Slovenia, Lake Bled, and on our way to Lake Bohinj

Early Sunday morning we went to the car rental facility next to the station to pick up our car. It took very little time to get things done, so we were on our way while the road was still almost empty. The advantage of such a small country is that you never have to spend too long in the car before reaching your next destination.

We decided to pick up some bread, cold cuts and drinks, so that we could have our lunch outside, because the weather forecast promised a nice day. Driving north, the scenery got more and more mountainous. Having had breakfast so early already, we had our picnic lunch early as well at a nice spot after we left the motorway. Shortly thereafter we reached Lake Bled. In spite of the nice weather, this otherwise touristic area was not crowded at all. It seemed that Slovenian people took a slow start this day.

Lake Bled is a picturesque lake with a little island and a church on it. It does indeed look idyllic, although we understood from some reading that the island is more a wedding picture spot than anything else. We decided not to do the touristy thing, but take a good hike on the north side of the lake. At the start it was still a bit cloudy, but the sun came through and the temperature went up to a comfortable 20 °C or so. The walk along the lake is quite nice, especially after passing the rowing club, from where you see the castle high on the cliff overlooking the lake. We walked off quite a few calories, so we rewarded ourselves with a local specialty: Blejska kremšnita. It's a calorie bomb with feuilleté dough, lemon bavarois and whipped cream. Not something I should make a habit of, but we felt we had deserved it.

Slovenia, Lake Bled - local pastry

Later that afternoon we drove on into the mountains, and the scenery got really pretty. It did not take too long until we arrived in Ribčev Laz, the village that would be our base to explore the area of Lake Bohinj and the mountains surrounding Slovenia's highest peak (and symbol in the Slovenian flag): Mount Triglav.