The travels of Tim and Megan: Lake Bled, Slovenia

Saturday

On Saturday morning we caught a bus from the nearby Ljubljana bus station to a beautiful place in north-west Slovenia called Lake Bled. After Ljubljana, Lake Bled is the most tourist-visited spot in Slovenia. Lake Bled is only about 60km from Ljubljana, but a few stops along the way meant that it took just over an hour to get there.

Lake Bled really is amazing. It is a small town situated on the edge of a beautiful lake, which has a tiny island in the middle of it. On the pear-shaped island (Slovenia's only true island) is a beautiful old church, the Church of the Assumption, complete with a "wishing bell". On the clifftops high above the edge of the lake is Bled Castle. And the amazing Julian Alps provide the perfect backdrop to the lakeside town.

We were delighted to see that outside of Ljubljana, there was thick snow on the ground, and as we got closer to Lake Bled, which is at a higher altitude, there was even more snow. We arrived in Lake Bled just after 11am and we made our way down to the lake and began our walk around it. The distance around the whole lake is about 6km and it took us an hour and a half but we stopped for a lot of photos and exploring along the way...and Megan was busy constructing snowballs that she hurled at Tim as we went!

The lake is so beautiful - it is amazingly clear and clean - and with the snow on the ground and covering the trees around the edge of the lake, the views were truly spectacular. The crisp, clean mountain air made the walk more enjoyable too. We were amazed to hear that swimming in the lake in summer time is extremely popular, as the water temperature gets up to around 24 degrees, even though in the middle of winter it can freeze over in parts around the edges!!!

After our lap of the lake, we found a nice little cafe and got ourselves a grilled panini for lunch. We then set off to explore a few of the shops. Most of the shops were very touristy and catered for the winter sports fans out there, although we did find some lovely postcards of the picturesque town.

We then set off for the island! We found a boat man who took us off to the island and we had half an hour to wander around once we got to the island. All there is on the island is the church and another building that had an exhibition in a few rooms and a small bar/cafe/souvenir shop at the front. We had a look inside the little church, which was beautifully decorated.

The island has been the site of a Christian church since the 9th century, although excavations have shown that early Slavs worshipped at a pagan temple there at least a century before that. The current church was built in the 17th century but it contains fresco fragments from the 14th century in display cases in the foyer. Next to the church is a 15th century belfry, which contains the wishing bell. We each had a go ringing the wishing bell inside the church, a tradition that tourists have been continuing for many many years. We can't tell you what the wishes were or they won't come true.

The exhibition in the other building looked at the history and significance of the Christmas crib in Slovenia. There were lots of different styles of Christmas cribs that local artists had donated for the exhibition - some were good, others were not - but our favourite was the one made of gingerbread!

Away from the island and back on dry land, it was getting a little dark and very cold, so our plans to conquer the 100 metre high cliff top with the medieval Bled Castle on top were scuttled. The castle dates back to the 11th century, although most of what stands there today is from the 16th century. The baroque southern wing houses a museum collection that follows the history of Lake Bled and its settlements from the Bronze Age to the mid-19th century. The views from the castle out over the lake below must be breath-taking!

The bus ride back to Ljubljana went fairly quickly, partly because we both had a nap on the way! Back in Ljubljana, it was absolutely freezing - the coldest it got during our whole stay. Once again there was a bit of snow falling, however, after warming up back at the hotel, we braved the cold weather and made it down to Sokol, where we had another very nice meal. We headed home after dinner and had a fairly early night.

Sunday

Sunday was our final day in Slovenia, so after packing up and checking out of the hotel, we set off for the National Museum and Natural History Museum, which are both housed in a fine looking building not far from Tivoli Park. We thought the museums were really good, as they weren't too big and didn't have too much to look at; it was just the right amount of stuff to spend an hour or two perusing, which is usually the extent of our concentration span!

In the National Museum, the material is displayed in chronological order, from the first artefacts created by humans (from Karst cave sites dated to the Middle Paleolithic period - 100,000 years ago), to objects illuminating Slovenian culture at the beginning of the 20th century. The highlight in the National Museum was a "Neanderthal flute" believed to be around 43,000 years old. The piece is a hollowed bone of a cave bear that has two complete holes in one side and it is broken at either end. It was discovered in 1995 at an archaeological site in north-western Slovenia. Whether it was actually a musical instrument has been the subject of much debate, however, if it was in fact created to play music, then it would be the world's oldest musical instrument and would prove the existence of music 43,000 years ago!

In the Natural History Museum our favourite items were the part skeleton of a mammoth and the skeleton of a cave bear, although they also have one of the largest mineral collections in the world and a fossilised fish skeleton preserved in triassic limestone, believed to be around 210 million years old. That's an old fish!

After our burst of culture, we wandered past the small but very modern looking Slovenian parliament building and stopped at a cafe across the road from there for a hot chocolate. The rest of the day was very relaxing - we spent it looking through some shops, walking along side the river, sipping mulled wine on the Triple Bridge and searching through a book shop for a book on Ljubljana.

Our tally of countries visited is climbing steadily: Megan is up to 26, Tim 22. Solid. Happy New Year to all the fans of the blog!