Day 38 Ljubljana and Lake Bled
Today we were off early to catch a tour leaving at 8am for the town of Ljubljana and Lake Bled. Our transport was a 9 seater Renault van driven by a fit looking young chap who was also a ski jumper. His reaction timings, as you would expect, were pretty sharp. For an old guy used to giving every thing a very wide berth, sitting in the front seat was exciting to put it mildly.
We soon crossed the Italian border into Slovenia which I have to say is the prettiest country I have ever seen. 84% is forested, every where is lush and green, and great snow capped peaks marking the boarder with Austria rise up in the distance.
Our first stop was at the lovely town of Ljubljana which, after being destroyed by an earthquake, was rebuilt by an Austrian Architect. The town has wound up bearing a very strong resemblance to Salzburg.
We took the funicular up to the castle overlooking the city.
And we managed to grab a coffee before getting back on the van and on to Lake Bled.
This is an incredibly scenic place. We grabbed a quick lunch in a restaurant overlooking the lake. This place’s claim to fame was that it had invented the world famous Kremsnita cake. Now I had never heard of it before and it looked to me like a vanilla slice with an extra layer of cream slapped on between the pastry, but what do I know.
We did not have enough time to walk fully around the lake but we went as far as we were able in the time we had
Power boats are not allowed on the lake but passengers are carried in flat bottomed wooden boats called Pletna. These can carry 18 passengers and are rowed by a guy standing in the stern.
A long drive home, getting back to Trieste around 4pm.
Hardys’ Travels 