Our longest journey by far turned out to be well worth the pain. Although it was nine hours long and we waited for the wrong bus in Bled for over an hour, we had a Harry Potter compartment and we arrived at our destination- Lake Bled, Slovenia.
What a place.
We lobbed our bags into the lockers at our hostel and immediately went on the hunt for a restaurant to eat at (nine hours of travelling can certainly work up an appetite). Pizzeria Rustica served us enormous pizzas and also some pizza-burgers, which are basically burgers with pizza dough for bread. According to my friends, pizza-burgers are something that should be brought to our hometown.
As it was relatively late by the time we had finished, we only had time to walk to the lake itself before getting to bed. On arrival, we had been asked by the hostel whether we were there more for the night life or nature. Considering the fact that we were deprived of at least 20 hours sleep, we went for nature, rejecting the offer of a pub crawl.
At 8am the next morning, we were ready to investigate the area. Having heard loads about the Vintgar Gorge, we got the bus to the site to see what it was all about.
It was utterly stunning.
Never before have I been so taken aback by the beauty of an area. The 4€ (or 3€ with a student card) entry fee allows you access to a 1.6km gorge-side walk, with white water rapids, clear blue pools and waterfalls. A wooden walkway takes you alongside and across parts of the gorge, so you really feel close to nature. At the end of the walk, there are picnic benches and a small café, where we had lunch, and then we walked the other way through the gorge. I took in excess of 150 pictures from the visit- it simply was idyllic.
For the rest of the afternoon, we walked back to Bled and then hired a rowing boat. In the centre of the 2.12km-long lake, there is a castle on an island, which we set out to reach.
Only, we never actually reached it. We payed for an hour's rental, yet one hour in and we were stranded in the middle of the lake, with huge waves rocking our small boat and pushing us to the opposite side of the lake from when we started. To say our idea of a tranquil afternoon was a disaster would be an understatement. For about 45 minutes, we were merely straightening the boat in the direction back to our base and then being pushed by the wind and waves back to the opposite direction. A swimmer, equipped with snorkels, travelled faster than we did. At one point, we were about 50m from the island, but we were then just swept away again. Whilst, at times, we were stressing that the boat would capsize, our belongings would be destroyed, we wouldn't be able to get out of Bled, we wouldn't be able to get home, we could get hypothermia, etc, etc, overall, we had a brilliant time. When things were looking bleak, someone popped on ABBA from their phone and, before long, the fact that we were almost one hour late returning the boat back and still stranded in the middle of the lake was of no concern. Nothing like a bit of 'Waterloo' to raise people's spirits. Fifteen ABBA tracks on and one hour later than expected (and subsequently an extra 8€ poorer), and we got back to the base, with all our possessions in one piece.
Lake Bled is known for its 'Bled Cake', which is basically a sponge with cream, custard and a pastry top. To recover from our stressful two hours, we treated ourselves to a slice each, which was absolutely divine. Undoubtedly worth a try if you're visiting Lake Bled.
For dinner, we decided to buy some pasta and vegetables from the local supermarket and cook our own meal. Pasta and salad turned out to be exactly what we needed after an incredible but tiring day, and we finished our meal with a game of cards on the roof terrace, overlooking Bled and its surrounding mountains.
This morning, we checked out of our hostel but were allowed to leave our bags at the reception to give us more time to explore Lake Bled. We packed lunches and set off on a walk around the lake, which, despite the light rain, was thoroughly pleasant and also provided many more photo opportunities. We finished the walk with a hot chocolate at an adorable, Cath Kidston-esque cafe and then headed up flights and more flights of stairs to another castle, after our unsuccessful attempt at the island castle. We didn't go into the castle but the walk up and down was a nice way to end our short trip to Bled.
Of all the places we have visited so far, Lake Bled has been my favourite so I shall hopefully be returning in the future, despite its remote location.
Next stop: Ljubljana, Slovenia- only 40 minutes away!
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