Bled

We finally made it to Bled on Friday. We got up early and were going to catch the 8 am bus, but misjudged the time it would take us to get ready. So we decided to wait and go get the 8:30 bus. It takes about 25 to 30 minutes to walk form the hostel to the bus station. When we got there, we walked up to the counter and said “Bled.” We then had this conversation:

Her: The 9 am bus?
Me: isn’t there one at 8:30?
Her: Yes, but you have to change buses and it takes longer.
Me: o....k....

According to the bus station website the bus at 8:30 got us there just as quick at the 9, but who were we to argue with her. So we killed some time at the bus station waiting for the bus, when we got on it was pretty empty. I got to sit in the front seat and watch the Alps come towards me. Kinda cool. Just saying.

We stopped in a few stations along the way and I WISH I had gotten out at one and taken a picture. As we were rolling in, I glanced up and saw an add for the “bus pub.” Except for it was a bunch a elementary school kids looking out a school bus window with “Bus Pub” written in black on the top of the bus. No, you read that correctly. We stopped for 5 minutes and I debated getting out, but decided not to. So  so wish I did.

We made it to Bled in about one hour. We stopped at one stop that said “Bled” and I looked around, like...uhhh...here? The bus driver turned around and said “Here town. Next stop lake. ok?” So we waited for the next stop. At the next stop he said “Here lake. Go that road to lake, and that road to castle.” We started off going to the lake. We had planned to walk all. the. way. around. the. lake. And climb up a few different viewing points, and the castle. I didn’t think I would make it through the whole day. It was very pretty lake. Not as pretty as Ohrid, but pretty none the less. Part of the attraction was that we were in the ALPS! I mean come on! Pretty awesome! It took us a long time to walk the lake. We tried to follow the map to get up to a viewing point, and the only thing I kept thinking was “this is a really bad idea. A really bad idea.” But I couldn’t tell Jen or Lizzie that I wanted to back out because they were too far ahead of me. So I just walked really slow and tried to find my footing. Luckily I didn’t get hurt, but I slipped a couple of times.

Lizzie went up to the top while Jen and I went down. Then we waited about 45 minutes for her sitting by the lake. It was cold. Then we continued walking around the lake. We came upon the national rowing practice for the Olympics. Then continued walking towards the castle.  There were some beaches and even a water park for the summer.

We walked up this cliff to get to the castle. Inside the castle there was a print making shop (complete with the first printed book in Slovenian), beautiful views, a small museum, and a wine shop (where you could bottle your own wine for 15 Euros).

Broken? Use duct tape!

First book in Slovenian

Then we walked back down the cliff and caught a bus to this island with a church that we had been walking around (for 12 euros. eek!). In one of the houses on the island they had a small museum with an exhibition of clay dolls with folk dress from around the EU.

Then there was a church, with a bell we could actually ring! Apparently it has some significance as a wishing bell, but at the time I didn’t know that.

We then took the boat back to the mainland and went to this Wine and Chocolate shop. Where we got to taste local wine that Lizzie really loved served to us by a Macedonian man from Prilep! I know weird huh? He came over in the army of Yugoslavia and then stayed to start a family. He goes back to Macedonia once a year. We bought some chocolate. Then with an hour to kill we went and ate Bled Cream Cake at the original place it was made. I’m not sure if this would have been famous if it wasn’t for the tourist advertisement.

But it took longer than anticipated and we had to run to the bus stop. But we made it! When we got back to Ljubljana, we just relaxed in the hostel and planned our weekend. :)