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Škofja Loka

Škofja Loka is positioned at the transition of the Sora Plain (Sorško polje) into the Škofja Loka and Polhov Gradec Hills (Škofjeloško in Polhograjsko hribovje). It guards the entrance into the Selška Valley and Poljanska Valley, two beautiful valleys with the rivers of the same name, Sora (Poljanska Sora and Selška Sora). The medieval town, which was first mentioned in 973, is build at the junction of both rivers into one.

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Small old city centre is considered as the most beautifully preserved medieval city in Slovenia. It had an interesting and rich history, which is presented in the museum at the Castle of Škofja Loka. Town Square is built on the higher river terrace, Lower Square lies just above the river, naturally the best connection between the two leads close to the church.

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The city centre is small but charming.

Castle was built in 12th century and dominates the city sights.

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One can easily spot the best places to take photos of the castle. Among them are all bridges, especially the lowest one where traffic enters the lower old town and the one close behind the main bus station. Probably the best spot is from the small church on the small hill above Puštal, called Hribec. The church is very visible from the town and only a few minutes walk away,  we have a special post about this spot.

The latest which is also a good place to shot the river and old houses above, with the popular local hill, Lubnik, in the background. It is also one of the two best spots for sunset chasing.

 

 

And the bridge itself:

Good views of the castle are also from the Grajska pot (Castle Path) path and from the square where it begins.

 

The Castle Park behind the castle is also worth exploring.

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But the best view on the castle with the whole old town beneath is from the church Cerkev povišanje Sv. Križa which lies above the Puštal, a a former separate settlement on the right bank of Poljanska Sora, now a part of the city.

But Škofja Loka is not only a city. Together with both valleys, Poljanska and Selška, form a whole small region, a destination full of history, amazing nature and experiences. Right behind the castle an alert eye can spot in the distance the famous church of Sv. Tomaž, a photographer’s Mecca.

Besides St. Thomas, Škofja Loka area offers many spots like this, pictoresque villages with even more pictoresque churces on the top of the hills, great views and unspoilt nature. Križna gora is one of them, just a few minutes drive from the city, as is also Sv. Andrej (St. Andreas). Some others may not offer so many views but are beautiful photo objects by themselves, as is Sv. Volbenk.

Read more about Škofja Loka.

Zoran Leban Trojar @zokus_gf

Kamniška Bistrica

Kamniška Bistrica (The Kamnik Bistrica) is an Alpine river, a 33 km long left tributary of the Sava River. It springs beneath the Kamnik Alps. In fact Kamniška Bistrica is also a small settlement in the Valley of Kamniška Bistrica but generally most people in Slovenia would understand  the location as the source of the river. The rivers has three sources but the one near the Lodge of Kamniška Bistrica is THE source.

It is a typical beginning of a glacier valley, pretty narrow with the mountain peaks in the background. Since it is densely forested the views and photo opportunities are limited but beautiful.

Behind the lodge the hiking paths lead to the Kokrško Saddle and Kamnik Saddle. Following the white road a few hundred meters, there is a fairy tale scenery, just after the parking place.

There are generally three kinds of visitors here, the mountaineers, the cyclist who stop at the lodge before heading back to the starting points and people who just enjoy the beauty of this secluded spot. In summer time it is also a nice spot to chill down a bit.

A kind of lake behind the damm is really small and difficult to photograph – a kind of dull in the winter with no snow and a lot of green during the spring and summer. Autumn colours and a lot of snow are probably the best combinations. But the main motif here is always photogenic, in the summer…

… or during the winter.

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First sun rays with some mist over the water are the best combination.

But don’t stop there. Above the lake the water comes into daylight from underneath many rocks, which are overgrown with moss. Spruce trees grow on larger boulders and the water creates tiny waterfalls and rapids. It is very refreshing in hot days, but it could also be pretty wild after heavy rain. Beautiful views on the mountains wait for you along the road from the lodge.

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The valley of Kamniška Bistrica plunges from the south into the heart of the Kamnik-Savinja Alps. Since we mentioned the town of Kamnik so many times already – from most directions, with the exception of the access from Upper Savinja Valley, the small and charming medieval town of Kamnik is on the way to the valley. It was first mentioned as a town in 1229, when it was an important trading post on the road between Ljubljana and Celje. It is one of the oldest towns in Slovenia.

The valley is a very popular starting point for various hiking trips to the mountains of Kamnik-Savinja Alps and nearby waterfall Orglice. Cable car to Velika Planina, huge mountain plateau and ski resort with big and lively herdsmen’s settlement of unique architecture, is also located nearby the entrance to the most narrow part of the valley.

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In summer days, especially at weekends, it is probably the best decision to park the car at first opportunity from this point on and enter the pathways along one of the gorges, Veliki and Mali (Big and Small) Predaselj. Beautiful crystal clear water is at the deepest part of the Veliki Predaselj hidden 30 m bellow. Watch your step if you decide to take a closer look at it.

