinsel (Danube Island) park in Vienna before jumping on an overnight train to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Ljubljana is in many ways similar to most other central European cities – a restored castle, central square with a cathedral, river in the center, plenty of cafes, an impressive dessert scene. But it also contains many architectural and artistic quirks due to the influence of its most famous citizen, the architect Jože Plečnik, as well as a more modern development that left room for flights of artistic fancy. This artistic experimentation continues today in the bohemian Metelkova Art District, seemingly a smaller scale version of Copenhagen’s Christiania with plenty of fanciful graffiti. And the car-free center with its beautiful river views and well-preserved old buildings is a pleasure to explore, if compact – Slovenia may never have been a superpower, and indeed has one of the shortest histories of any modern European country, but its citizens are justifiably proud of their charming capital and the ease of largely peacefully developing into a prosperous EU member state.

It’s never too far to travel around Slovenia, though public transit does slow one down a little. But that lets few visitors miss undoubtedly the most famed site in the country, Lake Bled. An hour north of Ljubljana, this picture-perfect lake hosts an imposing castle, a tiny island with a church, and tourist centers offering almost any activity one could desire. As circumnavigating the lake takes only a few hours even with plenty of photos, I learned how to row to reach the island and added on a rafting trip in the nearby Sava river. While Bled is beautiful enough to make the trip worthwhile, my next destination a bit further on was truly the highlight of my trip – Triglav National Park.

Triglav National Park (named after the highest mountain in Slovenia, located in the park) is Slovenia’s only national park, but compared to the size of the country it’s a large one and one that easily deserves the designation. Covering a swath of the Julian Alps, it’s a landscape of both ecological and historic significance as a brutal front line during WWI. Today though, it’s a pleasure ground for hikers, climbers, rafters, wildlife watchers, and more. Even in mid-June, upper reaches of the park were snowy (though given the ongoing European heat wave likely much less than usually) and as a result many of the mountain huts scattered about the park were still closed for the season. Given my limited time and transportation options, I was still able to find one reachable in what I assumed to be a few miles hike up from Lake Bohinj, Slovenia’s other famed alpine lake (though in this case more for local travelers).

While it may have been only a few miles, those few miles included 4000 feet of elevation gain – a good reminder to check a topographic map next time. Nonetheless, I overcame both flagging endurance and fear of heights to make it to the isolated hut, an idyllic Alpine destination (and one shared by few other hikers), where a barley and sausage stew was one of the most welcome meals I’ve ever had. While the limited public transit schedule on the weekend forced me to return to the lakeside the next evening instead of venturing much deeper into the park, I was able to hike up to part of the Valley of Seven Lakes, one of Triglav’s most scenic regions. Once back, I grabbed a kayak to cool off briefly on the lake, before returning to Bled the next morning with enough time to take a rented bike out to the Vintgar Gorge, a picturesque (if overcrowded and oddly expensive) canyon a few miles out of town.

While returning to Vienna at 1AM for a 7AM flight after bus delays was not appealing, overall this may have been my smoothest international vacation, and the hardest to leave behind and return to work. While my next trip will likely be further afield, I would not be surprised to return to this area someday in the future.