Day 9: Sun 18th – Lake Bled Excursion - Slovenia

Sunrise 6:44am – Sunset 7:07pm

Weather Forecast:   20 and showers

Steps:     12,012     8.29 km

I was awake and up at 6am and didn't go down to breakfast until 8am. 
We were away by 9am with a young local guide on board, Ziga.  As we travelled along, he talked about the history of the country, the languages taught in schools today and the number of dialects spoken in Slovenia.  40 of them in a country of only 2 million people.  The sky is blue as we travel the highway but still a lot of cloud around.

Hopefully the forecast showers stay away.

Lake Bled is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled

Once at Lake Bled, there were a few moments for photos, 

then we boarded a "pletna" boat and were rowed across to the island. A short loo break and then we went  into the church to ring the bell.

The clock tower was open, 

so I went up the 90 steps to see the view. Once down from there, I bought an ice cream and then went down the 99 steps to enter the "pletna" boat for the short journey back to the mainland and to the former weekender of Tito, which is now the Vila Bled.

Our boat was delayed for about 20 minutes, as one of the woman was accidentally waiting in the wrong place.  Once back on the mainland at Vila Bled, we then had coffee and pastry and then visited the reception room where Tito would greet his guests. 

We were back on the coach around midday and back at the hotel around 1 pm.

A short break and then we started our waking tour with Ziga at  2 pm. I saw a few more places this time, than I did when I was here in 2013, just because of the hotel location.

The Opera House

The front of their Parliament House

The Town Hall

Cathedral of St Nicholas 

Baroque style Ursuline Holy Trinity Church

It started to rain shortly after 3pm but it was only light.  It lasted for about 15 or 20 minutes and had pretty much stopped by the time the tour was over at 3:30.  

I didn't want to go walking, so decided to walk back to the hotel, where I arrived at, about 3:45.

I showered & washed my hair, as this hotel doesn't have a proper hair dryer, only one of those air blowers, which are impossible to use, if you are trying to style your hair. I didn't want to deal with that on a departure day, which tomorrow is.

I met Kathleen in the bar for a drink, before joining the rest of the group at 6:45pm to head out for our included dinner.
We walked to a local restaurant. I took my brolly with me but had no need of it. The evening was pleasantly cool.  I didn't take my camera with me, so no photos.

I'm not sure what the above photo represents but it is a few books on the side of a head.