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Forests and mountains around used to be popular hunting area over centuries. Close to the mountain lodge is another building, which used to be a Royal Hunting Lodge of the King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. Famous Slovenian architect Josef Plečnik designed it in 1932. Later it was used by Tito, as well as the smaller lodge on the boulder above.

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More information:

Kamnik Bistrica Valley

Kamnik 

Velika Planina

 

Zoran Leban Trojar, @zokus_gf 

 

 

 

Lake Bled

We can say it; Lake Bled is the most popular destination in Slovenia. Everybody knows it & everybody wants to visit it. That means also – the place is crowded most of the year and we, the locals, try to avoid it at least in the high season (that would be – most of the year) 🙂

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We mostly visit it when somebody visits us. Friends, family and also Instagrammers coming to Slovenia usually don’t mind the fact there is almost no parking space and if you find one you will pay for it too much. They also don’t mind the rude waiter serving the famous ‘kremšnita’ (Bled cream cake) near the lake the annoying fact that you can’t enjoy the amazing view of the lake from the castle without paying the entrance fee. Not anymore.

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If a place is so beautiful anything goes. That is the feeling I have about Lake Bled but still … it is an amazingly beautiful place and it is worth visiting it.

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If you are a photographer, an Instagrammer and you have the same idea as most of people I take to Lake Bled (take as many photos as fast as I can) here are some tips for you;

Find a parking space (the prices go as high as 10 euros so – be picky), leave your car in the city and go down by the lake. Take a walk around the lake. There is a path around it, approximately 6 kilometres long so it will take you less than 2 hours to see the lake in all its beauty. Depending on the sun & the light you will for sure find it easy to snap – to many photos.

Before the sunrise – night photo with HuaweiP20Pro

There will be some piers, trees, swans, beautiful houses and boats on your way so we are quite sure you will enjoy your walk. I recommend you to do it in the early morning. Sunrises are as amazing as sunsets but most of the people like to sleep in the morning.

Mist over the lake – taken with HuaweiP20Pro

You will not be alone but there but there will be less people around the lake and (if you are visiting in the summer) in the lake.

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If you have more time, you just have to rent a boat or take one of the tourist boats going to the island. I recommend you a boat of your own so you can really take some amazing photos from the lake and get to the best spots to photograph the famous island and its church.

For the ones that want something extra, a climb to the nearby hills is a must! Only from there you can really see the whole lake and take the best photos. But – don’t be surprised to meet some people also high up there.

 

Magic moment – taken with HuaweiP20Pro

The easiest way to get best photos is to climb the Ojstrica or Osojnica hill, but there are some other, too. Check the list here!  

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Still not enough?

If you ask me, the ultimate way to photographing Lake Bled is from a hot air balloon:) I did it just once and I would do it again. Many times. Balloon offers you simply the best views of the lake, castle, island, surrounding hills … everything there is to see and from a completely different perspective.

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Sanja Leban Trojar, @sanya_lt

 

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Brdo Estate

Castle, golf course, park, lakes, hotel, congress centre … you name it, Brdo Estate has it … but still not many tourists know or visit this place. We are quite sure this has something to do with the fact Brdo Castle is the most important diplomatic protocol building in Republic of Slovenia. Through its history, it hosted presidents, kings, and diplomats from all over the world. But this does not mean you can see it! Brdo Estate is (most of the time) open to public and is well worth of a visit. We’d recommend you to take at least half of the day to really enjoy the place and discover all of its secrets.

 

Brdo Castle

Our favourite part is of course the park. Small lakes, wooden bridges and animals make this place a photographer’s paradise … especially in the autumn when colours take over. In late spring you can admire baby swans, flowers and amazing mountains in the back. We are quite sure even bad winter will not spoil your experience. Moody woods and foggy lakes are something that looks nice on any photo.

 

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If you are an architecture lover or maybe you’d prefer statues … you will find lots of motives here. The Brdo Castle is renaissance chateau, built in 16th century. It is characterized by four dominant corner towers and it really stands out here. Also the congress centre: A modern building in the middle of pure nature makes everything more interesting.

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To know more about the place we highly recommend you to check official Brdo Estate page. There you’ll find everything there is to know about rich history of the area, maps, information … everything you need to know. We’d only add one thing: Don’t forget to stop at the hotel terrace and try one of their sweets. They are as good as they look. Or even better:) #nowyouknow

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Mommy, mommy, we are on TV!

Jokes aside … it does not happen very often that we end up on television explaining who we are and what we do. Up until now Igslovenia mostly appeared online or in magazines that are specialized in digital marketing.

