Category: Slovenia

Bled Day 1 – Bled (Upper Carniola), Slovenia November 2017 (Tour 1)

Bled is situated in the Julian Alps in northwest Slovenia, not far from Austria and Italy. It is an out and out tourist destination (with an abundance of hotels, pensions and camp sites) in a very picturesque location, surrounded by mountains and forests. The lake of the same name is oval shaped, about 2 clicks long, and just under 30m deep (that’s for the divers amongst you; not that I would want to dive it).  It has a small island on which stands a church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary but the lake is perhaps best known for holding the World Rowing Championships on no less than 4 occasions.

You could circuit the Lake on foot in just over an hour if it weren’t for the fact you simply have to stop, again and again, to take photographs – it is stunning. It took me more than 2 hours with most of my photo shots directed towards the island because it seems to get better and better from every angle but there are many other photo opportunities.  I walked in a clockwise direction from the centre of the town on an excellent path that hugged the shoreline the whole way.

Looking back towards the town with the parish church of St Martin on the left 

One of my first shots of the Island and its church

Getting closer

The hardest part will be deciding which photos to use in the blog

I didn’t realise rowing is so popular in Slovenia

Looking back over the lake as it starts to get dark and I reach my hotel, the image is almost surreal

Dinner was at the Restavracija Grill in the Lovec Hotel (the sister hotel to the one I am staying in) and the food was good but the alcohol (especially the beer) was great…

Tomorrow: some hill walking and I’ll pop into both Bled Castle and St Martin’s Church. Oh… and the Lovec Hotel for a beer or two.

Bled (Upper Carniola), Slovenia November 2017 (Tour 1)

The journey to Bled from Graz wouldn’t have taken more than an hour or two except I stopped twice.

The first time was to fill my LPG tanks (which amongst other things power the heating system in the Van; I think I may be needing them soon – it was just 2 degrees as I came over the mountains from Austria) and the second was to check out the little village of “Egg am Faaker See”. I was going to stop at the Austrian town of Villach, on the Draava River, but Egg am Faaker See, just 5 clicks further on, sounded more interesting and of course it is much smaller.

The stop to fill up with LPG was not enjoyable. There I was trying to fix/force a German adaptor on to my UK style LPG tap when a young lady, after watching me struggle for ten minutes or so, pointed out that Austrian LPG stations use the same adaptor as the French and the Italians- well of course they do. Silly me. Ten minutes is not a lot of time in the great scheme of things but the first few seconds of trying to fill the tank with the wrong adaptor in place caught me without gloves and receiving what felt like serious burns from the cold propane gas. I’ll wear gloves in future even if I don’t always apply the correct adaptor. Why on earth Europe should operate four different LPG fittings I do not know.

The stop at Egg am Faaker See was far more enjoyable not least because the air temperature had risen to 10 degrees and it was getting warmer still. I didn’t do anything but take in the views and chill out for an hour or so.

The Faaker See

I was chilled out and the rest of the journey to Bled (just inside the Slovenian border) went so smoothly I decided to continue with the mood and check into the four star Kompas Hotel for a day or two (hotels here are half price this time of the year) and take advantage of their swimming pool, sauna and massage facilities. Now that is chilled!

First however a gentle walk around Lake Bled:-

There’s the map…

…there’s the lake…

…and there’s the castle to help get my bearings.