Tuesday 12.8.2008
It’s Tuesday morning, 7.00 a.m. and we are already taking our breakfast. The view outside the motel is completely different and very impressive as a veil of fog has been stretched out making the visibility almost impossible.
This fact confused us for a while and we started wearing our uniforms as coolness was quite intense. Till we get down the atmosphere was clearer so we put a summer outfit and we got started.
We started taking the 211 direction north to Kranj. After 45 km to country road and to the motorway as well we end up to the downhill road entering to Bled and seeing the lake far away! This trip, especially to the parts of the country road, was really enjoyable as we were crossing the dense forests.
From the very first moment we understood that it was a very beautiful place that it deserved visiting it! Bled is the second most popular destination in Slovenia after the Pstonjia caves ( we got informed about this place from some leaflets we found in the hotel ; it’s a wonderful destination with impressive caves and a natural park that takes a whole day to visit it... That’s why we chose Bled that took only half a day to see it so to spend the other half of our day in Ljubljana).
Following the road that surrounds the lake we ended to a beautiful valley which had a camping on the one side and a beach on the other side where we could swim inside the lake. The view was impressive as we could admire the small island with the clock in the centre of the lake. You could see many tourists who were riding their bicycles and some others who had already dived into the cool waters of the lake..
We continued to the road around the lake, enjoying the dense vegetation and its view and after coming up the uphill road we ended up to the castle. There we paid the entrance (7 euros) and headed towards the yard which offers the best view of the lake. The view was really breathtaking as the height was really big (130m.) and we could see the village, the lake and the mountains around…
Afterwards we started exploring inside the rooms of the castle in which the history of the village was exposed as there were demonstrated tools, weapons and traditional costumes which had been used through the history. There was also a projection hall with the most important historic moments of Bled. As we passed through a cellar with very particular wines and a tourist shop our tour came to an end. After taking a rest on the grass we took the way back home..
When we arrived to Medvode we made a stop to a shopping centre in order to eat something and take a rest before we start visiting Ljubljana. We had a small stop until I noticed a small photo shop in front of the place we were sitting. It was the time to face my phobias about the lost photos! After an hour and a half we left with a CD which had the photos of the first two days and this made up our mind! After that we took a nap and we took the direction to the centre of Ljubljana.
There we made a walk to the old town, taking a look at the shops and then we sat to Julija restaurant to eat. The tastes we tried there were really savouring! There we headed to the funicular which would take us to the castle. We didn’t’t have to pay for the entrance. We only had to pay 2 euros in order to get up to the highest spot of the castle and that worth its money. There were many rooms with very impressive objects of modern art but we had to see them quite in a hurry as it the museum had to close. As we made a walk around we observed a solar clock.
The castle appeared in history in 1144 as the house of the Duke. From 15th to 17th century there were many parts that were added. Later it was abandoned as no noble lived there and the cost of restoration was very high. During the 19th century it was designed again and was used partially as a prison and as a fortress. In 1905 it was bought by the city and in 1960 started a long period of innovation that lasted more than 35 years! In 1990 the city started using it as a reception area.
After finishing our exploration to the castle we made our last walk to the lovely city of Ljubljana! There we had the occasion to taste some nice ice creams that we saw in the shops as most of the people did the same.
As we got back to the hotel we met a company of 5 Spanish riders that had already arrived with their bikes. We saluted them and we got up in our room in order to prepare our staff. Our two-day stay in Slovenia came to an end and after that we had to ride for the next 5 days.
The next morning we’d start our trip to Zagreb.
