while for most of us, October 31st is Halloween, in Slovenia, it is Reformation Day, a religious and public holidays. It is celebrated in remembrance of the Protestant Reformation.
Like many Slovenians, we took advantage of the day off and went for a beautiful “family” walk around Lake Bled. We parked at train station and started our nice walk around Lake Bled.
The weather was cold and cloudy – a typical autumn day (unfortunately, not the best day for photography).
Some courageous visitors took a Pletna boat ride to the Bled island. Other decided to rent a canoe and went by themselves. Many fishermen were stationed around the lake in hope of catching some fishes.
It was my first time walking all-around (I usually walk about half of it) Lake Bled, and at a leisure-pace, it took us approximately 3 hours. It was a very easy, family-friendly and nice walk. There was also a special Halloween event for children at the Bled Castle.
Afterward, in preparation for tomorrow’s Remembrance Day of the Dead, we went to the graveyard with floral arrangements and candles.
Lake Bled is one of the most popular touristic attraction in Slovenia. It’s famous for the astonishing fairy tale-like view of the Church of the Assumption standing on an sole island in the middle of Lake Bled. On top of the hills is one of the oldest castle in Slovenia: the Bled Castle – Blejski grad.
Yesterday, we had a very nice weather, so we decide to go to Bled for a short trip and the view was fa-bu-lous.
We didn’t take the highway and on the way, we were able to catch a beautiful sight of the highest peak in Slovenia: Triglav (the three heads mountain). Triglav is an iconic symbol of Slovenia.
The town of Bled is a well-known point of interest in the Julian Alps, which Triglav is part of, in the north-west side of Slovenia, known as Gorenjska (the mountain region).
It has a beautiful lake and a sole island: Bled Island, Blejski otok – which is only reachable by small boat. During winter though, when the lake is frozen and the ice strong enough, you can walk to the island.
There’s also walking paths all around the lake. It is worth it to take a walk to admire the views and to take beautiful photos.
On Bled Island, stands the Church of the Assumption – a very popular destination for weddings. It has a stair with 98 stones steps, and it is believed that if the groom carries his bride all the way up on their wedding day, ring the bell and make the wish, that they will have luck in their marriage.
Believe it or not? I still think that it would be a very romantic thing to do!
From the lake, you can climb a good amount of stairs to reach the Bled Castle, which is sitting on top of a rock hill – but there’s also a road for you to drive up.
Bled Castle is one of the oldest and most visited castle in Slovenia, due to its location, I presume.
There were also a medieval actors in the castle when I visited it, in 2011 – a wine master, a forging master and paper craft master, if I remember correctly. Quite interesting, especially for children.
If you like light cream pastry, Kremšnita (cream slices in Slovene) is for you.
You can get Kremšnita in many Slovenian pastry shop, but they are particularly good and famous in Bled. So, if you do pass by Bled, make sure to try it!
Thanks for enjoying the wonderful day at Bled with me. We’ve also took the opportunity to take photos with my new camera, you can look at them in my Gallery.