The Bernstein Family
Italy and Slovenia, August 2000
Welcome to our 2000 vacation pages. We spent the last two weeks of August in Italy and Slovenia. We flew into Venice and stayed there for two and a half days. Then we took the train to Slovenia. For seven days we visited the Slovenian towns of Piran, Bled, Ptuj, and Skofja Loka, Triglav National Park and the Bohinj region, and the capital city of Ljubljana before returning to Italy. This last leg of our trip took us around the Veneto, the mainland region of what was once the Venetian Empire. After stops in Vicenza, Verona, and Padua, we returned to the States.
Venice
We started our trip in Venice. It was hot and crowded, but when we managed to get away from the tour groups, it was a very pleasant place to be.
Venice Lagoon
Basilica San Marco
The Domes of San Marco
Venetian Canal - Rio del Vin
Triglav National Park
After Piran, we took a train through the scenic Soca (pronouced Socha) Valley to reach Triglav National Park, the only National park in Slovenia. We stayed in the park at the Zlatorog Hotel on Lake Bohinj. Nearby, just outside the park, is the town of Bled and the lake of the same name. We spent one day there walking around Lake Bled and visiting the island church and the castle. The next day when we walked around Lake Bohinj was the only day we had really bad weather. It poured!
The Church of the Assumption, on an island in Lake Bled
Blejski Grad (Bled Castle) and Church of the Assumption
Church of St. John the Baptist on Lake Bohinj
Houses in the village of Polje in Bohinj Region
Piran
After we left Venice, we headed into Slovenia. First stop, Piran, a picturesque town on the Adriatic Sea. Piran which is full of Venetian Gothic architecture, has been settled since ancient times and was known to the Romans as Piranum.
Tartinjev Trg with the Church of St. George in background
Street in Piran - Zupanciceva Ulica
At the Harbor
Piran from the Town Walls
Ljubljana
Our journey continued from Triglav National Park to Ljubljana (pronounced Yoob-yah-nah), a small capital with less than 300,000 people. We spent our final three days in Slovenia based here, with day trips to Ptuj in the east, and Skofja Loka nearby.
Old Ljubljana and the Ljubljanica River
Presernov Trg
Cevljarski Most (Shoemaker's Bridge)
Across Tromostovje (Triple Bridge)
Presernov Trg from above
