Lynn WiezyckiWe left Rovinj, Croatia behind and crossed the border into Slovenia. We arrived in Bled, Slovenia and I was pleasantly surprised with the somewhat different style and feel of things.
Although we traveled through some mountainous terrain to reach Bled, I did not realize until we drove into the neighborhood where our next “home” was that the influences here had been different! There was a definite Alpine/Swiss vibe here!
Note: All images were made with my Nikon Z8 with the Nikon Z 24-200mm lens unless otherwise noted.
Parking was limited in Bled so we walked to town to check things out and grab some dinner! We were up on a hill so the walk to town was not bad…coming back a bit more energy was needed!
It was late afternoon, so the sun was getting low, shining on the buildings across Lake Bled.
We found a restaurant in town, across the road from Lake Bled, that had outdoor seating. As we waited for our food, I noticed boats crossing the lake. These man-powered boats (no motors allowed) carried people over to the island in the lake. I ran out by the lake to catch this before the sun got too low!
As I walked along the shore I noticed the sun was shining on the slopes above the town.
We headed back to the house to do some downloading from our morning in Rovinj (see Part 9) and what little we had done that afternoon. The plan was to get up very early and walk around the lake!
The next morning, we walked out to Lake Bled, and what a morning we witnessed! Fog lay across the lake and up into the mountains. A trail and boardwalk follow the shore of Lake Bled for its full circumference. As we made out way around the lake we were treated to some spectacular scenes!
As we walked around the trail there were other buildings that overlooked the lake.
As the sun rose it lit up the fog and when a bird flew through I had to chatch it!
We were at the opposite end of the lake from where the boats were going over to the island but I was happy to make this image! I was glad I had that 24-200mm lens to zoom with!
As we walked around the lake we found so many other great subjects!
On the far side of Lake Bled, we could get a closer view of Bled Castle. We decided we needed to get up there and see it a bit closer.
We stopped for some breakfast at the only place we could find open on the lake. They did have the first chai latte that I had on the whole trip! Finally! I had two! After eating, we walked the remainder of the trail around the lake which passes by the more commercial section of town.
We walked back to the house but I caught a few additional images along the way!
That afternoon we drove around Bled and up the mountain to visit Bled Castle. There was a drawbridge and a very very steep entrance staircase that I could see would have been fairly easy to defend! There is a museum, chapel, and wine shop.
There were some great views from the castle!
Of course, I had to make an image of the church from this vantage point!
Also, from the castle, I saw a great view of the Julian Alps above Bled.
We decided to have pizza for dinner that night so we picked it up and brought it back to our chalet. I was so thrilled with the images I had made that day, I could hardly sleep. But our amazing trip was coming to an end!
The next morning, we loaded up the vehicles and drove back to Zagreb, Croatia. We dropped the vehicles at the airport, said our goodbyes to our wonderful Croatian friend, Kresimer, and took an Uber to our last “home” on our trip, the splendid Esplanade Zagreb. We had dinner at the Esplanade Zagreb, my friend ordered an aperitif and said it was very good. I asked for a glass and asked to see the bottle, it was Aura Brandied Red Wine! It was so good. When we got back from our walk around Zagreb that evening, we stopped in the hotel lounge. We ordered Aura Limoncello, and the waiter said they would not serve any other brand! We ended up purchasing bottles of Aura Limoncello and brandied Red Wine in the duty-free shop the next morning as we left Croatia! (see Part 8 for our Aura experience). As of October 2024, I am still nursing that bottle of limoncello along!
Here is the gallery with the last night in Zagreb photos.
I really wish we had more time in Slovenia, and Croatia for that matter! Slovenia was similar to but different from the parts of Croatia we visited. I very highly recommend a visit of more than a couple of days to Bled. We did not have enough time to take a boat over to the island, so I was disappointed in that regard but we did drive a bit into the mountains. The gallery of these images is here: Misc Slovenia.
This is the final of 10 blog posts for this two-week-long trip. Please be sure to check out all the other posts.
To view larger versions of these images and many, many more and to purchase as prints or on other merchandise please visit my gallery: Bled, Slovenia
That is all for now!
Lynn
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