I would consider this the highlight of my trip... I was so looking forward to this. I think that I took the most pictures while on this tour. It was a good tour, great tour guide and weather. The funny thing was that on my previous tour the day before, we were discussing with each other what our future plans were and I realized that a couple of us were all signed up on tours to Lake bled on the same day, and for another passenger and I, our pick up times were similar to one another... So I wasn't too surprised that morning when I saw familiar faces enter the travel van :) We had a smaller group this time, 4 of us in total, including the guide... so it was a rather intimate group.
Lake Bled is like a fairytale place, an emerald green lake that is so clear with a romantic island in the middle of the lake, an a medieval castle on the cliff and the backdrop of the mountains in the distance.... Everyone I've met who went there was all agreeable on one point. The scenery is definitely breathtaking.
In order to get to the island, you can swim across, or you can take a boat like we did :) hehe... handsome slovenian guy alert :P
Thanks to Chen Lin for this wonderful pic... it's now my desktop picture :P
Steps leading up to the church on the island. Many couples (British) apparently love to get married on this island, and legend has it that if the groom can carry his bride up the entire staircase, they will have a very happy marriage... there are more than a hundred steps i think ...
Exterior of the church
Interior: there's also the wishing bell... you make a wish and ring the bell 3 times and hopefully it comes true! ANother interesting fact about the church is that it has the only mural in Europe which depicts the circumcism of Jesus. (Top right).
Ringing the bell for my wish to come true!!
At lake bled, we were also shown this villa which used to be the former residence of Titto (former president of Yugoslavia) when he visited Slovenia. Today it is a private hotel and villa bled is its name.
On our way to Bohinj valley: Slovenian countryside.... love the slope roofs... the residents also take pride in decorating the exterior of their houses and many of the balconies were lined with potted flowers/plants.
Bohinj valley. The lake is colder than Lake bled, so not so popular among the swimmers here..
We took a 20 mins hike to see this waterfall... was so worried about the hike!!! Thought I wouldn't be able to make it... but anyhow.. I did, and the waterfall was amazing... the colours are like WOW..
Poster for prettiest cow competition :)... seriously
Had lunch at the town of Bohinj... finally had fish in so long....
Slovenian nut cake for dessert
Statue of the 4 climbers who were the first to make it to the top of the Triglav mountains.
At the castle, explaining to us the printing facility of the castle.
What was more interesting though was the fact that Laura Bush had been here before and wrote a thank you note to the print master to express her gratitude. Apparently the husband was too busy to accompany her then :P (Right hand side)
Wine produced by the castle: I bought a bottle of merlot back budapest and it was going in an hour. Very good wine i must say and for 8 euros it was quite a decent price.
My guide, Jasmina and I. I requested to have a picture with her because I really liked her and enjoyed her tour!!
Lake Bled is like a fairytale place, an emerald green lake that is so clear with a romantic island in the middle of the lake, an a medieval castle on the cliff and the backdrop of the mountains in the distance.... Everyone I've met who went there was all agreeable on one point. The scenery is definitely breathtaking.
In order to get to the island, you can swim across, or you can take a boat like we did :) hehe... handsome slovenian guy alert :P
Thanks to Chen Lin for this wonderful pic... it's now my desktop picture :P
Steps leading up to the church on the island. Many couples (British) apparently love to get married on this island, and legend has it that if the groom can carry his bride up the entire staircase, they will have a very happy marriage... there are more than a hundred steps i think ...
Exterior of the church
Interior: there's also the wishing bell... you make a wish and ring the bell 3 times and hopefully it comes true! ANother interesting fact about the church is that it has the only mural in Europe which depicts the circumcism of Jesus. (Top right).
Ringing the bell for my wish to come true!!
At lake bled, we were also shown this villa which used to be the former residence of Titto (former president of Yugoslavia) when he visited Slovenia. Today it is a private hotel and villa bled is its name.
On our way to Bohinj valley: Slovenian countryside.... love the slope roofs... the residents also take pride in decorating the exterior of their houses and many of the balconies were lined with potted flowers/plants.
