98 steps up!
Kate and my mom take a break on their way up!
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We made it over to the island without our tipping the boat! (It felt like we easily could have.)
From the dock there is a stairway leading up to the church ~ 98 steps. Traditionally, grooms try to carry their brides all the way up these stairs to prove they're "fit for marriage." Would you be "fit"? (I'm glad I'm not a Slovene man.)
We explored the island and church, and we all rang the church bell in order to have our "dreams come true."
After that, we were free to choose how to spend the rest of the time. Tina gave us a few ideas of what we could do and, of course, my mom and I wanted to try to do it all ... row out to the island, walk around the whole lake, and sample desserts! We found a friend, Kate, who was as crazy as us and wanted to attempt it all. So we started walking around the lake and found someone renting rowboats. (There are boats that will take you over. You don't have to row yourself.)
98 steps up!
Kate and my mom take a break on their way up!
Lake Bled Castle
Tina said that this is one of her favorite views.
My mom and me ~ view of the lake from the castle
Approaching the island
Happy to have made it to the island
Ring the bell 3 times and your dreams come true!
Kate, Mom, and I rowed out to the island
The next morning, we left Ljubljana and drove to Lake Bled. This beautiful lake has a medieval castle looking over it. There's an island that has a church on it in the middle of the lake. And it is surrounded by glorious mountains. Lake Bled feels like it was taken right out of a fairy-tale. It's the type of place you think could only exist in one's imagination!
Our guide, Tina, was especially proud to be taking us there as it is her hometown. The only negative about visiting Lake Bled was that we only had half a day there. We started out by driving around the whole lake and up to the castle.
The island with the castle in the background
Summer fun for local kids
After rowing back to the lakeshore, we continued our walk around the lake. It's such an idyllic setting ... I couldn't stop taking photos. I have enough photos of that lake and island that I could probably put together a Lake Bled coffee table book!
We tried two desserts ... the towns specialty, a cream cake called kremna rezina, and a "leftovers" dessert called grmada which means "bonfire." To make it they use leftover cake and add rum, chocolate, and other "yummies." The result is very tasty! As you can see, we had no problem finishing them.
The local's favorite dessert spot
When we had made about 3/4 of the way around the lake, we started being concerned about not having enough time to finish our walk, enjoy the dessert we were looking forward to, and make it back to the bus on time. And one thing that I so like about Rick Steves' tours is that the bus will leave on time ... so you'd better be there. Realizing that we couldn't do it all, we hopped on the tram and rode the rest of the way around the lake. Whew! We would have enough time for dessert. And it was worth it!
When we were finished, we had just enough time to make it back to the bus!
The dessert counter at Smon Slascicarna (The Brown Bear)
Going, Going, GONE!
