That's how Slovenians make coffee

With some useful phrases in Slovenian for you

I've traveled around the world and I've tried a lot of coffee, from Austria, Italy to Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea. I love coffee. I've seen the kopi tiam culture in Malaysia, the coffee house culture in Vienna, I've tasted Italian espressos and cappuccinos and American filter coffee in the famous coffee chains around the world. But how about Slovenia? What kind of coffee people usually drink in Slovenia?

Well, as much as we want to be seen as a central European country, our coffee culture has been adopted from the Balkans. While at home we mostly make and drink Turkish coffee (turška kava), in bars and cafés we drink espressos, cappuccinos and coffee with milk, all made by various coffee makers and machines. But so far we don't have big American coffee chains here, thank god for that.

Let me show you how I prepare my coffee at home every morning:

I put water and a spoon of sugar in the džezva (pronounced "jaz-vah").

I wait for the water to get hot, then just before boiling I add 3 spoons of ground coffee and mix.

The coffee starts to rise just before boiling. Have to be careful not to spill it over.

When it boils, I turn off the heater and let it calm down. I mix it a little and then
pour the coffee slowly in the mug. I add milk, personally a lot of milk.

I usually add more sugar (2 spoons afterwards), some don't. This is called kava z mlekom
(coffee with milk). If you don't add any milk, it's called črna kava (black coffee).

And voilà... the Slovenian coffee is ready to drink. Variations of this kind of coffee are drunk in the Middle East, northern Africa, Turkey, Caucasus and the Balkans. Slovenia is probably the most Western European country, that commonly drinks Turkish coffee at home. If I would host you at my home, I would probably make this type of coffee for you.

Here's some vocabulary for you, if you come to Slovenia and order coffee:

turška kava [pron. toorsh-kah kah-vah] - Turkish coffee

kava [pron. kah-vah] - general word for coffee

črna kava [pron. cher-nah kah-vah] - black coffee

bela kava [pron. bella kah-vah] - white coffee

kava z mlekom [pron. kah-vahz-mlay-come] - coffee with milk

kava s smetano [pron. kah-vahs smay-tah-noh] - coffee with whipped cream

kapučino [pron. capoochino] - cappuccino, just written in Slovenian

podaljšana kava [pron. poh-dahl-shah-nah] - extended coffee, more coffee inside

sladkor [pron. slahd-core] - sugar

s sladkorjem [pron. ser slahd-cor-yem] - with sugar

brez sladkorja [pron. brass slahd-cor-ya] - without sugar, no sugar

brezkofeinska kava [pron. brass-co-fe-in-ska] - decaffeinated coffee

z [pron. zer], s [pron. ser] - with, brez [pron. brass] - without

prosim [pron. pro-seem] - please or you're welcome.

hvala [pron. hvah-lah] - thank you.

If you order coffee in Slovenia, these phrases may be useful to you:

1 For one cup of coffee: One _______, please.

Eno ______ (fill in the blank: kavo z mlekom/črno kavo/belo kavo/kavo s smetano/kavo brez sladkorja/brezkofeinsko kavo...), prosim.

2 For two cups of coffee: Two ______, please.

Dve ______ (fil in the blank: kavi z mlekom/črni kavi/beli kavi/kavi s smetano), prosim.

3 When waiter brings you the coffee, he may say: Izvolite. (Here you go)

4 You say: Hvala. (Thank you). If he's polite, he should say: Prosim. (You're welcome)

How do you drink coffe in your country?

[My Slovenia page][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Blejski grad/Bled castle, Slovenia

One of Slovenia's most beautiful castles

The Bled castle (Blejski grad) on top of a cliff above the lake.

I wrote about Bled in my previous post, where you can read about our lovely stroll along Lake Bled's coast as well as trying the delicious kremna rezina. After we finished with that, we decided to go up to the castle. The only problem I had, was how to go there? I had fears that the road might be narrow and dangerous and that there's no parking space. So I asked a local and they told me it's no problem to go up there. They have enough parking spaces and he showed me the right way up. So we sat in the care and drove off. Since we parked close to the Parish church, we did not have a long way up to the castle.

✰ Brief history of Blejski grad/Bled castle

The castle was first mentioned in 1011 as Castellum Veldes (Veldes is the German name of Bled), which makes it the oldest mentioned castle in Slovenia. The year 2011 exactly 1000 years since the castle's first mention. That's pretty old for a castle, don't you think? The area around Bled was given to the Brixen diocese from the holy Roman emperor Henry II in 1004. The castle was owned by many different royals until the late 19 century, when it was sold to businessmen. From 1803 and 1838 and again after the World war II the castle was nationalized and was thoroughly renovated (1952-1961) and opened for tourism. The museum in the castle was renovated in 2008 (info source).

✰ Check the awesome Bled castle website for more info. It's really a great website.

We just followed the sign board with Blejski grad. The road up was steep, but not too steep. And the parking space is very big, probably big enough for 30-40 cars and even for buses. There are no worries, if you decide to drive there. Walking may take you a bit too long, better you find a way to ride a car.

