First thing we did today was drop off our luggage at a long-term storage site in Ljubjlana. Then we returned to the downtown bus station and caught the next bus to Lake Bled. It was a rainy
day, so fortunately the place we were staying, Villa Alice, was close to the Lake Bled bus station. We dropped off our packs and caught the free shuttle to the Vintgar Gorge. Our tickets had a specific entry time of 11:00 AM, the scanner
would not let us in even a minute early.
Slovenia has multiple dramatic gorges. Vintgar Gorge is the most popular, probably due to its proximity to Lake Bled. Board walks have been built through the narrow gorge to allow tourists to
walk through the canyon. Everyone is now required to wear a helmet, due to danger of rock fall. There is also steel netting strung above some of the walkways. The water in the river has an unusual light blue-green color. It is a short
walk, just 3.4 miles to do the entire loop, including the walk back to the entrance point. (You can only walk one way through Vintgar Gorge due to the large crowds - though it did not seem that crowded to me, perhaps because it had rained earlier. We took the free shuttle back to Lake Bled. It was still a wet, overcast day, so Melanie and I decided that we would just walk the circle around the shore of famous Lake Bled. Originally I had considered
climbing up to one of the viewpoints for the famous photograph shot of the island in the middle of the lake, but because it was wet, we stuck to the shoreline path. It is any easy circuit. This walk gives you a view of the Bled Island from
every angle.
Partway around the lake, we found a large information sign telling the story of Slovenia rowers who had won several Olympic medals. The rowers had trained right on Lake Bled.
Near the end of our circuit, we discovered that Paul and Leslie had also opted to do the same lakeshore walk - they caught up to us and we decided to eat dinner together at a takeout place that served
burgers and fries. The light rain finally ceased at about 7 PM. It then remained dry for the next four days as we did our Julian Alps trek, which was quite fortunate!
Still Photographs
