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So we packed up our little tent (boy, are we good at that now!) and headed to our next campsite in Slovenia. But first we had to get through the mother of all border crossings! What was meant to be a short 2 hour drive turned into a gruelling 6 hour trudge. The traffic started well before we were anywhere near the Croatian border and continued well into Slovenia. It was horrific, maybe because it was Saturday... nevertheless we sat through it, played eye-spy and even attempted to watch some Breaking Bad on the laptop to avoid falling asleep.
Our destination was the Slovenian town of Bled. Not the most appealing of names, but one of the most appealing towns you could ever find. There's a quote in Clare's Lonely Planet guidebook: "ftourist Gods etc" and we both completely agree! First of all, our campsite was awesome.. although way too busy. But that could be forgiven as we managed to find a great spot with a tranquil forest behind us which sloped up into the mountains.
We weren't meant to do much in Slovenia, but what was meant to be for us just the country between Croatia and Austria gave us a big surprise.. and much like Montenegro, randomly turned out to be a real highlight of our trip! So instead of just chilling out, we used what little time we had here to experience everything this picture perfect town had to offer.
The town itself is built around a large lake with cold, crystal clear aqua water and a small island in the middle with a cute little church on the top... while Castle Bled looms high above hanging onto the edge of a cliff. Surround that by epic mountains covered in dense forest and throw in some perfect sunny weather and you've got a rough idea what we were up against. They even threw on a great little festival for us, Oompa band and all! After checking out all of the town and sneaking in a couple of pints, we headed up the cliff to explore the castle. The views were out of this world! We could see across the lake to the opposite side where I talked Clare into going next. It was a mountain covered in forest with a path carved out from top to bottom, probably for skiing in winter months, but in summer it was this crazy railed sleigh ride thing! So we caught the ski lift to the mountain peak, got strapped in and held on for dear life as we zigged and zagged down the mountain at crazy speeds. Clare was a little more cautious than I, but she still gave it some! So fun I just had to go back up for another run.
The next day we were due to head for Austria, but before we did we just had to step onto the island that the town is centred around and is on every Bled postcard you can buy. So we hired a row boat (no motor boats allowed on the lake) and I rolled up my sleeves. Clare seemed to think it was romantic, I thought it was hard work. But rowing across this gorgeous lake on another perfect weather day, it was hard to complain. The island itself was quite amazing.. great views from every angle and the little church attracted its fair share of visitors, most of which had a pull on the rope to ring the church bells. These bells pretty much ring all day, every day.. they're a real attraction unto themselves! But I suppose, how often do you really get to ring church bells? Anyway, Clare had a wee tug on the rope and made some noise, then we rowed back and hit the road to Austria. We did take the ridiculously beautiful scenic route to Austria through the mountains, but I wish we could have seen a little more of Slovenia. However judging by the number of tourists, Bled could be Slovenia's main attraction.. and I feel we sure did see all of that!
Daz
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