The opening hours of the Bled castle and my girlfriend at the main gate.

The castle looks small from afar, but it's pretty big when you're closer.

We paid 7 eur per person to enter the castle and the museum fee is included.

One of the reasons, why to go to the castle is the breathtaking view.

The view of the town Bled.

The park and the Parish church.

The old fountain.

I crowned my girlfriend as the Princess of Bled. How do you like that? :-P

The castle has two levels. Here we're on the highest.

And the most beautiful view can be seen from this platform.

The lake in its full glory. Look at the colors.

A closeup of Bled island with the beautiful church of the Assumption of Mary.

My girlfriend made a video of the view:

✰ She caught attention

Compared to other tourists on the castle that day, my girlfriend looked really beautiful. And that caught some attention with two guys, who (according to my guess) were Russian and not only started at her, they seemed to have a very juicy conversation regarding her and probably her looks. Luckily I didn't understand, what they were saying, I just suggested to go to some other part of the castle. While I escorted my girl downstairs, they kept looking at her legs with no regards to my presence. I don't know what to think about such behavior. Should I be proud, that a bunch of ill-mannered fancied my girlfriend?

This part is a restaurant.

And this is a museum in the castle, which is very nice. It will show you the history of Bled from the ice age to the middle ages and all the way to the present times. I really recommend you to see some of the things, it's really interesting. And the staff is very friendly, even if you have questions, they will gladly try to help you.

Photo above: View on the other side. Below: The toilet with a beautiful view.

Another view of the whole mountainous area around Lake Bled.

We spent 1 hour on the castle and it was really one of the highlights of our Slovenia trip.

On the way down, back to the car and off to Bohinj.

You have to visit Blejski grad!

See also: My best Bled 2010 photos>>

Bled, a European pearl :Before [Slovenia Tour 2010] Next: Bohinj>>

Info source: [Bled Wiki][Lake Bled Wiki][History of Bled castle]

[Casino Bled][Bled.net][Bled.si][Bled's Culinary offer]

[My Slovenia page][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Bled in 1994

My photos from my first trip to Bled

The first time I saw Bled was in June 1994. It was an end-of-school-year field trip to Ljubljana Airport, Bled, Vrba na Gorenjskem, a village, where our famous poet has grown up and to Vintgar gorge, one of Slovenia's natural wonders. I took these photos during that trip and I want to show you how little has changed in Bled from 1994 to 2010. Of course I mean the area around the lake. Things have changed within Bled town of course. But Slovenians love nature, love to keep it intact, that's why you won't find the whole area around the lake destroyed with numerous hotels and privatized beaches like for example nearby in Velden (Austria), another small town near a lake (Wörthersee), which is flooded with tourists. If you want piece and untouched nature, come to Bled, Slovenia! :-)

Compare Bled 1994 with Bled 2010>>

We saw swans this year, too. And the island still looks the same.

This area still looks the same, too.

The Bled castle and the parish church. Bled's landmarks always looked amazing.

The island an a pletna boat on the right. We took one of these in 1994. I was on the island! :-)

See also: My best Bled 2010 photos>>

[My Slovenia page][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Bled, a European pearl

One of the most beautiful Slovenian towns

View on Lake Bled from the Bled castle.

Bled (pronounced as ) is one Slovenia's most picturesque towns and together with Piran, it's one of our top tourist destinations. Located at the glacial Lake Bled (Slovenian Blejsko jezero), that lays in the Slovenian Julian Alps (Slovenian Julijske Alpe), it attracts masses of tourists, who seek relaxation or want to go fishing, rowing, hiking, golfing and much more. The whole area along the lake is a park combined with many hotels along the way. Bled is also one of the oldest tourist destinations in Slovenia, health tourism started here already in the 19th century. However, Bled is not an old Slovenian town like Kranj, Škofja Loka or Piran, that's why you won't find a medieval center like it's common in most Slovenian towns.

✰ Why is Bled so beautiful?

What makes Bled beautiful is of course the Lake Bled (Slovenian Blejsko jezero), the Bled island (Slovenian Blejski otok) with the Baroque church of Mary's Assumption (Slovenian Cerkev Marijinega Vnebovzetja), the old Bled castle (Slovenian Blejski grad) built on a 130m tall cliff overlooking the lake and a neo-Gothic parish church of Saint Martin right below the castle (Slovenian Cerkev Sv. Martina). Bled is also famous for a delicious cake named kremna rezina, a vanilla and custard cream cake, probably the creamiest cake of this sort in the world.

[Show bigger map]

✰ Our Bled

We came to Bled after having our lunch and a tour around Kranj. Time was really short for us, because we wanted to see so much that day: From Ljubljana to Škofja Loka, Kranj, Bled, Bohinj and then return to Maribor, my hometown. That's over 200km in one day, plus hours of sightseeing or walking around. And the heat was scorching that day (it was August). So it was truly a day to remember. And we really looked forward to come to finally see Bled. This is what we saw:

Parked the car near the lake, I was lucky (1eur for an hour).

And I could already see the amazing St. Martin's church and the Bled castle.

