Lake Bled, Slovenia

Now, depending on who you ask (the UN, the Olympics, my dad...), I have been to between 25-28 countries in my lifetime, with more to come.  I don't have very many countries that my parents don't have already (since they've been to over 70 right now) but I know they've never been to Slovenia!  Everyone talks about how beautiful Lake Bled is, and that it's pretty much closed up in the winter, so we had to take the opportunity to get down there this summer.  Thankfully, it's on the SUNNY side of the Alps!

Sorry this is a blurry picture, but I love all of the really long tunnels you get to experience in the Alps.  I particularly enjoy the kilometers this way-kilometers that way signs that let you know how far you've come and how far you've got to go. I told Todd to try to take a picture, but even at 100km/h it's too fast to really do this.

You've got to get that Slovenian vignette (and an Austrian one) before you go into either country.  (Well, you can get them once you pass the border but I'm too nervous to do that!  You can buy them at any rest stop along the way.)  You also have to pay a toll to go into the Karawanken Tunnel that is the dividing line between Austria and Slovenia. It's 7.20 Euros but not the most expensive tunnel toll on the route down to Lake Bled. One a bit farther back in Austria was 11.50 Euros!

Todd really liked the Karawankentunnel entrance.  You can see on the left side that they are building yet another tunnel to help ease summer traffic.  Traffic down to Lake Bled was fine.  Coming home was a WHOLE different story. 

Our first stop was to Camping Sobec, a few miles outside of the city of Bled.  Todd set up our tent pretty quickly.  I'm not entirely sure what was happening here.  I'm like... oh Todd thinks it's great and Natalie (for some reason) is grumpy and... what is happening with Grant!?!  (For the record, the people behind us - with the camper to the right - were from the Netherlands and were pretty much the most perfect, non-Griswold family EVER.  And so nice!)

Happier faces once we left the campsite and went into the city of Bled for lunch.  Above the kids is Bled Castle.

A beautiful shot of Bled Castle and St. Martin along Lake Bled.

Another beautiful view of Lake Bled.  You can see Bled Castle on the right, and in the distance on the left, you can see Bled Island and it's church.

Time for lunch!  Yes please!  I'm still experiencing the trauma of Saturday night's rainstorm in the damp and muggy tent. I need sun and beer!

After a late lunch, we went back to the campsite to enjoy it's fun amenities.  The kids went swimming in this little lake and had a blast!

It's a very simple but very lovely campground. I would definitely come back to this one!

The kids got Fanta Limon so they were pretty stoked.  (Bribe to eat fresh raspberries from local farmers, check!)  The raspberries were yum!

I bought this little kick up grill off amazon.de a few days before we left and thank goodness it arrived in time.  We ate a few meals on this bad boy!  It worked great!  So funny though... the Europeans have such an aversion to fire.  We lit this and people were walking by like we were crazy.  

On our only full day in Bled, we decided to do the 6km hike around the lake and then hit up Bled Island.  Along with some Bled Creme Cake, it was about all we had scheduled.  Good thing, because it took all day!  In the picture above, you can see Bled Island in the distance on the left.

Bled Castle is actually the OLDEST castle in Slovenia. It was first mentioned in 1011. We didn't make it to the castle for lack of time, and because we heard it wasn't that great anyway.  I should probably have learned by now to form my own opinions on these things, but hiking around the lake was a higher priority for us, so we chose that instead. 

These little boats called pletnas are rowed by one man, holding about 15 or so people in it.  That is NOT an easy task to row all the way out to that island.

Wide zoom lens capturing it all.

The hike around the lake is pretty long, but not as long as our beer hike in Germany and not nearly as steep.  Most of it is pretty flat.  You can't beat the views from almost every angle of the lake. The kids didn't really have any problems with it.

The Julian Alps are only prominent on the north side of the lake. 

As much as I love this photo, I wish I could tell you that it wasn't staged. 

More wide zoom love of Bled Island in the middle of the western part of the lake. 

Extreme zoom of the Church of the Assumption on Bled Island. You can see the 99 steps on the right side of the island. More on that in a bit.

And then there was this.  Just kind of hanging out, sunning itself by the shores of Lake Bled.

Then this lady decided she might want to pet the swans in the lake.  Ummm, I'm gonna NOT recommend that.

Gotta admit this.  Todd and I went on a photo fight for the best tree framed picture of Bled Island.  This is one of mine.

Also mine.

Ok, ok. I'll be fair.  This was one of Todd's.

Bled Island without a tree branch frame.

You can see this isn't a difficult hike. Mostly flat, very scenic.

Wait. What?  The funniest part is the number of people who were curious about the sign so they were walking down to get a closer look.  Ummm, no thanks!

No filter on this pic.  That's the actual color of lakes that originate from glaciers.

Yep. Still mine.

Also mine, but from the western side of Lake Bled.

"Mommy, take my picture on this little bridge!" This was on the west side near Camping Bled, which isn't where we camped but looked pretty cool nonetheless.

One of the neat things about Lake Bled is that it's been the location for the World Rowing Championships in 1966, 1979, 1989 and 2011. The World Rowing Masters Regatta was most recently held this year!  You can launch your row boats right here on the left.

