The cable car up to Mt Vogel.
Monday, September 23rd
We woke up to a fabulous sunny warm day. This hotel also had a great included breakfast spread. Our first stop this morning was a walk back down to the lake for the stunning views of Lake Bled, the Castle Grad, and the Bled Otok. Reflecting the high mountain peaks, Lake Bled has always been considered sacred by the locals. We retraced our walk around the lake to the boat docks where we took a small traditional row boat called a pletna, to visit the country's only island, Bled Otok. All twenty of us (18 plus 2 guides) loaded into the boat and one man stood at the back and rowed us across to the island. On the island we visited the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption, also known as "Our Lady of the Lake". Legend has it that if you make a wish while ringing the bell your wish will come true. One had to pull hard on the rope a couple of times to ring it and Shayna with her enormous weight had to jump in the air to pull it down to ring it. We spent an hour there enjoying the views, exploring the church and the lovely weather. Then we loaded back up in the boat for the row back.
Our coach picked us up from there and we drove about a half hour up further into the mountains to Lake Bohinj and to a ski area called Mt Vogel in the Julian Alps. Lake Bohinj is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia, and protected from development. We took a cable car ride up the mountain to 1535m at an incline of 70%. Needless to say the views from the summit of Lake Bohinj were spectacular. It was much cooler and windier up there but we sat outside on a deck and had soup for lunch. Then we descended again, loaded up on the coach and visited the Church of St. John the Baptist, famous for its beautiful frescoes, located on the lake's edge in the charming town of Bohinjska Bistrica.
Our last stop of the day was at the 11th century castle/fort Bled Grad which houses a small museum and provides magnificent views of town, lake and mountains. It is the oldest castle in Slovenia and the one of the most visited tourist sites in the country. You can see this castle from the lake situated up on a cliff, but there is a road around the lake that takes you to the back of it and from there it is a short uphill climb. The views from the courtyard of the castle over Lake Bled and Bled Otok (island) were stunning. After our visit we took the coach back to our hotel where we had an hour to relax before dinner. As a group we walked to a local restaurant where we had another good meal. Shayna and I sat with our leader Amanda, an 80 year old man named Gary from Florida (who has visited 115 countries!) and a couple from Ithica, New York named Phil and Sandra. I’ll spare you the details but it’s fun to learn about other people’s lives, careers and travels. Then back to the hotel and a quick dip in the excellent spa pool and to catch up the blog before bed.
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