Blogs from Bled, Upper Carniola, Slovenia, Europe - page 4

Woolly says – I sat enjoying the air conditioning on the bus for the hour and a half trip from the Slovenian capital to the unique town of Bled, I imparted my great knowledge to an enthralled Jo, who was gazing at the scenery passing by. Enthralled hmmm maybe trancelike would be nearer the mark! Woolly says - Bled has had residents since Mesolithic times, which makes it older than me! The name was first mentioned in 1004 when the German King Henry II ceded ownership of the area to Albuin, Bishop of Brixen. The area became famous for the water’s healing properties as well as a retreat for the wealthy, Josip Broz Tito the ruler of Yugoslavia built his summer residence there in 1947. Having seen pictures I knew that the area was now most ... read more

Geo: 46.3683, 14.1147Our night in Zagreb was one of only two single-night stops on our itinerary, so we only unpacked what we needed. Our bags were collected, we ate breakfast, and then met our local guide for our formal tour of Zagreb. Starting on the bus, we got an overview and orientation to the city, and it soon became evident what a green city it is, and how far they have come in revitalizing the city since independence. We learned that during the Yugoslav era, Belgrade was deemed the political capital, whereas Zagreb was designated as cultural capital for the country. As such, Zagreb has an inordinately high number of museums and cultural venues. There is a heavy Habsburg influence in the architecture of the city, particularly in the downtown area. The majority of the massive ... read more

Reminiscent of the South Island in many respects, here are some pictures from Bled.... read more

23 April 2015 Thursday. The weather forecast for Friday in the Lake Bled area was for rain, so we drove directly from Rovinj to Bled so as to be able to walk around Lake Bled when the weather was good. This meant we missed Piran and the Predjama Castle along the way. To save time we had breakfast and lunch at rest stops along the highway. We got to Bled about 2 pm and checked into our sobe. The landlord was an interesting character. He had been an airborne ranger with the Yugoslav army at the beginning of the 1991-95 war, but switched to the Slovenian army shortly thereafter. It's normal for a sobe host to share a glass of wine with the guests when the first arrive, but in this case he shared his bottle ... read more

We were up with the birds this morning as there was a lot of renovating going on in our building and they begin work at the crack of stupid! After breakfast we made our way to the bus station and bought our ticket to go to Lake Bled, Slovenia's leading mountain resort which is a 75 minute ride by coach bus. At 10 am we boarded the bus and drove through the gorgeous Slovenia countryside. We passed several small towns nestled in the mountains that looked like they had come right out of a fairy tale. After several stops to pick up passengers, we finally arrived at Lake Bled. As we followed the road down to the lake and rounded the bend, we had our first glimpse of this magnificent lake. It reminded us of Lake ... read more