Bled, Slovenia, aka mini-Canada

I realllllly wanted to go to Slovenia. If I'm being completely honest, the main reason was just so I could say I've been, and to add another country to the list, but I had also heard nice things. Unfortunately, booking a hostel to stay in the capital, Ljubljana, proved pretty much impossible, so instead I booked straight through to Bled, a teeny tiny town on a huge, beautiful lake about an hour away from Ljubljana. It did not disappoint. 

As always, getting there took much longer than anticipated, so that first night I didn't have time for much - just a short walk and dinner 

This is what I found on that short walk, though. 

Though it's a lake rather than an ocean, the town reminds me quite a bit of White Rock. 

I had booked a single there, so I actually went home and went to bed rather early... It was glorious, being able to spread stuff out over every surface and sleeping without earplugs and not being woken up multiple times. I'm so glad I did it. I also took the nearly unprecedented opportunity to sleep in, getting a late start on the hike I had planned for the morning. 

The walk to the hike... Could be the Valley, right? 

The hike ran through a national park that enclosed 1500 m of walkways over this creek/river area. It was quite pretty, with clear green water and whirling pools everywhere. 

You can see a bit of the walkway here. It was a lovely hike, and nice and cool in the valley. But it's kind of the unique plight of being Canadian that more than anything, this whole walk made me want to head home and walk some more familiar grounds... Like in the Rockies, eh kids? Camping trip when I get home? 

At the end of the hike, there were waterfalls galore!

There was also this sign, which delighted me. Most of it's so normal! No campfires? Sure! No, um, touching snails? Well, I mean, I wasn't really - no, it's fine. Got it. But in the bottom middle there? No washing cars? But I. The. Um. I just walked 1500 m down a wooden walkway to get here. "Here" is a waterfall with a twenty foot pool in front of it. How could I even get a car here? 

The weirdest part is, it's on the sign, so you know someone tried it. Or else why would they have to specifically forbid it?

After getting back from the hike, I changed into my swimsuit and went for a walk around the lake. It took a little over an hour, but it was pretty the whole way, and so well worth it. 

That's Bled Castle! I walked up there later. It was like 35 degrees. I wanted to die. 

There's also a tiny island with a church on it. 

The church! There's a bell you can ring for luck, so you can hear tourists ringing it the whole way round. 

And this is the view from the castle. Totally. Worth. It. 

Little island is little. 

That was about all I had in me - two multi-hour walks, a swim, and a very hot day really took it out of me. I also tweaked my ankle on the way up to the castle, so that was unpleasant. I had a pizza dinner and then headed in for the night, where I watched some tv and went to bed early and was just so happy to have my own space!

Bled was lovely, and definitely a worthwhile distraction. I'd go back in a heartbeat, though now I'm on the Croatian coast, which is so lovely I can't bear it. This part of the world is amazing!