Saturday, December 10, 2011

Another Day Another Castle

Several people praised Lake Bled to us but we had doubts when we first arrived. It was a shock to see street signage, advertisements, and modern hotels etc. but our doubts were quickly gone.

Our Penzion is very nice and we have a very spacious room. The best part is the view of the castle from our terrace. The first write up of the castle was in 1011 so the town is celebrating it's 1000th anniversary.

We climbed the winding path and over 100 stairs to the castle. A sign at the bottom assures people that is will take only 15 minutes. It took us 15 minutes exactly! The views were spectacular. The sun was trying to stream down through the clouds and just glistened on the lake. We sat in the castle terrace, had a beer and soaked up the serenity. The lake is just slightly larger than Lake Kezar and has a great 3.5 mile path all around. There is a 14th century church on an island. They only allow a couple small boats with electric motors on the lake and small rowboats called pletnas to take people to the island. Very picturesque.

Slovenia sure has great museums and the one in the castle was no exception. It explained the geological formation of this entire area. There is evidence of the existence of man here many thousands of years ago. An interesting little print shop was also in the castle and it had a picture of Laura Bush when she visited several years ago. Also a picture of two girls that was a younger version of Paige and Maddie.

Yesterday we saw there was going to be a hockey game today so of course we went. Wow, did we think of Zach ! The Bled team, The Ducks, were playing a team from Ljubljana, the Olympias, a youth league, 11 to 13 year olds. The score was tied when we arrived 2 to 2 and then we saw the Ducks score four goals in the final period. Very exciting. They seemed like good, fast skaters and checking was not allowed.

Then there was a torch tour of the town. Everyone carried very long candles. Our 23 year old guide was named Matthew - at least in English. He was very personable and tried to relay everything to us in English. He also recommended a little local pizza place, which was very good. We saw it received a 4+ from TripAdvisor.
Finished the night at a little cafe where they had a jazz band playing.

Looking forward to breakfast since today's was quite a treat. Quite a few people are staying here, which is certainly a change from our experience in other towns. Lots of hikers since the Julian Alps surround the town. It will be a winter wonderland soon.

No comments:

Post a Comment