Week 82: Eric’s Birthday in Slovenia

A lake surrounded by mountains, an old castle, and a church on a hill.

If it sounds like our lovely Gmunden, you are correct, but it also describes Slovenia’s charming Lake Bled.

This is where we chose to spend 48 hours and Eric’s 31st birthday.

Lake Bled is located in the Julian Alps in Northwestern Slovenia and took just over 3 hours to drive from Gmunden.

Bled is famous for two things–the island in the middle of the lake and the delicious dessert “Blejska kremšnita” or “Bled cream cake”.

*The Lake Bled sunset on the first night.*

Here is the recap of our weekend in Bled–

Friday

We arrived in Slovenia at 5:30 PM.

Before checking into our glampsite, we parked and had dinner at a cafe situated perfectly for people watching–Devils Cafe & Bar.

Around 7PM, we arrived at Garden Village and were welcomed with a yummy snack and refreshing drink we later found ourselves requesting more of.

The drink was just water with elderflower syrup, but so good.

*Our welcome elderflower drinks and snack*

Garden Village Bled is a world unlike any other, surrounded by nature, and offers five different types of accommodation to choose from. Whether you choose to be high up among the treetops in a treehouse or right above the murmuring stream in a pier tent, you can’t go wrong.

We chose the Pier tent.

Sunset was quickly approaching and before getting too comfy at the tent, we set off for an evening walk to the lake, which was just 12 minutes away.

*Eric and I sitting on a tree stump during sunset on the first night.*

We arrived back to the tent just before dark.

Staying at the pier tent made our weekend getaway a dream. Falling asleep listening to the soothing rush of the stream, mixed with a little rain at night, and waking up to the birds chirping, was relaxing and exactly what we needed after the adventurous and hectic days we had planned.

Saturday

Also Eric’s Birthday and a day with a lot of activities planned.

We woke up at 7AM and made our way to the Garden Village restaurant for breakfast. All of the food at the restaurant is grown at the resort's own garden or delivered from organic local farms. The fresh fruits and veggies and made-from-scratch pastries were delicious.

At 8AM, we set out to the Mala Osojnica trail in search of Lake Bled’s iconic viewpoint.

The hike was a quick 30 minutes, but it was all uphill, so a tad strenuous.

In the final minute before reaching the top, we were greeted with a tall staircase which we had not expected… or maybe I just chose to ignore it when researching the area.

No matter where you are on Lake Bled, by 9AM, you will hear bells ringing in the distance. The sound coming across the lake is the ringing of the wishing bell from Bled Island. We will come to that a little later in this blog post.

We had the option to hike 20 more minutes up the hill to Velika Osojnica, another view point of Lake Bled, but we let the drone do the film climb for us and opted to head back down and continue on with the rest of our activities.

By 10:00 AM, we were renting a row boat to head to the island we had been admiring since our arrival. Renting a rowboat is one of the most popular things to do in Lake Bled. There are a bunch of shops located around the lake renting out rowboats by the hour and the average price is €20/hour.

There are three other ways to get to the island. By “pletna” or gondala, SUP board, or if you are up to the challenge and do not mind swimming in a lake full of catfish and carp, you can swim to the island.

We docked the boat at the island after a short 15 minutes of rowing and walked to the south staircase. Built in 1655, the staircase is comprised of 99 steps. This island is a popular place for couples to get married and a local tradition is for the husband to carry his new bride all the way up the staircase.

We purchased our tickets allowing us to go inside the Church of the Assumption where the bells were constantly ringing, the Bell Tower with pendulum clock, and to the exhibition space on the 1st floor of the Provost's House.

As soon as you walk into the church, you walk into a space filled with 15th century frescos, wooden benches, a golden alter, and a long rope dangling in the center.

The long rope is tied to the legendary wishing bell. Ringing the bell will make one of your wishes come true, but only if you ring the bell three times! Instead of blowing out birthday candles to make a wish, Eric rang the wishing bell. 🔔 🎂

The wishing bell was born from an old legend–

A widow who lived at Bled Castle visited Bled Island every day, praying in the island’s church for hours. The legend says that the widow collected all the gold and silver she had stored in her chests and used it to have a bell cast for the chapel on the Bled Island in the loving memory of her husband who was attacked by vicious bandits. When the boatmen were taking the bell to the island, a storm broke out, sinking the boat, the boatmen, and the bell.