I don't really have my mind blown that much... but how cool is this?  This is a great way to keep those sodas cold! 

As you come around the northwest side of the lake, these are your views.

After hiking around about 80% of the lake, we decided it was time for lunch.  And beer of course.  There's a nice little beachy area beneath Bled Castle with a couple of restaurants. We ate at the Grajska Plaza restaurant.  The views were really pretty, the waiter was friendly, and the meal was surprisingly good. Todd's meal was so well presented that the couple at the next table said, "I'll have what he's having!" 

We finally, finally ended our 6km hike around Lake Bled and decided it was time to take the pletna out to Bled Island.  But you have to wait for one to be available, so while Todd went to get some cash, the kids and I hung out by the lake waiting for a boat. I swear I didn't stage this one!

Grant was super insistent that he sit in the FRONT of the boat.  This nice couple (grandparents of the kids who sat on the left) sat around him for balance reasons on the pletna. We decided he could go home with his new grandparents. 

Gah. This poor guy worked so hard to row us all the way out to Bled Island.  We were his first boat of the day.  This is like the worst workout ever.  Rowing for time and distance, against actual elements like sun and wind. 

Family selfie on a pletna as we approach Bled Island. Look at Long Arms in my sunglasses!

We made it to the 99 steps and of course, heard all the groans of Natalie.  You can see Grant is WAY ahead of me and Nat here.  He took off like a champ.

The story of the 99 steps is that for all weddings that occur on this island (and there can be up to 2 a day in the summer here!), the groom should carry his bride up these steps so that they have a long and happy marriage. I think I'd be a little afraid of a) being dropped in my white dress and cracking my skull open and b) having a super sweaty groom-to-be at the top.

The Church of the Assumption on Bled Island is really neat inside.  Small but full of history.  The alter area behind Grant in the above picture has images of the donors of the castle, Henry II and his wife Cunigunde who of course are buried in the cathedral in Bamburg, not too far from where we live.  Here, the kids are ringing the Bell of Wishes (which is from 1534).  From the official Bled.si website, "According to the legend, a young widow Poliksena once lived at the Bled Castle, who had a bell casted for the chapel on the island in memory of her husband. During the transport of the bell, a terrible storm struck the boat and sank it together with the crew and the bell, which to this day is said to ring from the depths of the lake. After the widow died, the Pope consecrated a new bell and sent it to the Bled Island. It is said that whoever rings this bell and thereby gives honor to Virgin Mary gets his wish come true."

Remnants of an original stone wall from the apse of the pre-Roman chapel.

This bell tower was built in the 1400s (15th century) but has been renovated several times due to earthquakes as well as a fire in 1688.  It's 54 meters (or 177-ish feet) high. 

"Hey, who's excited to climb this tower?"

But come on you guys, tell me these views aren't incredible!  Look at that blue water!

Alright, at least one person is happy.  Once you get to the top of the tower, you get to see a nifty pendulum clock. It's wound once a day and was recently restored in 2013.  It isn't as old as the tower, but it's still pretty cool!

 The easiest part of the day was going DOWN the stairs. I spy my boat and it's time to head back to the mainland. 

 

Looking ahead as we head back east to the mainland.  Lots of rowing and pletnas and Alps.

Our last stop was for the famous Bled Creme Cake.  This is RIGHT up my alley.   I'm a bit disappointed it's not on my scratch off food map, but the gem behind it actually was.  Tasty afternoon cakes!

We went back to the campsite and the kids and Todd went swimming for a bit in the pond before we went on a little stroll around the campsite.  The Camping Šobec campsite sits in the oxbow of the Sava River, and you can swim in the river parts that surround the camp.

Although the world's most rickety wooden bridge crosses the Sava River (self imposed superlative), it was a great place to watch the swimmers in their inner tubes. 

I ain't even playing around here.  It's not even dark and I'm already in jammie pants watching the hubs attempt to light a grill for dinner. 

We tried to keep it paleo.  Veggies in foil on the left.  Chicken and peppers and we aren't sure what the white stuff was (onions?) on the right. We bought our meals at the little grocery store within walking distance on the campus of Camping Šobec.  It was edible and no one got sick! 

The next-door Dutch family had two kids (maybe... or a daughter and her boyfriend. That relationship was weird).  These kids helped out with dinner and cleanup every night. I don't know why, but I think observing this made my kids feel like it was okay to help their parents.  Here they are taking out the trash for us. 

Slovenian S'mores. It consisted of Slovenian marshmallows (which are sweeter than American ones), butter cookies, and Austrian chocolate of some sort. 

Grant was super exhausted on our last night in Bled, so I stayed back with him so he could fall asleep.  But Natalie had done a lot of helping out and didn't whine and complain so Todd said she could stay up and watch the fire show with him. She absolutely loved it! For good reason.  Our campsite was pretty close to the stage, so even though I stayed back to keep an ear on Grant, I could still see the show and it was awesome!

 Such a fun show!  I highly recommend Camping Šobec and Lake Bled in general.  

Until next time, Lake Bled!  Next stop, Ljubljana!