Since it is always nice to know who is ‘at the other side’ of the computer screen we decided to share a few articles and presentations about us. They are, sorry, all in Slovene. Hopefully, one day … we can do an interview in English:))

The first interview: SKETA.SI > ‘Kokoška’ na Instagramu (Chicken on Instagram:)

About Instagram in Slovenia; Radio Val 202 (10.6. 2015) > Instagrama v Sloveniji še ne jemljemo resno.

Fotkast na mreži podkastov Marsovci (5.1. 2016)> Slovenija na Instagramu

Podcast 091 Metina lista (18.6. 2016) > Metina lista

About Instameet in Koper (24.6. 2016) > Instagramerji bodo obiskali Koper

A short video clip that was shown on TV, so my mum finally knows what we do;) – Svet na Kanalu A (12.7. 2016) >> Igslovenia. Who are we & what do we do?

Holiday entertainment on the online portal of national TV station Praznični koledar MMC RTV (8.12. 2016)

Local news coverage of photographers who made into top 10 2016  (12.1. 2017) Koprski fotograf med top 10,

18.1. 2017 Ajdovski in koprski fotograf med naj instagramerji

Interview in a national daily Dnevnik (3.2. 2017) Ljudje se zaljubijo v fotografijo na Instagramu 

 

Since we are on Instagram almost from it’s beginnings we also have some exoeriences to share – we did a few seminars and workshops and were invited to lecture or participate at roundtables on the topic:

Seminar : Instagram in tourism marketing, 6.10. 2016  with Marketing magazin 

Workshop: Instagram od A do … 22.12. 2016

Workshop: Instagram in Marketing, SEMPL 18, November 2016

Workshop: ABC Instagrama, Njami Food bloggers conference, November 2016

Seminar: Instagram in Marketing, 30.3. 2017 with Marketing Magazin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 instagrammers from Slovenia 2016

It has been an amazing year for Igslovenia. We have organized 3 Instameets and some very successful workshops (next one >> 22. 12. 2016!) beside having published almost 450 photos from 285 photographers. At the end of the year, is time for recap – who are the best photographers of 2016 on @igslovenia?

Let us explain the criteria first; We have been looking for best instagrammers from Slovenia. They were the most featured photographers on our page in the past year, so they are (mainly) landscape photographers sharing photos of Slovenia and tagging #igslovenia. Their photos are of supreme quality, they are always searching for new locations and sharing lots of information about specific places. We also highly appreciated their interaction with followers. All of them have been featured on Igslovenia profile at least 5 times in 2016.

So, here they are, top 10 instagramers from Slovenia 2016 (in alphabetical order).

Ana Pogačar >> @anapogacar

Velika Planina Ana2 Ana3

Borut Trdina >> @boruttrdina

boruttrdina borut2 borut3

Aleš Krivec >> @dreamypixels

Dreamypixel dreamy2 dreamy3

Iztok Medja >> @iztok_medja

Iztok_medja iztok2 iztok3

Jaka Ivančič >> @jaka_ivancic

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Jan Čermelj >> @jancermelj

jancermelj jan2 jan3

Luka Esenko >> @lukaesenko

lukaesenko luka2 luka3

Luka Kotnik >> @lukakotnikphoto

lukakotnik lukak2 lukak3

Peter Zajfrid >> @peterzajfridphoto

peterzajfrid peter2 peter3

Simon Primožič >> @simonprimozic

simonprimozic simon2 simon3

PS: All photos used here were published by top 10 instagrammers – on Instagram.  To see the originals in high quality check their webpages & follow them on Instagram.

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Above Lake Bled in a hot air balloon

To be honest, I do not like anything that has  to do with heights. I am not a fan of flying and bungee jumping is usually only a part of my nightmares. Nevertheless, when Domen from 3glav adventures invited me to try hot air ballooning over Lake Bled I couldn’t resist and even haven’t thought much about how high would we go and how would I feel up there. All I had on my mind was that flying over Lake Bled should mean amazing views. Lots of them!

Since hot air balloon can only move up and down and everything else depends on the winds, it took us 2 weeks to find a day that worked for all of us (meaning that I had time, 3glav adventures was available and weather conditions were perfect). However, it was well worth the trouble!

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Mission number 1 was getting the balloon standing up. Since I could not help, I was searching for any option to take that ‘classic Instagram’ photo of a person walking inside the balloon. Forget it! Huge fans, ropes all around, hot air … it was simply too dangerous to get so close. This is all I got. 😀

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Once the balloon was up everything went very fast. Suddenly there was Bled Island bellow us and I hardly managed to snap a few photos of it before we were already flying over the Bled Castle. Amazing! The perspective up there is sooooo different! I probably forgot to breathe in the first minutes of the flight since there was so much going on and there were so many amazing views.