After ringing the bell, we climbed up to the bell tower containing one large and two small bells. Two opposite winding staircases lead the way up and down the tower. The way up is punctuated with information boards following the history of ways used to tell time. On the way down however, these signs contain biblical verses made to encourage appreciation of how little time we have on this planet and the importance of using it wisely.

Not sure if the bell tower is really worth the time or money spent, but why not check it out if you are already there.

We enjoyed a yummy scoop of ice cream on the island before rowing back. I had the Blejska kremšnita flavor, but in ice cream form. Eric had the cookie dough.

By noon, we were eating lunch at the Park Restaurant and Cafe and strolling around the lake.

By 3:00 PM we were already 21,000 steps in and ready for a nap, but at 3:05 PM we were picked up for our canyoning excursion with 3glav adventures. Our excursion turned out to be a private one. Just us and the tour guide–lucky us!

We were both a little nervous to go canyoning. Even though we have rappelled waterfalls in Hawaii and paraglided off the second-highest mountain in Austria, jumping off rocks into the water was something that made our hearts race a little.

After a 25-minute drive to the start of the canyon, we suited up. These canyoning suits are not flattering whatsoever. They were extremely hot, kinda heavy, and were quite challenging to put on, but they keep you warm when jumping into the 39 degree water. We walked another 20 minutes up to the first jump location, recieved a safety briefing, and then, one by one, we plunged into the first pool of water.

Throughout the 1.5 hours we spent in the canyon, we got over our nerves (kinda) and had a blast jumping, sliding, and rappelling down the canyon.

Our final jump was 8 meters high or 26 feet!

*We jumped from the top of the waterfall*

Instead of walking back to the car, we floated down the river. The suit helps you float and this was the most relaxing few moments of my life.

This was such an awesome experience. We hope to find a spot in Austria to go canyoning again someday soon!

Our guide dropped us back off at camp, we cleaned ourselves up, and enjoyed a nice birthday dinner at the camp restaurant.

I reserved the special table for dinner. 😊 Just a two-seater table extended over the pond.

Sunday

We ate breakfast, checked out of Garden Village, and drove to Bled Castle perched high up on a cliff overlooking the lake and town.

The castle is the oldest castle in Slovenia having celebrated its one thousand year anniversary in 2011.

There are few things to check off when visiting the castle. Visit the museum showcasing the region’s history from the first human settlements to present day. Enter a 16th century chapel. Check out the recreated Gutenberg printing press. Go to the winecellar or eat at the restaurant with breathtaking views of the lake below and mountains beyond.

The views and the little nook-and-cranny walkways were highlights for us.

We began our drive back home, then stopped 8 minutes into the drive at the Vintgar Gorge–a 1.6km hike up an elevated boardwalk through a beautiful gorge.

After completing the 1.6km one-way gorge walk, you have to walk 50 minutes back to the car. We followed the easy trail back. It started out uphill and made me second guess the route we were taking, then it opened up to a field with sheep, horses, bulls, cows, and a lovely view of Bled’s hillside. One of the sheep even came up to me!

Continuing on the route back to Gmunden, we made a detour through the Vršič Pass from Kranjska Gora to Soča Valley.

This high mountain pass across the Julian Alps is the highest pass in Slovenia. The road across the pass, now known as “Russian Road”, was originally built for military purposes in the early 19th century.

After a series of hairpin turns and navigating around the 35+ cyclists slowly making their way up this road, we reached the highest point.

We were planning to have lunch at the highest point–Tičar Lodge, but it was closed for renovations, so we descended a few meters and ate lunch at the “Planinsko društvo Jesenice”.

*Eric and I in front of the Julian Alps*

After lunch, we stopped one last time at the base of the Vršič Pass at Jasna Chalet Resort for one last slovenian dessert–The famous cream cake. Eric also ordered an iced coffee, but it turned out to be a milkshake…so he got two desserts. Talk about ending the birthday weekend with a sugar rush.

Our final snapshot in this epic spot also meant our weekend in Slovenia had officially come to a close. We went back to the car and arrived back home around 6:45 PM.

*Our view from our table at the Jasna Chalet Resort.*

Slovenia is not a place we often thought about visiting. With countries like Italy, Switzerland, and Croatia so close, Slovenia tends to be overlooked, but we have plans to come back next year to summit the Triglav mountain–the highest peak of the Julian Alps and Slovenia!

While most of you are reading this, we will be packing up, preparing for our next trip to Sicily and Malta!

Week 82: Eric’s Birthday in Slovenia

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Week 83: Sicily and Malta

Week 81: Feuerkogel Hike and Katrin Climb