Balkans Road Trip: Day 2 – Bled & Ljubljana

Yang and I both woke up before our alarms, which came in quite handy as today was a busy day. After buying breakfast at a nearby corner store, we checked out of our hostel and left Zagreb. Our first destination was Lake Bled in Slovenia, which is about two hours away from Zagreb on a good day – and one and a half times longer when one has the misfortune to get stuck in traffic on the way past Ljubljana. We also took some time to stop at a gas station after crossing the Slovenian border to buy a highway pass (it turned out we could have just done this online).

Lake Bled truly was as picturesque as it looks in the pictures. Though clouds obscured the tops of the mountains towering above the water, we could still see their snow-covered slopes and bare, jagged sides. We walked from the parking lot on the southwestern sides to take in the views of Bled Castle and the Assumption of Mary Church from different angles. Coming back to the car park, we sat down at a café to try some Bled cake – the area’s culinary claim to fame. With a crispy crust, vanilla cream filling and whipped cream, it was right up my alley.

From Lake Bled, we continued directly to Ljubljana. As cake is no proper lunch, we sat down at a proper restaurant, where we (after eating a filling meal, of course) tried sirovi štruklji, rolls made of dough and cream cheese. They were very good.

My impression of Ljubljana is that it is more planned than Zagreb: it has broad boulevards leading all the way to the centre, and the river flowing through it is flanked by comfortable prospects. On another note, the entire city is brimming with art nouveau, which has left clear marks on many facades.

Our itinerary for the city involved quite a bit of walking: starting at the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, we crossed one of the three historic bridges of the Tromostovje to Ljubljana Cathedral. From thence, we climbed the hill to Ljubljana Castle and climbed down again to the dragon-studded Zmajski Bridge. Having completed our core itinerary very quickly, we decided to see some of the city’s more peripheral attractions: the Orthodox Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius, Republic Square, and Congressional Square. This killed enough time for us to enter the Franciscan Church, which had been closed at the time of our first visit.

We were very lucky in our search for a parking place today: the hostel we stayed at did not have a private parking lot, but the reception workers advised us that because it was a public holiday, all parking in the city was free. Tuning into the local radio station Radio Študent, I heard the host greet her guest with the words “Death to Fascism” – a reference to Slovenia’s partisan resistance against fascism.