Our first stop in Slovenia was the picturesque lakeside settlement of Bled in the northwest of the country, not far from the Austrian border. Google Maps took us the back way, and after winding along mountain roads and through remote villages we eventually arrived at our campsite beside beautiful Lake Bled. We have found that Google Maps can send you astray, it shows the shortest route but doesn’t seem to account for road conditions and of course there’s no way to tell it you’re in a campervan and not a car.
Our campsite was just across the road from the lake and surrounded in trees, all decked out in autumn colours. It was surprisingly busy considering it was closing for winter a few days after we were there, a more frequent occurrence and one we’re a bit concerned about as autumn progresses.
Lake Bled is only small, 2.12kms long and 1.3kms wide, and is proof that size doesn’t matter. It is perfectly formed, sitting surrounded by tree covered hills and with mountains as the backdrop. In the centre is tiny Bled Island, Slovenia’s only island, which they very proudly tell you at any opportunity. The island is home to the Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church and the church tower silhouetted against lake and hills is one of the most photographed images in Slovenia and probably Europe. We were only in Bled for an hour when we were questioning why the church bell kept ringing without any sequence or tune. We were told that to ring the church bell gives you luck so all tourists visiting the island give it a good dong. The continual clanging of that bell can wear thin.
All transport on the lake is by rowing boats, either under your own steam or by the Pletna boats that operate as taxis. Pletnas are wooden boats with colourful awnings operated by an oarsman in similar style to a gondola. They carry 20 passengers and go from various points along the lakeside across to the island. Pletnas have operated on the lake since the 1500s and not anyone can be a Pletna oarsman, its handed down from generation to generation. Its impressive to watch the athleticism of the Pletna oarsmen as they calmly guide their vessels filled with tourists from the many visiting buses across the lake. We decided it would be a cheat for two Kiwis to be rowed out to an island and hired one of the lovely wooden row boats for an hour. At 10 euro it was a bargain. I rowed to the Island and Mr Love rowed back. I had the easier run as on the way back he had to “stop here”, “go there”, “turn this way”, “tilt that way”; all to allow me to take multiple pictures of the island and capture the beauty of Lake Bled from every angle.
There is a jetty for parking hired boats on the island and once we found our spot we climbed the 99 steps to the church. The first church was built in the 1100’s, but traces of humans from prehistoric eras have been found on the island and long before it was a Christian church there was a temple to the Slavic goddess of love and fertility on the island.
The lake is filled with fish – catfish, pike, carp and trout. While rowing some sizeable trout leapt out of the water near us, and along the lakeside there were plenty of people fishing. We watched one man wrestle a huge catfish in a net, it was well over a metre long.
The walking track around the circumference of the lake is too narrow for bikes, especially given so many people were out walking, so we used the road to bike around to the Bled township. It was a lot longer and hillier than the flat lakeside walking track, and it was too hair-raising for me sharing narrow windy roads with so many cars. The next day we left the bikes behind and took the more sedate option of walking around the track, stopping for lunch in Bled and then climbing up to Bled Castle perched on a rock 130metres above the lake.
Being 2.12kms long the lake is the perfect length for a rowing course and as fans of rowing will know Lake Bled has hosted the World Rowing Champs on many occasions and just this year the World Masters Regatta. The rowing course is permanently set up down the length of the lake and it must be a great venue as you would be able to see the racing from anywhere around the lake.
Bled in autumn is a tranquil spot. In summer it may get too busy but at this time of the year it was perfect. We were pleased we’d found a list of the most beautiful lakes in Europe on FaceBook and altered our course accordingly.
From Bled we drove the short distance to Slovenia’s capital city, Ljubljana. Being only 50kms down the road we were there by mid-morning so biked the 5km to town and spent the rest of the day exploring this very cool little capital.
We took in the sights, walking through the Old Town and up the hill to Ljubljana Castle for a view across the city. Parts of the castle date back to the 15th century but it’s more than a relic, it’s been beautifully renovated to incorporate space for events and conferences, there’s a restaurant and café, galleries, and a museum, as well as areas to relax and enjoy the surrounds.
Down the hill in the Old Town is the Central Market, a vibrant open-air market selling fruit, vegetables, deli foods, crafts and art. We bought persimmons, plums and fresh ginger.
The Ljubljanica River flows through the middle of the city centre and is decorated by beautiful bridges. The most famous is Triple Bridge, three bridges that connect the modern city to the Old Town in an area packed with bars and restaurants, the perfect place to stop for a while and people watch with a gelato. Another is the Dragon Bridge with its dramatic green dragons guarding each end – Slovenia has a thing for dragons.
Slovenia was part of communist Yugoslavia until 1991 when it split to become an independent country. This wasn’t a peaceful process and the Yugoslavian People’s Army tried to prevent independence which led to the Ten-day War. There are bullet holes in some of the old buildings, a reminder of an all too recent past. Like our beloved Baltic countries, Slovenia has a vibrant modern feel to it, as though they’re making up for their repressed past by fully embracing the future.
Ljubljana’s mix of ultra-modern architecture and character-filled historic buildings blends the past, present and future. The people are stylishly dressed and resonate cool. Being only medium-sized helps this city keep an intimate feel, there are only 530,000 people in the greater metropolitan area, and Slovenia as a country has just over 2 million.
Ljubljana was named 2016 European Green Capital and from what we saw, we could understand why – it’s super clean, there is great public transport, and bikes paths everywhere. In fact, all of Slovenia appears to be very green-focussed. The campsites have the best recycling facilities we’ve come across, there is no litter in the streets or parks, and there are plenty of notices about the environment, water and power conservation. The camping ground in Bled was an Eco camp that prides itself on being the highest rating in sustainability.
After Ljubljana we headed towards the Italian border to visit a Slovenian cultural treasure, the Lipica Stud Farm. Slovenia is where Lipizzaner horses come from. These are the white horses made famous by the Spanish Riding School. Lipica is the oldest European stud farm to be continuously breeding one of the oldest cultural horse breeds. It is a national treasure and is owned by the people of Slovenia. We took a tour of the stud and saw some of the foals, born black, and met some of the young horses in training and the top performing horses, all stallions. Over 400 horses live on the farm and it’s an incredible place with rolling fields filled with trees and lakes and surrounded by white post and rail fences. The large herds of all-white mares grazing under chestnut trees was a sight to behold.
As we were so close to the Italian border we decided to drive across to the coast to find somewhere to stay. The campground we found was already closed for winter. We drove on to Venice.
