Bled, Slovenia

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On this European journey, I made the decision to take a day trip to Bled; more specifically, Lake Bled. Before I left on my journey, I read a little bit about the beauty of Lake Bled, and the custom done at the church there. I was eager to see the lake, as like other places I have been, pictures just are not the same as the real thing.

I arrive via bus from Ljubljana eager to get my adventure started. The first decision is where to go. I depart the bus and follow the masses. I knew I wanted to see the famous Lake Bled church, but I knew it would be quite a ways off in the distance. At any rate, I wanted to see it. When I went down a little side road, I come to the edge of Lake Bled. I see the church in the distance and a warm feeling came over me. Pretty cool.

I knew I wanted to look around a bit, and after a short walk, and going up an incline, I see a castle to my right far up the hill. I thought that I might as well visit it, for I would before the day was out anyway. Up I go. The path up was long and seemed like went on for quite some time, but I finally made it to the top. The first thing I wanted to see was the church on a little island in the lake from an overhead view. What a beautiful view. It was actually breathtaking from where I was. I take several photos to have as a remembrance of this. I decide to tour the castle, and I make my way in and look at the artifacts and spend some time reading about the castle and history. There were little peephole windows you could look out and view the surrounding area below, and this was also a beautiful sight. I am not sure if these windows were used in times past by the guards of the castle or not, but never the less, I enjoyed the view.

After some time touring the castle, I decided I wanted to go down to the lake and walk around. The steps were winding going down, but I finally make the main road. Actually the road was right beside the lake, so the view was amazing. As my time was a bit limited, I was not sure if I could make it to the church on the island in the lake, for I only had a window of time before I would have to catch my bus back to Ljubljana. When I got down to the lake, I had a decision to make. Should I take a boat or canoe out to the church, or should I simply walk around the entire area. After much thought, I decided to walk around. My thinking was that if I took a boat or canoe, and I was to get my belongings wet, then I would pretty much be out of contact with anyone. This made me a bit nervous, and I thought I might could see more by walking around the entire lake. The only downside was that I would not be able to actually go to the church. Some decisions are tough to make, however my mind was made up so off walking I go.

There is a path you can take that completely circles the lake. In actuality, the distance around the lake is roughly about six kilometers or slightly less than four miles. I make my trek around the lake stopping quite often to take photos. There are areas around the lake where you can swim, and here were quite a lot of people out on this particular day with family just relaxing on this beautiful day. From a distance, I can see the front area of the church. There are quite a lot of people that are either making their way to the church via canoe or boat, and several people at the church. There is a tradition that newlywed couples do. The groom carries his wife up the stairs to the church; all ninety nine of them. There also is a ""wishing bell"" they can ring. According to the legend, a young widow Poliksena once lived at the Bled Castle, who had a bell casted for the chapel on the island in memory of her husband. During the transport of the bell, a terrible storm struck the boat and sank it together with the crew and the bell, which to this day is said to ring from the depths of the lake. After the widow died, the Pope consecrated a new bell and sent it to the Bled Island. It is said that whoever rings this bell and thereby gives honor to Virgin Mary gets his wish come true. This is just a tradition of course.

Lake Bled has also hosted championship rowing events, and in one area I came upon while walking around was a training rowing facility. I can imagine that rowing on this lake would be beautiful. I look around here for a moment, and continue my walk around.

The overall journey around the lake really did not take very long, and before I knew it, I was back at my starting point. There were many activities and festivities going on at this time, so I stayed around a bit longer to just take it all in.

My time swiftly was up, and I had to catch my bus back to Ljubljana. I went back to the bus stop and waited patiently. Once I knew the proper bus to catch I was all set. This was a lovely experience, and one that I will not ever forget. Bled is a beautiful place to visit, and I hope that I have the opportunity to come here again some day.

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