Bled, Slovenia

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The drive from Klagenfurt to Bled, Slovenia is only an hour and a half, so after lunch on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, Dani, Whitney and I squished into the car. (Euro cars are much smaller, and oh so much more sustainable than in the US).

We drove a little ways past the town of Bled and into the Triglav National Park where we enjoyed a 20 minute hike (all uphill) to the most splendid waterfall. The water flows into the Bohinj Lake, one of seven Alpine lakes protected in this park. Please see picture descriptions for more details.

After our hike, we hopped back in the car and found a place to park in the small town of Bled where everyone and their dogs was out walking, jogging, relaxing, or fishing on this gorgeous day. The lake is encircled by a well-paved 6 km trail, which we began tackling at a leasurely pace, pausing often to snap foto after foto of the most picturesque mountain scenery.

We arrived at the base of the castle and decided to make the hike up to see the views from a higher vantage point and explore some more. For the second time that day, we climbed hundreds and hundreds of steps. Once we reached the summit, we could have gone on a tour of the museum inside the castle but decided against it because we read some bad reviews prior to our trip. Of course, the view was breathtakingly beautiful as you will be able to attest after seeing the pictures.

We made our descent and continued our stroll around the lake. As we came closer to the island on which the famous Bled church sits, we rented a small row boat and made a slow and zig-zagged approach to the island's shore... I was unconsciously rowing much harder with my right arm and had to stop and correct my course often.)

Parking and getting out of the boat was quite the adventure. In Slovenia, there is a saying that when you trip and fall you can use the excuse that you were trying to catch a rabbit. After Dani put his hands on the dock, the boat began drifting away while his lower half was still inside. This scenario rarely ends well as we have all witnessed in all those histerical youtube videos... Instead of trying to pull himself back towards the dock, Dani lunged onto the dock and made it without a spash, but he definitely looked like he was trying to catch a rabbit.

The first thing we saw after climbing the stairs (yes, more steps!) that took us to the church entrace was a bride and a small wedding party drinking tea and taking turns getting photographed. Talk about picture-perfect! We paid the small fee to enter the church and rang the infamous bell three times each. (I forgot to make a wish, as always... but I relalized being fortunate enough to see and do all I did that day was a dream come true already.)

I looked up the story behind the bell's wish-granting powers and I thought I would share it with you...

The Ledgend of the Sunken Bell

"Once upon a time there lived a young widow in the castle of Bled. Her husband was killed by robbers and his body was thrown into the lake. She was so inconsolable that she gathered all her gold and silver and cast a bell for the chapel on the island, in memory to her husband. But the bell didn’t arrive there. The bell, the boat and boatmen sank during a terrible storm. The desperate widow sold all her property after this accident. She offered the proceeds for the construction of a new church on the island. She left Bled and lived the rest of her life in Rome as a nun. After her death the Pope had heard of her misfortune and of her good deeds during her life as a nun, so in memory to her he decide to make a new bell. He said that anyone that rings the bell three times and believes in God, his or her wish would come true."

I must admit my arms were a little sore after rowing back to the mainland, and my legs were fatigued from walking and climbing steps all day, but we still had a little ways to go to complete our loop around the lake. We picked up the pace, passing love-struck couples holding hands, late-night fishermen, and dog-walkers, as we made our way back to the car, our bellies grumpling with hunger.

We stopped at a lovely traditional Slovenian restaurant on our way out of town and enjoyed pizza and pasta dishes. And still, we made it home to Klagenfurt again before midnight. What an action-packed day! I hope those beautiful images are forever imprinted in my brain. The pictures just don't do it justice, but I am sure you will enjoy them regardless.

Love and peace.

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Photos

The Hike through Triglav National Forest
“The Kingdom of the Seven Triglav Lakes is a land that does not know how to smile, so deeply serious have the natural forces designed its face and chosen its colours.”
With these words, the famous mountaineer Julius Kugy described the Valley of Triglav Lakes where the national park was born and later grew to its present size.

Bled Lake
The Bled Lake came into existance when the Bohinj Glacier moved away. It is 2120 m long, up to 1380 m wide and it is of the tectonic origin, After the last Ice Age, the Bohinj Glacier deepend its natural tectonic hollow and gave it its present form. When the ice melted the basin was filled with water. The lake has no considerable affluents except some streams. The temperature of the lake reaches up to 25°C in the summer and gets ice covered in winter.