Slovenia in 2013 - Bled
Slovenia |
|
| Capital | Ljubljana |
| Language(s) | Slovenian, English is understood really well. |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Electricity | European - 50 Hz / 220 V |
| People | Really friendly |
| Traffic | Felt really safe |
| Prices | European average |
| Currency | Euro |
| Visa | Schengen |
| Hiking | Beautiful surroundings, but wild camping is not allowed |
Lake Bled as seen from the town
Easter came early this year, offering two extra days off work like always, and what would be a better way to use those free days than traveling? At first we thought about visiting St.Petersburg or Copenhagen, but decided to give them a chance during some warmer season. At first it seemed like flights to all destinations in southern Europe were ridiculously expensive, but somehow we managed to find really good flights to Slovenia, which we thought would be at least relatively warm.
Our flight to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, departed at 6:55 am, so we had basically a whole day in Slovenia right away. The airport seemed to be actually closer to the tourist city of Bled than Ljubljana so we decided to visit Bled first. Bled's a small but apparently pretty popular tourist destination in northwestern Slovenia, and it's famous for the lake and island named after the town and also for the beautiful castle standing on top of a huge rock right next to the lake. Add mountains all around the town and you'll start to understand what makes Bled such a popular destination for travelers.
Getting to Bled would have been really easy with the shuttle bus straight from the airport, but naturally we had to save a couple of euros and take a local bus. In the end we ended up taking three buses before we made it to Bled, but at least we still saved a bit of money by doing that! At thirty euros per night our double room was the cheapest we could find.
After settling in we took a quick stroll around the town and started walking towards the Bled Castle. The walk took maybe half an hour and the last couple of hundred meters were on pretty steep road. The entrance fee to the castle was eight euros, but perhaps it was worth paying because of the great view over the lake from the castle walls. There was also a small museum, a blacksmith and a wine cellar inside the castle, but none of them was really that interesting. In about an hour we had seen everything there was to see in the castle and started heading down. This time we took the walking route on the other side of the castle, which was a lot nicer as there were no cars and very few people as well.
Back in the town we went to eat our old favorite from Montenegro: ćevapčići. Luckily it seemed to be just as tasty as in Budva, although a tad more expensive. In the evening the weather was deteriorating so we didn't do anything else except for trying to take a couple of photos of the nicely lit castle, but my camera didn't really catch the atmosphere all that well. It would have been possible to take a boat ride to the island on the other end of the lake, but because of the price tag of twelve euros we quickly decided not to go.
The church under the castle rock
The paintings inside the church were quite grim.
Lake Bled in its winter costume
A snowy table cloth
There were many different kinds of birds in the lake.
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