Week in Review: Week 20

This week we said goodbye to the Balkans after more than 2 months of exploring and getting to know these amazing countries. We visited 7 countries in the area, and all of them surprised us in their own unique way. We really enjoyed travelling through this part of Europe!

Now we are back in Germany for the first time since the start of our trip. We are in Munich for the start of Oktoberfest and we are so excited to see what this crazy Volkfest is all about!

Highlight of the week

Sharleen: Hiking to Rodica’s Peak. While we were in Bled, Slovenia decided we wanted to do a hike in the Julian Alps. We drove to the Bohinj, which also has a gorgeous lake, and took the Vogel cable car up the mountainside to hike Mount Rodica. This is the highest summit of the south side of Lake Bohinj, so we were treated to amazing views the whole hike up. 

All in all we hiked close to 13 km. It was quite a hilly hike, and the last 750m was a steep climb up to the peak of the summit. At the top there was a small landing where we enjoyed lunch and took in the great views. Apparently on a clear day you can see all the way to the Adriatic Sea! It was a little foggy for us, so we couldn’t see the sea. But the fog over the lake and surrounding valleys look so cool.

It had been a little while since we had hiked in the mountains, so we were pooped after this one! But the hike was beautiful, and it was great to add another country to our hiking list.

Darrell: Sunrise walks around Lake Bled. Our Airbnb location was awesome for all activities in Bled. In particular, it was close to the castle and Lake Bled, which meant we could wake up before sunrise and walk to a viewpoint to catch the gorgeous golden hour. On our first morning in Bled we woke up before 5:30 and headed across the lake and up a short, yet steep, hike to a popular look out. It was a Sunday, which also meant other people. By the time we got up there at 6:20 there were already close to 8 people there!

The viewpoint was great, and it was a good place to see the church island, the lake, the castle, and the surrounding mountains and hills. It was an awesome opportunity for me to practice some sunrise shots, and take in a beautiful view!

Least favourite part of the week 

Sharleen: Cell phone plan in Slovenia. As with all countries we have visited in the Balkans, we needed a new SIM card in Slovenia. Since it is an EU member, we hoped we could get a plan that would last 2-4 weeks and cover the time we are in Germany and Belgium as well. We talked to the customer service agent at A1, and found a plan that we thought would work all over the EU. Awesome! Well not quite so awesome. First it ended up being the most expensive SIM cards we have purchased – close to 30€ for the two of us. Second, within 1 hour of us leaving, my account had said it was empty and I lost access to the internet. I had over 5GB of data available, so I knew it was impossible for me to go through all of that data. So, we went back to the store and the customer service agent was very helpful and was able to fix my plan.

I was the only one with a voice/date plan, Darrell just had a data plan since we rarely make phone calls. However, due to Darrell’s least favourite part of the week below, we ended up using all of my minutes. On the last day in Slovenia I had to top up my plan with 10€ to make sure we had some credit in case we needed to make a couple additional calls. We then found out when we left Slovenia the next day, that our SIM cards don’t work outside of Slovenia. So that was a real treat. So far our SIM card experiences have been pretty good, but this one just felt kind of crappy right from the start, and it ended up costing quite a bit for just only a week of cellphone use.

Darrell: Our Amazon orders. There were a few things we needed to pickup on our trip, and just like at home we find that almost everything is cheaper on Amazon. Unfortunately it is really hard to deliver a shipment when you don’t have an address! In Germany, Amazon delivers to Amazon Lockers in multiple locations – typically in gas stations and grocery stores. We were so excited about this and thought it would be the best time to stock up on a few items that we could order online.

Well, who new ordering would be the hardest part of this whole ordeal! We placed an order through Amazon.de, and my account was flagged for fraud. Fair enough, I can definitely appreciate how me ordering items for delivery in Germany would be suspicious, especially since we were placing the orders from an IP address in Slovenia. So I got on the phone with Amazon.de and within 8 hours they had unlocked my account and unflagged the Germany activity as suspicious. They were super helpful and also spoke English which was a huge shock! So we logged back in and tried the order again. Same issue popped up and we were flagged for suspicious behaviour.  We called them again, and again the customer service representative was very helpful. Unfortunately it’s been three days and my account is still not resolved. Since we are in Munich now, and only here for 5 days, it’s not looking likely that we will get it fixed in time to order stuff before we go.

We were quite determined to get these items, so we ended up buying them at a mall in Munich. It ended up costing close to 150€ more than it would have on Amazon.de, but hopefully we can get some of that back by submitting a tax-free form! 

Favourite city/town/village visited

Sharleen: Bled. We visited Bled only for a few short hours last year on our vacation through Slovenia and Croatia. We loved it and knew that this time we needed to spend more time there. We had three full days in the gorgeous town, and we loved the calm and quiet vibe of the town. It was a beautiful place to wake up early and go for a walk around the lake, take a small hike up to the castle to get beautiful views of The Church of Mary the Queen, and enjoy some delicious Slovenian cakes! It’s a wonderful town to walk through and explore, and it is close to many outdoor activities in the Julian Alps. It’s quite a touristy town, but because we did most of our activities early in the morning, we really didn’t notice the tourists at all. Most of them come for the day, which leaves the mornings and evenings nice and quiet.

Darrell: Munich. I am such a nerd when it comes to history and every one of the German cities we have visited has not disappointed. Unlike Frankfurt and Berlin, which have a more modern feel, Munich has more of an old city vibe. The buildings are colourful and ooze with Bavarian architecture. From the bright coloured buildings, red roofs, and interiors lined in both dark and light wood, it definitely gives the city a very comfy and cozy feel. Although we have only spent one full day in Munich so far, it has been a pleasure walking down the old city streets. There are charming beer halls on what seems like every corner, and the people could not be nicer. I can’t wait to see how the remaining 3 days pan out, not to mention 2 full days at Oktoberfest!

Favourite meal of the week

Sharleen: Fried Chicken Burger from Gostilnica in Pizzerija Leščan. As the name suggests, this place was a pizzeria joint. So I was a bit sceptic about how delicious a burger would be from here. However, I was really craving one, so I gambled and ordered it anyways. It had been a few months since we had had a burger – or chicken for that matter – and this one was delicious! We had spent the afternoon running around doing some errands, and still recovering from our hike the day before. This burger definitely hit the spot and was everything I wanted it to be! It even had three delicious onion rings, which we never expected to have in Slovenia.

Darrell: Roast pork and potato dumpling from Hofbräuhaus in Munich. This was a very simple dish, but had amazing flavour! It was just a slice of roasted pork, which was accompanied by a round potato dumpling, all of which is smothered in a super tasty gravy. The pork was cooked perfectly and pairs with the gravy so well! Although it was a simple dish with only a couple of ingredients, it’s easy to tell that time was put into making this meal great! The depth of flavour was great and it paired very nicely with an ice cold Bier!

We have a few days in Munich now before we head to Brugge in Belgium. We are quite excited as we didn’t think we would end up in Belgium during our trip! However, it is an pretty easy pit stop to make between Germany and the UK - which will be our next long term destination.