We stayed two nights in Ljulblana. Which gave us time to take a day trip outside the city. The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day for seeing some of Slovenia’s natural highlights.
Lake Bled has been a mountain resort for centuries. It’s in an alpine setting with a beautiful lake, a castle hanging off a cliff and an island with a church that you visit by boat.
We started out at the castle which was fun, with Jon as our guide. The castle dates back 1000 years and was the seat of the Austrian bishops. They have a printing shop with a replica of Gutenberg’s first press. It was a bit of a hike from the parking lot up to the castle.
We took a pletna boat to the island. These boats are similar to gondolas in venice with a local gondolier. It’s a steep climb up 98 stairs to the Church of the Assumption, a small Catholic chapel with the “make a wish” bell. Visitors can pull the rope that rings the bell and make a wish. Of course the bells never stop ringing. One of the lovely sounds of Europe is church bells ringing every 15 minutes.
Local wedding custom requires the groom to carry his bride up those 98 steps before the wedding. Wooh. Better be in shape.
The museum had an exhibition of small clay dolls dressed in traditional costumes of all the regions of Baltic and Slavic countries. I love folk museums so this was right up my alley.
After our morning excursions we headed towards the Julian Alps. Our lunch stop was a charming little pub near Lake Bojing. This region was looking very Austrian. The views in the mountains were amazing. I could envision spending a week in this area hiking and enjoying the countryside.
Even though it was October, everything was very green yet there was a slight dust of snow on the mountain tops. The Alps are at 9000 feet of elevation – less than the town of Breckenridge.
By this time we were ready to go back to Ljublanja. But Gate tours thought we needed a few more things to do. So we stopped in a little village to see a museum about making alpine cheese followed by a snack of local cheese and breads. Well who is going to complain about more food?
This plaque outside the cheese museum says a lot about what these small European towns sacrificed during the wars of this century. Look how many young men with the same lastnames died in early WWII.
