Holy guacamole, what a beautiful place Bled, Slovenia is. Peaceful, quiet, not over developed and quite family friendly. Also, the weather was outstanding. Lake Bled was a perfect way to end a long travel holiday.
Bled is known for the glacial Lake Bled, which makes it a major tourist attraction. The lake is quite small (it's about a 6km hike all the way 'round) and the water is a funky glacial aqua blue. This photo, taken from the castle, just about gets it right. That is, in fact, a small island with a church on it.
The church is Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage. Here's a closer view.
We did not row out for a visit, but rather viewed it from afar and thought it was lovely. The castle, however, we did visit. A couple of times. What better sporty sort of thing to do on your last days of holiday, post eating large amounts of raclette (1) and fondue, than hike up and down a few times to a medieval castle? That's the castle up on the hill on the left. That is not us, rowing to the church.
Our pension was that little red roof sticking up by the white church on the right. So it wasn't much more than a 15 minute walk to the castle.
Bled Castle is a proper medieval castle. It was first mentioned in written records in 1011. If my math is correct, that would make it 1000 years old. Wonder if they had a party? What do you bring as a gift for a thousand year old castle?
But, that is a bit of an exaggeration. The castle you see here is not actually 1000 years old, although the site is, and there has been a castle of some sort or another on this site for that long. The 1000 year old bits were demolished at least once, if not more than once in the past millennium. Sources vary, but at the very least the place was pretty much leveled by an earthquake in the 14th century.
This is the moat. A cute sort of moat. The sort of moat that you might be expecting if you grew up with the Mr. Roger's Land of Make Believe sort of castle. But it does have a proper "drop boiling oil on your enemies" walkway up above. The children were quite happy to pretend that they were doing such things to innocent tourists wandering by. Raised by wolves those two. Or maybe it was Vikings?
View of the tower from below. Clearly, this castle was in a defensible position. I joke, but this wee moat and entrance were the only way in. And they lead up a narrow pathway at a very steep angle to the actual gate to the main fortress. So, highly defend-able. Defensible? Well, relatively easy to keep invaders at bay.
Here's a night shot. The castle up on the left, and the church that was just behind our pension on the right. It was a beautiful, peaceful place, Lake Bled.
Oh, and a great place for the sporty sort. Bled will be hosting the World Rowing Championships, for the 4th time in history, in 2011 (having previously hosted the Championships in 1966, 1979 and 1989). So, if you know a world class rower, perhaps they have been to Bled?
Tomorrow: A Sweet Treat
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(1) Raclette, raclette, I am dreaming of raclette. And if you want to get yourself some of this yummy goodness in the US, check out this web-site: www.raclettecorner.com. What an unbelievably awesome gift this would make! <--note: I was not paid in cheese or otherwise to post this link; the site owner sent it to me and I felt the need to share.
Oh, wow! What a beautiful, picturesque place!!
Posted by: Debbie Hanson | July 14, 2011 at 11:12 AM
Nice camera, nicer pictures! The place feels like a fairy tale. Tom and Hope have grown so much!
Posted by: Monica | July 15, 2011 at 01:17 AM