Lake Bled

After the highly satisfying and memorable experience in Croatia the year before, it was time for us return to the glorious Balkan peninsula, this time to the northern most republic of Slovenia. The most iconic destination of Slovenia and which in a way symbolizes the country is undoubtedly Lake Bled.
The brilliant sight of the lake against the backdrop of the snow-capped junior alps with the castle island in the middle makes for an amazing postcard adorning the collections of any traveller. On further research we found that sea was not far and the seaside town of Piran was also manageable to be covered during our trip. The capital city of Ljubljana would be the base. We were then all set for a diverse three day trip covering the lake with snow-capped mountains, the sea-side and the capital city.
We flew from London Luton airport to Ljubljana on the Saturday evening.  We were in the middle of a spring heatwave and thankfully we would be having sunny weather in Slovenia too.  We arrived at a rather modest airport at Ljubljana and took a taxi to our hotel which was right at the town centre along the river-side. The hotel was located at the top floor of an old apartment with the reception already shut down for the day. So keeping fingers crossed we followed the instructions and got access into the area. It was too late to step out so we retired for the day and looked forward to our visit to Lake Bled the next day.
It was a beautiful sunny morning as started our walk in Ljubljana. We were in no mood to hurry up but unfortunately we had to as we had to board a bus to Lake Bled which would be a one hour journey and buses departed by the hour.

However, we could not resist an open air café breakfast with cheese omelette. This proved to be a bit costly as the service was delayed. Nevertheless, how could we not enjoy sitting in an open air café I Europe on one of the first sunny days post winter.  After soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the sunshine, we made our way to the bus stand only to see that the 12 PM bus had departed and the next bus would be at 1. Why does it always happen like that, we wondered? One hour passed by quickly and we were soon on our way to Bled. I had little idea of the place apart from the lake.  Soon I noticed my favourite sight, that of snow-capped mountains. The peaks became more and more prominent and gave us an idea what was in store for us. We reached Bled in an hour and soon realized that just a day trip was not enough. One just had to stay overnight and enjoy all that was on offer. Sadly we did not have the luxury so our task was cut out. Make out the most of what could be done throughout the six hours of day light available to us. We got the first sight of he gorgeous lake. It was still not at its blue-est but with the sun shining and the clouds clearing, it was slowly getting there. Our first target was to get the view from the top and for that the information desk told us about the point on the a hill-top named Ojstrica.  We started our walk towards that along the circumference of the lake. Needless to say the walk with nature was beautiful. The clouds cleared up, the sun shone and the water turned to its blue-est with every passing minute. From a distance we could notice there were people swimming in the water. I wondered if the water would be warm enough as early as April. We took short photo and coffee breaks as we moved towards our point. We reached the camp site known as the Bled Camp which we were told was the landmark after which we would have to lookout for the board saying Ojstrica. Bled Camp was very interesting as it provided accommodation of various types – from tents to log cabins. We rued the fact that we would not be staying in Bled for the night. This would have been one fascinating experience had we stayed at the Bled Camp. Now we could view the gorgeous snow-capped peaks of the Julian Alps in the background and it added to the spectacle which could remind one of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. We soon spotted our board saying Ojstrica and duly took the detour into the forest. We followed the trail up the slope. It would be a half a km walk we thought. The incline was not challenging yet and we would make it easily. However the last bit to go on top of the mountain was as steep as it could get. My wife already known to make an Everest out of such treks already panicked and even suggested she stays back while I go to the summit. Of course that was not to be. We trekked and climbed up having the stones and the base of the tree branches as a grip. There was room for only one person to move so when we had people descending, we had to make way. Finally after some struggle we were atop the hill and was treated to the most gorgeous view of Lake Bled – The snow capped mountains, the island, the castle all captured in one frame along with the blue water. The point did not have much space. There was one wooden bench where people were sitting in turns. There were around twenty people out there which was manageable. Needless to say we wanted to click all possible angles of the view and mostly we were busy with the cameras. We still managed to eke out moments where were enjoyed the view and soaked in the moment rather than fiddling with the camera. After a good one hour on top, we now had to make a move on. All this while the sun was it is brightest. The decent is always more tricky as one needs to balance ones self in order to make sure the centre of gravity of the body is at the right place else there is a chance to get dragged down and fall. We safely negotiated the short decent despite some panic from my wife. We were soon back to the lake side. We were tired now after the somewhat tiresome trek and also need a few bites before moving on. We dipped our feet in the water for a while. It was too cold for a swim but was quite all right to just dip your feet and knees. The cafe was right there so it was an easy choice to take some rest and grab a few bites. We were soon back on the road to resume our walk along the circumference of the lake.

Dusk was beginning to set in which showed us another form of the lake and the castle. All we wanted now was to walk and see the lake off to the sunset. We kept an eye on the clock as the last bus back to Ljubljana was at 9-30 PM. We seemed to have covered most of the lake and with two hours still at hand we thought we would easily make it. Just then we took a turn and saw that Lake extended to another stretch which was not quite visible earlier. This would mean a few extra kms of walk and some added thrill. We upped our pace and soon were in panic mode as to whether we would be able to reach the bus stand where we disembarked in the morning. The sun had set so there was no more photography breaks. We passed a couple of hotels and then finally reached a familiar road. Without any further thrill we were at the bus stand well before time. Dinner was still pending which we planned to have in Ljubljana. Unfortunately, most restaurants were closed so we decided that we had enough in the tank to last us for the night and duly retired for the day.