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At this stage, we were flying about 300 meters above ground and I had no time to panic. Changing phones in my hands ( I always carry around two phones), trying even to do some photos with the camera … I hardly noticed that things below us became really small. Well, we were already on 1.300 metres above Lake Bled. The views were spectacular! Once again, there was not much space and time for panic attacks.

 

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Some ‘panic time’ was available when balloon was slowly descending but all I had to do was to look around and the beauty of what I saw had calmed me down. Just before landing I had an opportunity to take last few photos and that was it. The end.

This was one of the best (photo) experiences I had in my life and the best one since I’ve started to work on @igslovenia project. Not only I was able to see Lake Bled in a way I have never seen it before, I also had the chance to do it with a bunch of great people. No, I am not saying this because I’m a nice person or somebody asked me to. It is plain and simple truth. There are people and there are teams that just know their business and know what people want and need. Team 3glav adventures for sure is one of them and I can easily say: Whatever sport activity you are planning near Lake Bled – check 3glav adventures.

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PS: All the photos were taken by Iphone6.

 

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Instameet in Kranj, Slovenia

What? Instameet!

Where? Kranj, Slovenia

When? Friday, 2nd of September, 6 pm

Who? @igslovenia & @visitkranj & YOU!

We will meet at Khislstein cafe (MAP), get a coffee and check the open Instagram gallery on the Khislstein wall. At the meeting point we will give you the insight of the city and its 6000 years of history. Than we will discover the Old Town of Kranj and Kokra canyon. In search of the best and most photogenic locations we will wander the small and charming streets of Kranj. Street art, historic sites, artistic shops and bustle of the city will accompany us along the path. The Instameet will end at the sunset. After the last photo snaps we will head to a local microbrewery “Kranjsko pivo” and enjoy the deserved beer!

Who can come? Anybody! Instagramers, photographers, mobile photographers or people who would like to discover Kranj, meet some Instagramers and have fun.

We kindly ask all of you who will join to let us know that you are coming so it will be a little easier for us to organize everything; Send us an e-mail to info@igslovenia.si.

Looking forward to meet you all!

Photo by Leena Jerončič, @stellap0laris

Photo by Ian Rožanc, @ianrozanc

Photo by Leena Jerončič, @stellap0laris

What is an instameet?

An InstaMeet is a group of Instagrammers meeting up to take photos and videos together. That’s it! An InstaMeet can happen anywhere and be any size. They’re a great opportunity to share tips and tricks with other community members in your area, and an excuse to get out and explore someplace new! For more information check Instagram Community page.

A photo from our last instameet in Koper, Slovenia. We had so much fun!

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Source of the Krupa River

The source of the Krupa River is the largest and one of the most beautiful Karst springs in Bela krajina. Water flows from under the 30 meters high rock wall and creates a nice pool in the middle of green lush nature. Not only the spring is interesting as the home of some rare species such as the Cave Salamander and some other but it also offers some nice photo opportunities.

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The pool is actually not a pool:) It is an artificial lake since there is a dam just a few meters down the river, created to run the sawmill. The building is still there and it makes a nice addition to your photos.

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You will find the spring of the river Krupa in the village Krupa. Leave your car on the marked parking spot and walk down to the river. It is a really shot walk (5 minutes) and since the area is not that big you can take your time:) When you finish discovering the spring be sure also to take the walk down by the river and enjoy the beautiful nature. The path is marked and it passes also some other interesting spots like caves and churches but – to do a full circle it will take you around 4 hours. So if you are looking for an idea what to do on one afternoon in Bela krajina this is quite a nice idea.

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Have you been here already? Please, do share your experience with us and other people searching for ideas where to head with a camera (or phone:) in Slovenia.

By Sanja Leban Trojar, @sanya_lt

 

 

Jeruzalemske gorice National Park

Jeruzalemske gorice Natural Park (you would also find it as Jeruzalem park, Ljutomersko Ormoške gorice – Hills) is an area of hills rising between rivers Mura and Drava, almost on the border with Croatia in SE Slovenia. Two main entrances into the region are towns Ljutomer and Ormož, later being closer to Ptuj, the oldest town in Slovenia, its first mention is from 69 AD. It used to be Roman Empire largest Eastern stronghold so it comes to no surprise that was the Romans who planted the first vineyards there.

Crusaders who migrated into the land in the 11th century took wine producing on even higher level and named the main settlement after their object of desire, Jerusalem.

Wine producing was always focus of this area, since its sheltered sunny position and suitable terroir represent excellent conditions for a variety of white grapes.

The road accros the area is a pure wine road, almost everything in sight are vineyards, vineyards to be, wine cellars and tourist farms with wine tasting. The hills are not very hight but due to their position some amazing landscapes lie before the eye far beyond the hills themselves.

Landscape is amazing throughout the year, but autumn is the best time to try the new vintage and to take photos of amazing colourful scenery. Almost everywhere one stops there is a photo opportunity at hand or probably a few steps by the dirt road away.