1 day in Lake Bled - 30 September

I arrived into Lake Bled at about 11am after having to once more get bussed across the border and then to catch a bus from the station in Lesce-Bled to the actual lake. Once there and checked in the man went through the 5 must dos of Lake Bled which included the Bled Castle, rowing to Bled Island, going up to the viewpoint over the lake, exploring the Vintgar gorge and finally eating the cream cake that is famous from the area. This list of things became my days mission and I started by walking the 3-5 km (it was quite vague but quite far away) to get to the entry to the Vintgar gorge. This gorge is in the hills behind Lake Bled and is part of a national park. Here the clear blue water flows through a steep gorge where they have built boardwalks attached into the cliffs and crisscrossing there way down the gorge for just under 2km. This place was absolutely stunning and I wandered my way through admiring both the natural beauty of the river and also the crazy people who decided to build the walkway into the cliff. From the end of the gorge I then headed up the hill to get a good view back at Bled township and the back of the castle before making my way along the long road back to my hostel. All of this had taken up quite a bit of the day but I still had 3 hours of sunlight and I planned to make the most of it. I headed off round the lake (~6km round) and admired the surroundings with the castle on the cliff face looking down on the lake and the small island in the middle with the church on it. It was also nice and quiet as the peak season has now ended so the hordes of tourists have thinned slightly. At the far end of the lake I made the steep climb up to the recommended view point (see picture above) and was blown away by the postcard beauty of the lake and castle. The next stop on the list was to row to the island so I hired a row boat from one of the many people selling them around the lake and set off. Despite having no knowledge of how to row I soon got into a rhythm and felt like I was doing alright. However just then the rowing club team started training on the lake and put me back in my place...
I stopped at the island (which is actually the only island in Slovenia) to take a closer look at the church which was cool. The bells on the island also constantly chime as it is meant to bring good luck. After having wandered round the whole island (which didn't take long as it is quite small) before jumping back into my row boat. I did a loop of the island and headed into the middle of the lake, it was actually really fun and quite calming just rowing round for a while. Back on dry land I headed to number 4 on the list, the castle. This castle towers above the lake on top of a cliff and has been a stronghold for many hundreds of years. From the castle you can also get a good view of the town and lake while it was also a good place to watch the sunset. I had a look through the cellars, the old printing press, the foundry and the museum. Once again it didn't take too long as it isn't the largest of castles but it was still really cool. By this point there was only one thing left on the list of must dos and after a massive day of walking I was very excited to try it. The cream cake is basically a massive custard square, with a mixture of fresh cream and custard, that stands more than 5cm tall. And it was delicious!

Back in the hostel I met a couple of Argentinian guys in my room who invited me to eat dinner with them. They cooked up an awesome vegetarian rice dish which I have now forgotten the name of but it was great.

While my time in Slovenia and Lake Bled was extremely short lived I was extremely happy to tick everything off the list that I wanted to do. However Slovenia as a country had definitely captured me with its quaint villages, beautiful countryside and big mountains and I knew that Lake Bled definitely had a lot more to offer as well. I seem to be saying this a lot lately but I suppose I'll just have to come back!

That also concluded the Balkan section of my trip as I was heading to Munich next for Oktoberfest and then making my way north. However it had all been an awesome experience, albeit slightly rushed, and is a part of the world that I will definitely need to return to and do more in depth.