Ljubljana – Lake Bled

Ljubljana

The train ride from Zagreb was trivial in length when compared to some of the journeys we had undertaken in previous weeks. We arrived into Ljubljana early afternoon and checked into Alibi M14 hostel. After dropping our stuff we headed out into the city. Like many other places we had visited it had a beautiful old town and a magnificent castle.

The city was one of the smallest we had been to and decided we could probably cover the whole thing in the afternoon. We wondered around for several hours, making our way up to the castle and checking some fantastic views of the Slovenian landscape and hideous architecture.

From the castle we returned through the old town crossing the river by the Dragon Bridge, home to the city’s mascots. We then followed the river out towards one of the cities large parks, with the exceptionally European name of Tivoli; almost every city has a park with the same name.

After ambling about in the park for a while we returned to the hostel to prepare ourselves with a dinner plan and headed to a quiet Bosnian style restaurant, Harambasa, where the recommended dish was a variation on meat and cheese and the dessert was a kind of flapjack. After we ate we strolled back through the town towards the hostel.

Lake Bled

The following morning we planned to visit Lake Bled. Many people we had met in the Balkans had recommended that we go there, and having seen most of Ljubljana already we decided we should do our best to get there. We headed down to the bus station and booked a seat on the next bus. With a few hours to wait, we found a cafe on the river, ordered some croissants and did a spot of people watching. We then got on the bus and headed out through Slovenia towards the lake.

On arrival it was very quickly clear why people suggested that we visit. The water was beautifully clear, and the lake itself was tucked in between huge mountains, on one cliff stood a castle and in the middle of the lake was an island with a church on it.

We spent the day walking around the lake, stopping every third step to take another perfect photograph. After we had completed our circuit we stopped for some food, with David ending up with half a chicken before heading back to Ljubljana to prepare for the next leg of the trip into Italy.