Lake Bled

Lake Bled, in front of the island

Hello again! Right now Orry and I are on the train heading towards Munich. We are passing through the Austrian countryside and it is really beautiful. I would like to come back here on my next trip to explore Austria a little bit more. I cant help but start singing the Sound of Music as we roll through the countryside. Orry keeps telling me to stop, he has never seen the movie! Can you believe that?! But enough of Austria, let me tell you about where we have just left, Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Lake Bled

Bled Slovenia is a small town that is located in the northwestern part of Slovenia near the border of Austria. The town itself is surrounded by the Julian Alps. What really makes this little town so picturesque is the large lake that is smack in the middle of it and then to make it even better, there is a small island in the middle of the lake with a church, and above the lake, perched on a cliff is a castle. If that isn’t clear enough for you, just know this: Bled is a really beautiful place surrounded by nature.

Plenta Boat at the end of the church stairs on the island

The first day we arrived we walked around the lake. To walk around the whole lake it is about 3.5 kilometers and it took us about 2 hours. Unfortunately we got stuck in the rain about 20 minutes into our walk. Luckily we had the shelter of the surrounding trees to help us stay semi-dry and the rain only lasted a half hour or so. After the rain came to a slight mist we continued our walk. We really wanted to rent a boat to go out to the island but it was a little late and with the weather the way it was, most owners closed up shop. There are also other interesting options for getting to the island such as taking a Plenta boat. A Plenta boat is sort of similar to a gondola, only it’s a little bit bigger and is covered by an awning. We considered taking a Plenta boat out but it was a lot more expensive than rowing ourselves out on a row boat.

After walking around the lake we returned back to our hostel. Between travelling on the train all day and walking around the lake we were exhausted. So we decided to get some shuteye.

View from the castle

Yesterday morning we woke up early in order to get everything in that we wanted to do while we were in Bled. The first thing we did was walk up to the castle above the lake. From here we saw beautiful views of Lake Bled. Unfortunately it was overcast and we couldn’t get any pictures that were super amazing, but it was still very nice. There was also a lame museum inside of the castle. We didn’t really like it because it was more geology based than history. We would have liked to have learned a little bit about the castle and the history of bled.

Church on the island

Orry rowing out to the island

After the castle we went back down to the lake and rented a row boat to take out to the island. The thing that makes the island of the lake really interesting is the superstitions of it. For example to get up to the church from the lake you have to climb 99 steps. People who come to be married at the church believe that if the groom carries the bride up all the steps without dropping or falling, their marriage will be a good one. It would have been neat to see this happen while we were on the island, but I don’t think Wednesday is a popular wedding day. We did however see a sort of bachelorette party walking around the lake selling schnapps for the collection of the bride. It was very interesting to be able to see how other cultures carryout traditions.

Melissa ringing the bell

Another superstition on the island is the bell inside the church. Supposedly the bell was blessed by the Virgin Mary and if you ring it three times and make a wish your wish will come true. However if you ring it over three times your wish will not come true. The bell is very heavy and many people make the mistake of pulling it too hard, making the bell ring multiple times. Orry rung the bell 3 times on his first try, I only rung it twice, but on my second try I got it three 3 times! Success!

Later in the afternoon we rode bikes from our hostel to Vintgar Gorge. The gorge was 2.5 kilometers from our hostel and most of the trip was uphill. Let’s just say it was a rough trip up, but the beauty of the gorge was worth the struggle. Throughout the gorge were rapids and waterfalls. The water was so clear and blue, it was very serene.  Orry really wanted to drink the water, but I told him not to. If it was 80 degrees and sunny out we both probably would have jumped it, although I am pretty sure that swimming is not allowed.  

On the way back from the gorge it poured. I was soaked to the bone but it was a fun bike ride. Our ride back to the hostel was all downhill and we hardly had to pedal. We were probably going at least 25 miles an hour on our bikes with the rain whipping past us. In a way it kind of felt liberating.

When were returned to the hostel we took a nap (or at least I did) before going out to dinner. Dinner was not anything special, but dessert was! Bled is known for their famous dessert Kremschnitte or cream cakes. It’s basically cream and custard sandwiched between two flakey pieces of dough and topped with powdered sugar. It was so good!

So that is it for Bled! We had a great time here and it was a nice escape from the big cities.

-Melissa and Orry