Today’s post is a travelogue, people. Hard to reconcile love of travel with a low carbon lifestyle, so we assuaged our conscience with a journey by train and a few tons of sequestered carbon bought on the website of Tree-Nation, a platform that promises to plant trees worldwide in an ecologically sustainable manner. I hope the promise of the website is true. Please let me know, anyone, if you know otherwise. The tickets of the Austrian Bundesbahn (Railways) said: 83 kilos of CO2 avoided for each of two tickets from Vienna to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Once there, we rented a small car to travel roughly 1000 km in Slovenia (pop. 2 million, area 20,000 sq. km). We were blessed with sunny skies and post-summer balmy weather, not too hot and not too overrun. Here are a few photos instead of the usual words.

Spiral stircase, Ljubljana Castle (click on photos to enlarge)

Lubljana is a small, beautiful, walkable city. There is a castle, with dungeons and a respectable dragon, There’s a puppet museum, and a dragon’s egg, at the top of the castle. You can queue for the cable car if you don’t want to climb. Lots of restaurants and cafés in town, along the river, fresh produce galore. Everything reeks of nature here, clean air and lots of people racing through the town on bicycles.

Mountain lakes among peat marshes near Rogla

Stalacties and Stalagmites in the caves of Postojna.

The Postojna caves stretch to 24 km and were carved by the Pivka River over millenia, creating dazzling chambers of stalactites and stalagmites. The Pivka River ultimately flows into the Black Sea. A train takes you 3 km into the interior of the cave and then picks you up again after a guided walking tour of around 2 km on foot. Well worth a visit.

Looking out on the Adriatic from the Piran Peninsula, simply step off the rocks to swim in the warm water

Trieste and Italy a short ferry ride or swim from Piran

The Adriatic on three sides around Piran

Leaving Piran with regret. Water temperature around 24C in mid-September

Lipica, birthplace and breeding grounds of the Lippizaner horses used by the Spanish Riding School of Vienna

A foretaste of the Julian Alps. View from Srednja Vas

Pure mountain streams

Pristine waters and carefully regulated hiking trails speak of great respect for nature

Lake Bohinj, a jewel amidst the Julian Alps

500 m above sea level, the water was warm enough for swimming at 20C.

Lake Bohinj

This is a country where most places, especially in the mountains, nights are still dark enough to see the stars. Nature is close to you here. Go there, treat it with as much respect as the local people do. Be prepared to walk a lot if you want to enjoy it. Take your trash with you when you leave, though you might find that the heart lingers, reluctant to leave…