Day 38 – Lake Bled (Monday 20th May 2024)

From yesterday’s exploration of the boat scene down by the lake I’d developed a yen to pick up the oars and row out to the island in the middle of the lake where the oft-photographed church stands. The only other option was to take one of the many 20-person row boats out there and part with €36.00 for the privilege of sitting with 18 other tourists, a proposition that was not at all appealing to me. Modelled loosely on the Venetian gondola, a skilled and strong chap armed with two long oars stands at the rear of the wooden boat and ferries the customers across the water. No motor-craft are permitted on the lake, which is really nice. There is no shortage of wooden row-boats, the aforementioned gongola-like boats and stand-up paddle-boards sailing in all directions all day long on the lake.

Although quite apprehensive, Kerry stepped into our two-person wooden boat and off we sailed for the island. The sky was blue, the sun was warm and the water was flat – perfect! I was rowing with my back to the destination so I was taking constant navigational guidance from Kerry. Clearly, I’m much stronger on my right side as she was often telling me “More left oar”. It’s only a 10 minute journey (in a straight line!) over just a few hundred metres but it was such great fun and not hard work at all. We docked at the island, secured the boat and walked up the hill to the church. As you might imagine the top of the hill was busy with tourists, most of whom had arrived on the “big” boats. A visit to the church was off the agenda when we saw the €12.00 entry price. So, a coffee at the cafe (of course there’s a cafe there!) under a shady tree filled in 20 minutes. Back at the dock we boarded our boat and made our way to the mainland, stopping here and there for some photographs from this unique position. Without doubt, it was the best €20.00 we spent in an hour on this holiday.

 

 

A good path follows the lake-shore all the way around, a distance of 6.1km so our taxi driver informed us which makes it pretty much the same distance as the walk around Lake Wendouree in Ballarat. Brane also advised that we should walk in a clockwise direction. Don’t know why, but we did anyway. It was a pretty slow walk with many stops along the walk for photographs and to admire the splendid view. At the western end of the lake lies a campground and a little retail area comprised of a restaurant, a cafe, a small supermarket and an ice cream stand. Well, who can resist an ice cream on a warm sunny day so we grabbed one and savoured it sitting on a grassy area next to the lake where many others were also enjoying the lakeside. Some were swimming, but not many. Most were just picnicing and catching rays.

 

 

We trekked onwards and found the Slovenian Olympic rowing headquarters. The Slovenian people have not been without rowing success at many Olympic Games since Rome in 1960 although their only Gold medal came at the Games in Sydney in 2000. I know this thanks to the billboard near the “club-rooms” and the steel and brass plaques one steps over on the path through the complex. Lake Bled has been the venue for many World Championships, European Championships and other International regattas over many years, the most recent being the 2023 European Championships. The rowers start at the Bled CBD, pass to the north of the island we visited this morning and finish at the western end where the grandstand and other facilities are.

 

 

Further in we trekked along the northern shoreline, passing under the imposing Bled Castle sitting high on a rock above the lake. Just before we arrived in the Bled CBD we took a small detour to visit the church of St. Martin, a neo-Gothic church whose white spires adds so much to the Lake Bled skyline. A service was just ending when we entered so we sat discretely at the rear of the church until finished. Back on the lake circuit the path winds its way through a small public park on the water’s edge where a market was just closing up. Nothing there attracted Kerry’s attention but the terrace of “The View” restaurant certainly did. At a table right next to the terrace’s edge we had an uninterrupted view of the lake below, the castle above and the mountains beyond. Even the rocky, snowy peak of Mt. Triglav, Slovenia’s tallest mountain, popped out from behind the clouds for a few minutes.

On the final leg of our circumnavigation we stopped by a Mercator supermarket to pick up some pasta and other things for dinner and breakfast tomorrow.