Let’s learn about Slovenia #9 – Vintgar gorge

The Vintgar Gorge (Slovene: soteska Vintgar) or Bled Gorge (Blejski vintgar) is a 1.6-kilometer gorge in northwestern Slovenia in the municipalities of Gorje and Bled, 4 kilometers northwest of Bled.
Carved by the Radovna River, it is the continuation of the Radovna Valley. The sheer canyon walls are 50 to 100 meters high, with a total slope measuring about 250 m.

The stream has created many erosive features such as pools and rapids, and terminates in the picturesque 13 m Šum Falls (literally, ‘noisy falls’), the largest river waterfall in Slovenia.

As the first mountain gorge in the area to be made accessible to tourists, the word vintgar has been generalized in Slovene to refer to other scenic, protected gorges, e.g. the Iška Gorge (sl) (Iški vintgar), the Bistrica Gorge (sl) (Bistriški vintgar) on Pohorje and the Ribnica Gorge (Ribniški vintgar) in Bohinj.