Lovely Lake Bled and Ljubljana

You can see from the map here that we hadn't traveled very far overnight from Trieste to Koper, I think Captain Steig must have been driving in circles!  We had much further to go today to get to Bled with its beautiful lake and a stop on our way back in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana.  One of the things I loved seeing as we drove along were the many camping trailers being pulled along the highway.  These are my kind of people!

Located in the city of the same name is a small but lovely blue-green lake in the Julian Alps (named for Julius Caesar), Lake Bled is one of the most scenic places in Slovenia.  

With limited time in town we had to choose between exploring the castle or getting on a boat to take us

out on these clear waters, to reach Slovenia's one and only island.

If you're only going to have one natural island in the entire country it's good to have one as picturesque as this one is.

Nearby Bled Castle has been perched on the cliffs here since 1011 and is Slovenia’s oldest castle.

The lake itself isn't huge but large enough to allow for swimming, rowing, paddle boarding, any number of water sports, just nothing with a motor.  Karl even saw some divers out near the island.

There are villages at either end of the lake.

Oh, and did I neglect to mention there is fishing on the lake as well?  Our boatman told us there were nineteen different types of fish in the lake, including catfish and trout.

It was such a gorgeous day I loved these photos that reflected the church and the mountains in the calm waters.

The Pletna boat we took out to Bled Island was just like this one, with one rower who used two paddles.  These are typical of the area and are made locally.  They have been in use on Lake Bled since around 1590.

Before this small church and bell tower were built there was an ancient Slavic temple dedicated to the pagan goddess of life and fertility on this spot.  After Christianity came to the area in 745 the temple was replaced with a church that was dedicated to the birth of Mary.  It stood for 700 years until it was renovated into a more modern Gothic style in 1465.  It's known as the Assumption of Maria Church.

The only other place I've seen waters this color were the lakes of the Canadian Rockies.  When I checked, sure enough, these get the color here for the same reason, glacial runoff.   Although we understand that winters are not nearly as cold here as they used to be..

This photo would have been better without random people in it!

There are 99 steps that lead from the lake up the hill to the church.  Often a groom will carry his bride in his arms to the top on their wedding day.  Tradition says this proves a man's maturity and reliability and that he will be offer his wife security.  I say it proves he's pretty strong because I had to stop twice hiking up those steps to catch my breath!

We didn't pay the extra to climb the bell tower's stairs, 99 was enough for us.  If you do make the climb you can then make a wish and ring the bell, at the top, much like I did at Predjama Castle the day before.

The brickwork on the tower's corners were lovely.

Has to be at least one flower photo in a post doesn't there?  There were some pretty hydrangeas growing near the souvenir shop.

A different view of the steeple of the village church from the island.

If there are flower photos there also need to be door photos.

The bronze doors were especially beautiful.

The inside of the church is pretty simple, these are photos take through a window.

We felt like this modern house didn't fit in here very well.  There was another one at another spot on the lake but its exterior was all concrete so the color blended in like the stone of the Alps.

We could see lots of small and large fish in the clear water.

Scenic views were easy to find everywhere on and around the lake.

I loved the water colors in this one.

Lots of people out and about on the lake on all kinds of boats and boards.  The water isn't the warmest but on a hot day it would be refreshing.  We saw many swimmers either splashing about or making their way towards the island and back.

As good a spot as any for a selfie.

A closer view of Bled Castle.

St. Martin's Parish Church sits in the town below the castle.  This building was completed in 1905 on the site of a 15th century Gothic church.

This is a pretty forbidding castle position and I can imagine how it would daunt enemies.

As we hustled back to meet our driver/guide, Mariana, we passed the city's municipal building, complete with its city coat of arms.

Thanks to Kim for getting me this photo of Bled in the grass.

Half our group had gone to the castle while the other four of us went to the island.  As we waited for the rest of the group to arrive Mariana told us we had time to try a piece of the  traditional Bled Cream Cake.  It was delish!  A kind of chewy, flaky crust on the top and bottom, with a tapioca like pudding and whipped cream in between.

We were then off to Ljubljana, about 30-40 minutes away for a short tour and then time on our own.There are lots of old buildings in the center of town.  They were able to avoid the bombing raids of WWII here.  Slovenia was also spared in the Balkan War, ending up a war zone for only 10 days here, rather than the four years that its neighbors went through.

It's not often that you see people drinking water from a public fountain, but we saw it multiple times here.  The water is supposed to be really good in Slovenia, pure and clean from any tap.

More scenes from Ljubljana. a city that's been around for over 500 years.

The Ljubljanica River runs through the city.

Multiple bridges cross the river while greenery adorned the walls.

Saturday was a pretty hoppening place as we wandered about trying to find a sidewalk cafe open where we could get a sandwich.  We ended up being there the wrong time of day for there to be anything available except wine, sodas, or coffee.

This alley was just plain weird with these round "sculptures" running down the middle of it.

They had all kinds of weird faces like these.  Strangely enough it is all supposed to be, wait for it, ...horse manure.  Kid you not!

More street scenes.

What used to be city hall in the 17th century.

This statue of Preseren, a famous 19th century Slovenian poet adorned the main square, who also had the square named after him.

A view of the square itself.

We got to see our second wedding of the week.

After a coke for Karl and a gingery gingerale for me, oh, and another piece of Slovenian Gibanica cake, couldn't help myself, we were back in the van, into some slow moving traffic, then a mere two hours later, back home once again.  Farewell for now Slovenia, I'd really love to come back someday!