Vintgar Gorge

The Vintgar Gorge (Slovene: soteska Vintgar) or Bled Gorge (Blejski vintgar) is a 1.6-kilometer (0.99 mi) gorge in northwestern Slovenia in the municipalities of Gorje and Bled, four 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 (160 to 330 ft) high, with a total slope measuring about 250 m (820 ft). The stream has created many erosive features such as pools and rapids, and terminates in the picturesque 13 m (43 ft) 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 (Iški vintgar), the Bistrica Gorge (Bistriški vintgar) on Pohorje and the Ribnica Gorge (Ribniški vintgar) in Bohinj.

History

Until 1890, the gorge was mainly inaccessible, except for two points at which the Radovna could be reached, and a bridge over Šum Falls was already built in 1878. The rest of the gorge was explored in 1891 by the mayor of Gorje, Jakob Žumer, and by Benedikt Lergetporer, a prominent photographer of the era.