Bohinj valley. The lake is colder than Lake bled, so not so popular among the swimmers here..
We took a 20 mins hike to see this waterfall... was so worried about the hike!!! Thought I wouldn't be able to make it... but anyhow.. I did, and the waterfall was amazing... the colours are like WOW..
Poster for prettiest cow competition :)... seriously
Had lunch at the town of Bohinj... finally had fish in so long....
Slovenian nut cake for dessert
Statue of the 4 climbers who were the first to make it to the top of the Triglav mountains.
At the castle, explaining to us the printing facility of the castle.
What was more interesting though was the fact that Laura Bush had been here before and wrote a thank you note to the print master to express her gratitude. Apparently the husband was too busy to accompany her then :P (Right hand side)
Wine produced by the castle: I bought a bottle of merlot back budapest and it was going in an hour. Very good wine i must say and for 8 euros it was quite a decent price.
My guide, Jasmina and I. I requested to have a picture with her because I really liked her and enjoyed her tour!!
Wow, I am Slovenian and I found your blog thru Google. What a coincindence. I've been in Singapore in last December :P I've been there many times, now it seems that you came to my country. Yeah, Bled is really amazing, but it's quite a small lake. Maybe the islet makes it romantic. I'm so happy to read about my small tiny country form a foreigner's point. Do drop by at my blog some time. Thanks ;-)
Hi MKL, thank you for your very kind comments. This blog was orginally meant to be an update for my friends and family at home, but I'm glad that you have found it interesting. I was very blessed and lucky to have a wonderful experience in your country and it is one of the countries that I continually talk about when people ask me about my european experiences. I hope that you found Singapore as wonderful as I found your country :)
Well, I've been going to Singapore since 2005 and yes, it was a great experience. I've been 3 moths there, so there was a lot of stories, mostly good ;) Do you have another blog, since this one is meant for your friends?
Nope this is it actually :) I never expected to have other people read it, but you're welcome to nonetheless. It's just basically about my travel and living experiences in Europe. Most of it has been good so far, so I hope that it continues to be that way.
I see. Will you be coming again to Slovenia? I am from around Maribor, if you happen to go thru here, we can go for a drink, no strings attached ;-) I am a traveler myself, just I focus on Asia. My ex was Chinese Malaysian and I lived in Batu Pahat for 3 months. Around Chinese new year I went back home... During that stay I've been in KL, Genting, Kukup, Singapore and Hong Kong... I love that part of the world :) Do you live in Europe now or just travel?
I'm currently working on an internship in Budapest, so I try and make use of every opportunity I have to travel around Europe. To be honest I don't know if I will be going back to Slovenia anytime soon, but if I do pass through your country again, I'll certainly let you know :)
It's very rare to meet a European who is very interested in travelling around Asia. I'm sure that it must have been a very different experience for you compared to Slovenia. If there's anything I do miss about home it's always the food :)
I see.. Good luck for your internship. I guess you have some other countries to see before you return back to the fine city ^^ Well, one never knows in life where he may travel next, so we don't know. Well, I am interested and I hope to return. I miss the people and food, I made so mmany friends there... And I totally agree, my personal best food is from Penang, but Singapore is really great, too.
Well yes, that is very true. Haha, while I agree that Malaysia has good food, as a Singaporean I do feel a little biased when it comes to that argument so I won't say much here. But like you said who knows where we'll travel next.... If I could recommend your next Asian country to visit it would probably be Thailand... I think you would enjoy it :)
Haha, you know, I know people from Penang all the way to Jakarta and I realized that everybody says our local food is the best. Asians are very attached to their kind of food, so there's no point in debating taste :) I eat everything and like most of it :)
As for Thailand, I'd love to go there. But next on my list is Korea and Japan. For next year probably. How about you?
Lol, not sure! I will be in Europe till the end of the year at least and then I head back to Singapore for CNY next year.... and then... I'll decide then!
But I guess if I had to pick my next country in Asia it would be either Taiwan or Japan... haven't been to both yet... But that's a long long way away....