Lake Bled, Slovenia

We had planned to do a one-night trip to a small village of Bled, which we’d heard was an idyllic village with an unbelievably clear lake that was home to a small church on an island in the middle. We’d read that the place looks as if it was made for tourists, as every picture you take looks postcard-perfect, but it’s not overrun by tourists as many other similar spots are. About an hour and a half from Ljubljana, we decided to leave around lunchtime and spend a night there. Picking up some lunch supplies from the local market, we headed towards the bus station, and entered the ‘ticket office’ building and bought some tickets for the next trip to Bled. Waiting by the buses, we tried to board with our tickets once the driver arrived, and were told we had been sold train tickets instead for a train that was leaving about, ah… now. Running to the platforms (again! We were getting used to this…) we saw the train pull out from the station (again…). With three minutes to spare before the bus was about to leave, the ticket seller kindly gave us our money back, with an air of disapproval, and we made it to the bus on time.

An American guy, Brian, on the bus had overheard our mix-up, and started chatting to us along the way. He was currently living in Sheffield in the UK, and had broken up with his girlfriend at the airport just before they were supposed to travel together, so was doing most of the trip by himself, and going to quite a few places we were going to. He was only in Bled for an afternoon, and we invited him to join us for a few drinks on the lake, as we thought we’d hire a rowboat and head out to the island. After dropping our gear off at our hostel (which was quite lovely, with its own bathrooms, towels, and even a tv…not that we were going to be watching it), we headed towards the lake, a short walk away. Bled really is one of those ‘almost too good to be true’ sights. The entire area is immaculately groomed, the water so crystal clear that you can see the fish swimming underneath clusters of waterlillies. It was also one of the first places we’d been on the trip that was so peaceful and quiet that you could hear the birds singing in the trees.

The sun was still very hot, and we hired a rowboat to travel over the lake, looking forward to diving in for a swim by the island. We docked our boat, and walked the short track around the island and up to the church, which isn’t a spectacular sight inside, but legend has it that you ring the church bell three times for good luck, so we all had a go. After icecreams and coffees in the sun, we jumped off the dock into the crisp blue water, and floated and relaxed until we thought it was time to take the boat back and have some dinner.

We took some seats at a restaurant over the water, with a great view of the lake and island. A castle also hangs off one of the cliffs high above the water, at is another incredible sight (and postcard-worthy view). It was a tasty meal, lots of seafood on the menu, but I’m not sure Josh got the best dish. More often than not with our meal choices, there’s been a winner and a loser… the titles got shared around throughout the trip. The other thing we all lost out at was the awful cabaret entertainment, which was in essence a one-woman show of covers to a backing tape (although she did mix it up with her saxophone and keyboard from time to time). Brian escaped to go to the bus stop, and we lasted long enough to try the local dessert, similar to a custard square, before leaving saxophone lady to belt out her wedding tunes into the night.
From there we decided to try out a local bar ‘Devil’, which was decorated with organs on the wall, a mural of nymphs fornicating with ladies above the bar, and a heavily tattooed waiter… and also ABBA playing throughout the bar??? Not quite sure that Bled has their music scene sorted out. There was no one really there, but we had a quiet drink before heading back to the hostel.

The next morning, another stunning day was ahead of us, and after breakfast at the hostel surrounded by a lot of families and so many screaming children, we left for the peace of the forest to walk the hill up to the castle. We decided to forego paying the entrance fee, as we found a secret wee path off to the side of the castle, and climbed some rocks for a fantastic view over the lake and island. The perfect town for cycling around, we hired some bikes and took off towards another lookout. Josh had bad feet at the time, and couldn’t wear shoes, so we were both in jandals, but we didn’t quite realise what a climb was ahead of us to the lookout. A steep and rocky hillside awaited us, and we accidentally took the wrong path, and ended up climbing 100m higher than we intended to. I’m usually one to do anything in jandals, but this was a big mistake. Hours later, with strained raw feet and starving bellies, we managed to find a few great lookouts, and took a different route back, that included one of the steepest staircases I’ve ever seen.

Finally at the bottom, we biked to a supermarket for some picnic supplies, which we devoured by the lake before continuing our journey further around the waters edge. Nearing our bus departure time, Josh and Andy squeezed in another quick dip while I lay in the shade and relaxed, and then we dropped our bikes back and made our way to the bus. It was a very full bus trip, and thankfully we managed to get some seats. A huge group of Irish teens had overtaken most of the bus, had spent too long in Bled, and were going to miss their train that night. Incredibly loud and annoying, most of the trip was spent listening to them trying to make plans, and I was glad I wasn’t travelling in such a large group – it’s hard enough to make decisions with only three of you. Dozing off, we awoke to a loud bang, as the driver hit some road signs or something similar, and he must have damaged the bus, as soon after he pulled over and we all had to quickly change to another bus, delaying the late Irish group even more…

From the bus station we made our way back to the hostel to drop off our gear, and then decided to explore the side of the river we hadn’t seen much of, which ended up being full of great little restaurants and cafés down small alleyways. We witnessed a fire truck approaching us at full speed as a building caught fire and black smoke filled the alley, but settled at a café for dinner once the smoke had cleared. After dinner we managed to squeeze in some dessert at a cake store, and then wandered back home via the riverside streets filled with buskers and artists (and a guy selling incredibly cool bikes). Next stop Vienna…