Bled : A Long Way Up (and Down)

Halfway through this holiday and we certainly seem to have got this relaxing lark sorted. After a leisurely breakfast we decide to use the slight cool of the morning to visit the castle, perched 150 metres up a shear cliff above the town.

As we make our way through town I get revenge for all those people Y has confused or annoyed over the years by greeting the first day of the month with the painful welcome of “pinch, punch, first day of the month!” For once I get to do it to her and she’s really not happy about it, particularly as there isn’t anyone around that she can do it back to. There is real venom in the traditional response of “a flick and a kick for being so quick!” You know, people can never work out why I hated school so much; well playground pranks like this have certainly played their part.

We find the footpath and begin to climb up towards the ‘Grad’. Thankfully the route is through a cool forest of fir trees but goodness me it is steep. Thankfully we both have walking books on to save turning our ankles on the rough jagged rocks. The trick is not to rush, take our time and ignore the bright young things zipping past us in flip-flops!

It is a very steep, very rough climb, zigzagging up through the trees, but thankfully it doesn’t really last that long. They have also thoughtfully provided a bench at the top so we can catch our breath.

For a while we chat to an English couple who had been on our trip on Sunday (they recognised us rather than the other way round). They are here on a last minute cheap holiday and have clearly saved a fortune compared with us. Mental note – we must try that next time!

Despite the climb and the intense heat it proves to be a very worthwhile enterprise. There is a lovely breeze up here and the views are amazing. Yesterday we had both commented on how small the lake appeared to be. Now from our elevated position it seemed vast. I really cannot overstate how amazing the view is from here. But it would admittedly still have been amazing if we’d been brought up the top by taxi or coach! I was a tad upset to find a car park at the top of the hill that we had just slogged our way up.

As well as views, the castle is also a really picturesque building, well worth taking some time to explore. If you have a few euros to spare you can even have something to eat or drink in the café; or for an obscene amount of euros you can eat in the most scenic restaurant in Slovenia. They even have a special table set aside with a candelabra and rose petals sprinkled on the table cloth. Y gets me to pose quickly for a picture – boy do I feel guilty!

There is a really charming little chapel, with a rather attractive modern sculpture of the Madonna and child. The walls are painted with the remains of a soft focus fresco. Best of all it is cool and still. Next door is a very posh museum shop, but no cheap tacky souvenirs can be found here.

The shop is next door to the museum proper. Y had found a guide book that didn’t really rate the museum, but it has clearly been heavily modernised since then. It is very beautifully done with English and Slovenian information panels throughout. But it does suffer that modern Museum dilemma; what to do with all those nasty objects cluttering it up? The main feature in one room was a burnt out campfire, supposedly to signify the importance of fire to man. Please, just put the exhibits back! That’s what we really want to look at.

Despite this – and I promised I’ve calmed down again – one of the most interesting ‘interactive’ exhibits was a film about a local health and fitness pioneer, who turned Bled into a massive tourist attraction in the late 19^th century. Although the commentary wasn’t in English, he seemed to do this by climbing mountains with his friends in their underpants, or by parading about in a loin cloth! I’m sure this makes more sense if you can wait for the English version to be shown.

It was well into the afternoon before we decided to tackle the climb back down to the town. We found a different path to follow and managed to look a lot more professional as walkers when we were passed by some rather hot and bothered Japanese tourists. The man in front pointed into the air and looked pleadingly at us. “Not far” we both go, but Y adds “1 minute” which I think may be pushing it. He could have a heart attack several times over in a minute.

Luckily we come out onto a road just around the corner from the Bear; what a happy coincidence! So in we go to pick our pastry before heading outside to the terrace that we had spotted the night before. I have a thick slice of cooked fruit between two pastry layers. It tastes like apple and the local sour cherries. Y goes for the enormous Kremna Rezina which looks rather like the custard slices we get at home. You have a layer of solid custard topped with a layer of cream and sandwiched between two pieces of puff pastry. I can confirm that they were both lovely, as we cut them in half and shared them between us.

Whilst we ate, we were kept entertained by the extremely friendly local sparrows. At every opportunity they would land on the tables to grab crumbs. One even flew into the café window to nick something off a plate whilst the owner was in the loo! All this did not amuse one of our fellow diners, who kept chasing them off. We assumed that she must be a local customer so I was shocked when I heard her speaking English later. So much for the idea that we are a nation of animal lovers.

Eventually we drag ourselves back to Hotel Jadran and settle in for our now obligatory siesta. I’m not sure what the Slovenians call this afternoon nap, but given the incredible heat during the day, surely they have one.

When we can finally face going out again we head off to one of the hotels with a lakeside restaurant. Here we enjoy the least interesting musical entertainment they’ve had all week. In fact for much of the time the musician disappeared on a break leaving his Roland organ to play itself. One couple does appreciate it though, taking to the dance floor to waltz and Cha, Cha, Cha. It’s always a sweet sight as it looks like they’ve been doing this for a lifetime.

Still the meal is very good; I have a steak with potato croquettes and Y is finally brave enough to ask about the trout. We’ve seen it advertised in lots of places as 40 cents for 1 dag. We’ve been trying to work out what kind of measurement that is. When we ask, it turns out to be a fairly straightforward decagram (10 grams). So it works out there is no trick and it is perfectly affordable.

The only things that spoil the meal are the rather ugly flying beetles that have suddenly come out to play. They look suspiciously like cockroaches to me. One buzzes past me and I feel something heavy land on my back. My squeal turns plenty of heads and the poor German gentleman who I’d actually felt flicking one of the bugs away from me looks mortified. Eventually they do drive us back to the hotel, where we carefully make sure the little buggers can’t get in!