It may be that the Triglav complex owes its magic in part to its
relatively small scale, making the uninitiated think that he is
seeing every secret unveiled at once: a mere delusion; but in a
topography so intricate and difficult, in such a veritable
maze, it is a delight to lose oneself, to escape, to be free.
... Triglav rules over a dreamworld, sundered from time, full
of unbelievable hidden nooks, of unsuspected passages, of sudden
visions of cliffs which cannot be real. Surely there is no other
mountain land like this.
Tom G. Longstaff
President of the Alpine Club, London
Triglav National Park (
Triglavski Narodni Park)
is
Slovenia's pride and joy. Centered around the focal point of
Mt. Triglav (2864m), the
"Three-Headed" mountain found on everything Slovenian ranging from
the national flag to
Laibach's LP
Krst pod Triglavom
(Baptism on Triglav), the park covers nearly all of the
Slovenian section of the
Julian Alps, a total of nearly 85,000
hectares.
The lakes of Bled and Bohinj, on the edge of the park, are
major tourist attractions in themselves. Bled's scenery is
almost impossibly romantic, with a little white church on an island
in the
center of an emerald green mountain lake, Bled Castle perched
high above and the peaks of the Julian Alps all around -- and
it is consequently often packed with honeymooning couples and the
like. (But don't despair -- Hostel Bledec, on the edge of town,
regularly polls in as one of Europe's best youth hostels.)
Lake Bohinj, some 30 kilometers to the southwest, is
more off the beaten track but still has the full complement
of medieval churches and awe-inspiring scenery.
The real gems of Triglav, however, are hidden deeper in the park.
The easiest trip from Bled is to visit the spectacular Vintgar Gorge,
only 4.5 km away, which features a wooden footbridge path (dating to 1893)
running for 1600 meters along the Radovna River, terminating at
the Šum waterfall. From Bohinj the place to see is the
60-meter Savica Waterfall, the site of Laibach's baptism at the
foot of Mt. Triglav; this is the beginning point of several routes
to the summit. For those traveling by car (or with shoe leather to burn),
the crossing from Kranjska Gora to Bovec via the
delightfully named Vršič Pass has some awe-inspiring
scenery. If you're feeling even lazier, try the two-hour train trip
from Jesenice via Bled to Nova Gorica. (Warning: Bled Jezero station
is on the wrong side of the lake, and it's a bit of hike to town!)
But the thing to do in Triglav National Park is, of course, to
climb the mountain itself. However, while those 2864 meters may not
sound all that fearsome, Triglav is a real mountain and is generally
judged to be a tougher climb than, say, the nearly 4000-meter
Mt. Fuji. As on all mountains, the weather can be viciously
changeable, with temperatures alternating between +30 and -10 deg C
even in midsummer. The routes to the top are open only between
June and October, and
hiring a guide (or joining a guided group) is, while not legally
mandated, very advisable due to at times labyrinthine route.
Most climbers spend two nights on the route, although fitness nuts
have been known to complete it in a single day. Just remember to
watch out for Zlatorog, the golden-horned chamois of the
mountain!
References
How to Climb Triglav, Planinska založba, 1991
Lonely Planet Slovenia, 1st edition, 1995