Day two in Slovenia was dedicated to Lake Bled, an amazingly beautiful lake in the Julian Alps of northwestern Slovenia. The town of Bled is small, but tourists and locals flock to this area for the blue waters of Lake Bled. I had my heart set on this lake before I arrived, and was happy to extend the invite to Coti and Cornelia, my two hostel mates (read more about our meeting in my previous post.)
The morning after our first night in Ljubljana, Cornelia hadn’t officially committed to coming with us, but after she woke we extended the invite again and she agreed to come with us. We later discussed how both Cornelia and I don’t normally sporadically hangout with other people like we had been, but we were both so thankful and happy to have met each other.
We took a 1030a bus and arrived in the town of Bled around 1130a. The bus system is fantastic in Ljubljana. My only “must do’s” in Bled were to visit the castle, walk around the entire lake, hike up Mala Osojnica (one of the many surrounding trails) for an aerial view of the lake, and visit Bled Island, the island in the middle of the lake.
Coti had her heart set on swimming and relaxing by the water, so Cornelia and I broke off to visit the castle with plans to meet up with Coti a few hours later. The walk up to the castle took about eight minutes, and once we got to the gate of the castle we realized the good view was behind the castle walls. After being skunked at the castle in Ljubljana the day before I was hesitant to pay for another castle entrance, but it turned out to be well worth the price.
The castle itself wasn’t anything to write home about, but the views were worth the entrance ticket and then some. Cornelia and I walked around the castle, and soaked up the views before heading back down to walk around the lake.
Slovenia has one national park, and from the castle you can see out into the mountainous hills of Triglav National Park. I only briefly drove through the park (on the bus home) but will need to return so that I can visit Bohinj, a less touristy and larger lake about 20 minutes from Bled. After the castle, Cornelia and I found Coti, who had spent her time swimming.
Coti showed us where she was swimming, and while normally I don’t enjoy swimming, I decided it was a good idea. It was 90 degrees, we had just walked up hills, and I was in need of a cool down. We found a spot to camp out and spent a good hour in the lake. We bonded over chats about life, and boys, and life with boys, and I couldn’t help but feel completely whole in that moment.
The world is a funny place, and the universe is a funny energy. I’m endlessly amazed by how things fall together, and how people meet. I said it before, but I am truly blessed to have met these two girls, and to have felt so comfortable so fast with them. After we swam, we started to walk around the lake. Coti wanted to swim more, so Cornelia and I decided to meet with her again before we left.
Cornelia was a trooper with my desires to non stop walk, and to hike up Mala Osojnica. She came with me, and once we reached the view point we sat and savored the view for a good 15 minutes. We chatted about blogging, and she shared with me that she used to have a travel blog of sorts. We chatted about family, and bonded over our OCD tendencies on social media.
After the hike, we finally made our way towards the boats that would take us to the middle island. We had talked about visiting the island from the moment we arrived, and once we got to the dock we sadly discovered we had missed the last boat. I felt bad because had it not been for the hike, we’d have made it, however I REAAALLLYY wanted to hike.
I already knew I needed to return to visit Bohinj, so I’ll just have to stop by Bled again so that I can visit the island in the middle. We arrived back in Ljubljana around 10pm, and it was straight to bed for me. The next day would be a solo day for me, for a visit to the Postojna caves, and the girls and I would meet back up later that evening, but more on that in my next post!
Bled was everything I’d hoped for and more. It’s a popular destination for obvious reason, and I would return there without question. There aren’t many places I feel the need to see twice, but Bled was one of them. I could easily stay a weekend in Bled and branch off from there for other activities, I’d even make time to swim in the lake again!
Q: Would you rather: hike, swim, or walk around the lake?
