Slovenia: Delightful Lake and the Town of Bled of the Same Name– Pt III

We tried to use another path to the lake from the place of our accommodation. It was worth trying. Not only that we had a chance to admire picturesque houses in a lower castle, but we also saw squirrels playing. It was an amazing look. However, squirrels were too fast thus we didn’t take a picture of them.

Lake Bled
About 20 minutes later we were standing on shores of the lake and we were comparing a price of rental of a boat we would have to drive manually with a price of a transport by a ferryman. Our laziness won over saving money. Not only we wouldn’t toil with oars, but also we would certainly learn something new. Our ferryman, a young man little with little bit of extra weight was telling us interesting things while he managed to scull in stand. For a while he spoke in the Slovenian language and for another while he spoke in English, and he switched between languages really brilliantly. After an almost half an hour of pleasant ride we found ourselves on the Bled Island.

A church in the middle of the lake
A beautiful island in the middle of the Lake Bled with a church is the most popular place for photos in entire Slovenia. You can see it depicted in every tourist guide but to look at it in reality is much more better than in a guidebook. After disembark we had to walk up long stairs with 99 steps that led to a small square in front of the church. As we had learned from the young ferryman young men in love take their future brides up the stairs as a proof they would take good care of them. Nobody carried me up in hands since my husband had a ring thus there was no chance co-travelers in the boat would provoke him to do so. However, they successfully tempted young lovers from Germany. A relatively thin young man really carried up his little bit plump lady. In the time when we plus the others walked about and enjoyed beauties of the island those two were just sitting and catching breath on a bench in front of the church.

   
The church, devoted to Virgin Mary, boasts with two interesting things. First, the nave and the tower of the church are two separate buildings. The tower doesn’t stand in the church’s front but on its side. The second interesting thing that attracts tourists is its bell from which a long rope hangs to the ground and a manual on the ground advices you how to use it. If a pilgrim rings a bell for three times, his/her wish will come true. There is, however, imposed a charge on this attraction. If you were superstitious, you would not probably regret few euros for dreams come true. Except the church and the bell-tower you can find there a small coffee bar and a souvenir shop. We learned that in winters believers come across frozen lake while its ice creaks and terribly squeaks under their feet. But no other road leads there

After almost two hours we got on the boat which took us on the mainland. We visited local restaurant and had a lunch menu for an affordable price. In the afternoon we walked about the town of Bled . It really amazed us and we decided to stay there one or two nights longer than we planned. We would like also to walkthrough town’s neighbors. We decided to do so since we were more than satisfied with our accommodation and the price for it so we just thought it would be pointless for us to move somewhere else..

Next time we will see some of Slovenian nature. We will visit a beautiful Vintgar pass that lays only few kilometers from Bled. Vintgar pass reminded us of Slovak Paradise.

Text and photo: O. Maňáková