Quote



“As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world
To keep the body in good health is a duty, for otherwise we shall not be able to trim the lamp of wisdom, and keep our mind strong and clear. Water surrounds the lotus flower, but does not wet its petals.”
The Buddha -- Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Lake Bled

When i saw lake Bled for the first time while looking through a travel catalogue quite a few years ago i immediate fell in love with the place.

This tiny romantic town in Slovenia is located in the Julian Alps. The town is famous for the glacial lake Bled with a small island in the middle. The island is the only natural island in Slovenia. In the middle of the island is the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary where wedding is a popular event. The groom usually carries the bride up the 99 steps to the church.

My trip to lake Bled was in February 2008, it was kind of unplanned because i saw an online tour deal back in December which was hard to resist so i asked my aunts and their friends to join me.

The lake with the island in the middle and the charming town around was more beautiful than i expected. The walk around the lake was so picturesque and the sight of the island was visible everywhere. It was like in the fairy tale land.

There was hardly any tourist around, many restaurants were closed or on shorter hours, the streets pretty empty and i felt so at home there. In the afternoon the scenery by the side of the lake with fog rolling and the church on the island slowly became a silhouette was just breathtaking. The weather was quite chilly and foggy but i think it was great for photography because of the magical look.

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We went up to the castle

lake Bled


for a tour and enjoyed so much the view down to the lake.

Lake Bled

From the bus to the castle i took this favorite picture of the lake and the island

Lake Bled


For lunch one day we chose Vila Bled which was the former residence of Yugoslavian president Tito. When we walked into the restaurant there was no light and looked like nobody was there, the dining room was empty. As we were wondering what was going on, a lady came out and we asked if they were open for lunch. She looked at us for a moment and said 'please wait', then she went inside for a moment and came out to tell us 'yes, we can serve you lunch'. The dining room looked elegant but kind of dated, imho. We had a nice meal, the service was warm and attentive.

vila bled


After the meal we strolled along the lake to get back to the hotel.

vila bled


It was getting late in the afternoon and fog started rolling in and i turned back to look at the island. The misty sight was quite breath-taking

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Besides the island the town of Bled is also famous for a desert called Kremma Rezina which we could not miss since the best bakery in town was right down the street from our hotel. The custardy cake was great, not too sweet, and the bakery quickly became our daily coffee stop because it also has many other wonderful treats. I like this one even more than the Kremma Rezina :-)



For dinner we went to a local restaurant where we had wonderful brothy seafood soup and grilled squid with beer

squid


From lake Bled we took the train to Ljubljana, the capital, which is a cute and lively little city with many art nouveau buildings and vibrant cafes along the river.

Slovenia slide show

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