Getting ready for Christmas

As the weather has closed in, we have settled down in Bled to a slower way of life.  The mornings are darker and the sun goes down about 4.30pm, so we have tended to get up later and enjoy a reduced pace.  We have been fortunate enough to have had some visitors over October and November with various friends and family coming to stay.  It has kept us busy with cleaning and tidying before they come, showing them the various sites of Slovenia while they are here, and collapsing in a heap once they have gone.  It has been great to see them all, and we've had a chance to see some of the sites either again or for the first time. 

We visited the Skocjan caves - which are an UNESCO World Heritage site and are some of the hugest caves I've ever seen.  The Reka River runs through them and has created an immense cave 165m deep, one of the largest underground chambers in the world.  It is an awe-inspiring experience and one I would definitely recommend (although not good if you don't like heights).  We also had a chance to visit the Postojna caves with some friends, and although I'd been before, Vicki hadn't and it was good to go when it was less crowded.  It was a very enjoyable trip.

Bled has been beautiful in the autumn, with the changing  colours and some lovely sunny days.  Although we have had some snow and quite a lot of rain as well.  We have done some fabulous walks, including one where Vicki and I had to climb up some vertical wooden ladders.  Bit frightening, but we managed with no broken bones.

 

We did a trip up the cable car at Bohinj before it closed at the end of October to see the fabulous view of the Julian Alps, including Triglav, the highest mountain.  The colours at Bohinj were wonderful, too.

 

And now, December is here and Christmas is drawing closer.  I am hopeful that we will have a proper white Christmas with the amount of snow we've been having recently (the winter tyres on the car are excellent!) 

The view from our balcony

Christmas has been made possible by the wonders of the internet, as we organised ourselves early and ordered cards online and used e-cards.  Some we designed ourselves with the help of Bonusprint, and they sent them to us so we could post them in plenty of time.  The postage wasn't much more than at home, and they came from the Netherlands!  Presents to home have been organised in the same way, with delivery from M&S and Amazon.  We've found ourselves a very small Christmas tree and a few ornaments (including some chocolate ones).  With a few other decorations, candles and lights we are feeling very Christmassy. 


Vicki and I visited the Christmas markets in Ljubljana this week.  We went on the bus ( it stops at the end of our lane), and it was a bit chilly.  We chose a warmer day than the previous few but it still only maxed out at 1 degree.   The market wasn't as big as we'd expected, but we found a few nice presents (some for me!), and the lights were gorgeous.    We stopped for a meal in one of the cafe bars, and I warmed up with a goulash slovenian-style. 

 

That's about it for now, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us in snowy Slovenia.