This is the famous pletna, which brings you to the island on the lake.

The rower named pletnar will bring you there (and back) for 12 Eur per person, if you want to visit the church on the lake, you have to pay 3 Eur. The ticket for the Bled castle cost us 7 Eur per person. For further info see Pletna.net.

Walking around the lake, we saw the famous Bled castle on the cliff above the lake.

✰ Interesting interracial couple

There were many people in the park around the lake, most of them sitting on benches or the grass, resting and relaxing. We saw lovers, families, elderly. Most of them were German and Italian tourists. I guess my girlfriend and I caught the attention from many passers-by, I noticed they were looking at us. I guess they did not see many interracial couples before.

And when we finally had a good view of the island, we took many photos of it.

Isn't it lovely? It was so hot, the photo gives the impression that Bled is a seaside town.

✰ Bled island brings good luck to newlyweds

The Bled island (Slovenian Blejski otok) was already inhabited in the neolithic era (end of Stone age), but mostly used for fishing. The first settlers date to 7th century BC, the first sanctuary was built in the 8th century. The church of Mary's Assumption (Slovenian Cerkev Marijinega Vnebovzetja) was first mentioned in the 12th century, but was probably built earlier. The Old Slovenians (before they were Christianized) used to worship the Slavic goddess Živa on the island. There are 99 stairs leading up to the church and there's a custom for the groom to carry the bride upstairs, while she has to be silent. There is also a bell on the island which is said to "grant all the wishes" to the one who rings it. Usually newly married couples end their official wedding procedure by ringing the bell. Read more about: The Bled Island.

The lake Bled in its full glory.

Fun fact: The origin of the name Bled is unknown. The modern word is a homonym with the Slovenian adjective bled which means "pale", but nobody connects it with the origin of the settlement's name. Bled was first mentioned in 1011 in Castellum Veldes ("fort Bled"), which meant the original castle. Throughout the middle ages, Bled's documented name was the German version Veldes, which does not have any meaning in modern German. Some see the origin the name Bled from German "Fels", which means "rock, cliff", but I disagree. The common name for rock in German is "Stein". German "Fels" (or "Felsen", Old German "fällis") is related to Norwegian "fjell" which means "mountain", but it was not used a lot in the early middle ages, it became more common in the German language since Luther on (16th century). And it would still be a big enigma to find out how would Old German "fällis" get transformed into "veldes". That's why the name Bled will always remain a mistery. I guess some things are not meant to be known.

My girlfriend: That day she was the princess of Bled :-)

The castle and the parish church again.

My girlfriend was obsessed with ducks! She took like 50 photos of them, hehe.

There were not so many swans, but this one was looking good.

A lovely house, don't know the name.

Miniature Lake Bled.

Bled town.

✰ Kremna rezina: The creamiest cake ever

We decided to try the famous kremna rezina (or commonly Blejska kremšnita), a yummy vanilla and custard cream cake. I wanted to see, if it was really that yummy as they say. You can buy the cake around Slovenia, but the original one is from Bled. So we went to Kavarna Park.

The restaurant is located close to the lake with the view on the island and the castle.

This is the terrace. We were lucky, we found a seat with a nice view.

This is the famous kremna rezina.

It does cost a bit more than usual cakes of this sort (2.90 eur), but the taste is divine! I never ate a cake as creamy as this one. If you go to Bled, you have to try it. And go to this place, because they sell the original ones. A coffee will cost you around 2 euros. The service is top notch, they change the table cloths for every new customer. We were purely satisfied with the taste and the service.

One of my favorite photos: My girlfriend in Kavarna Park.

We went for a stroll on the other side of the lake.

I couldn't stop taking photos of the lovely island.

Another photo of the castle and the St. Martin's church. The ducks were everywhere.

Look at the dog. He surely had fun on the lake Bled, don't you think? :-)

✰ Bled was the highlight of our Slovenia trip

Bled is truly a beautiful town and not only one of the most beautiful Slovenian resorts, it's a European pearl. If you imagine the perfect postcard, Bled would probably be the no one image for that. Bled is good for those who seek peace, who are into photography and hiking, who love nature and want to escape the hustle and bustle of a big city. Bled has on average more tourists than other Slovenian towns, however, it's still not as packed with them like places in Austria and Italy, so you can really spend a some quality time here. The best thing is, if you can visit Bled with your loved one, the whole area around the lake is very romantic. Bled, together with Piran, was one of the highlights of our trip. We were vary happy that day.

See also: My best Bled 2010 photos>>

My rating of Bled:

Great place for photos ✰✰✰✰✰

Well preserved and clean ✰✰✰✰✰

Toilets, parking, souvenirs ✰✰✰✰✰

Friendly to tourists ✰✰✰✰✰

Kranj part II :Before [Slovenia Tour 2010] Next: Bled castle>>

Info source: [Bled Wiki][Lake Bled Wiki][History of Bled castle]

[Casino Bled][Bled.net][Bled.si][Bled's Culinary offer]

[My Slovenia page][All photos by MKL, 2010]