26 May 2019 Koper to Bled

"First drove on the motorway to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Managed to find a parking very close to the city centre and cycled in as usual. We arrived to find an armada of paddle boards on the Ljubljanica River that runs through the centre of the city. Walked around, went to the three bridges and then had lunch at MacDonald’s. Next used the funicular to get up to the castle that overlooks the city. There were wonderful views from the top and interesting museums. Then made our way back to the camper and headed for Bled which had been recommended by Manfred. The lake with its church on an island and overlooked by a cliff-top castle and the snow-capped Alps was idyllic. We went to the very popular campsite and then cycled to the town where we had pizzas for supper. After this we decided to cycle round the lake getting back to the campsite just before dark."

We managed to get on the road at about 8, which was early for us, and drove on the A1 motorway to Ljubljana. This is one of the smaller and newer capitals in Europe. It has a population of about 300, 000 and became capital in 1991 when Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia. We had again found a parking area on Park4night which we got to quite easily. It was not free parking but it was relatively cheap for the time we would be there. It was a very short ride into the city and we were pleasantly surprised by the quantity of artwork and sculpture that we saw. We went straight to the river, along which there was a very active second hand market. These are always great in Europe because of the antiquity of things that might be for sale but it is best not to look when so far from home. The river was filled with paddle boarders. It looked as though it might be a student activity, as Ljubljana is a university city. (The university has 63 000 students, almost a fifth of the city’s population.)

On the other side of the river we wandered through gracious streets lined with mostly 3 and 4 storey neo-classical buildings, with interesting inserts of much older Gothic buildings and the odd French or Art Nouveau style building. We stopped at Tourist info and then went to the three bridges which were quite remarkable and the centre of a remarkable piece of urban design. There were also a surprising number of sculptures throughout the old city.

It was time for lunch and McDonald’s came to our rescue as usual. I overheard a group of youngsters speaking South African. They were a dance group who had taken part in a competition and were enjoying free time before heading back home. They had apparently done very well.

After lunch we headed for the castle that overlooked the city and used the funicular to get up it. There were superb views from the ramparts, but the contrast between the old and new parts of the city was very obvious and with it aesthetic quality of the old compared with the new. We really enjoyed walking around the beautifully restored building and looking at the various museums. The one dedicated to puppetry was particularly interesting. We had no idea that this had such cultural significance in Eastern Europe and it is still popular.

On the way back to the city centre we crossed the Dragon Bridge, also very famous with superb sculptures of dragons at each end and dating from 1901. Then we made our way to the Zvezda Park which is overlooked by the University main building and the Ursuline Church. Both buildings were dramatic but it was a pity that workmen were busy clearing away lots of what looked like temporary staging.

Now it was time to head back to the camper and we were there in no time at all. We paid for the parking and then headed for Lake Bled, which was on our way back via Austria. Marianne had read that this was one of the "must see's" of Slovenia and Manfred had also mentioned it. Bled was only about 55 km from Ljubljana and it took us about an hour to get there. It was quite a spectacular drive as we were very close to the Alps and had dramatic views of snow-capped peaks although dark clouds obscured many of the more distant peaks.

Lake Bled was an exciting place to arrive at. A perfect blue lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains, with a church on an island and overlooked by a castle on a high cliff. Writing about it now sounds almost like fiction. We drove through the small town of Bled to the campsite. This was quite full, but there were plenty of vacant spaces, although level spots were at a premium. We found a reasonable site and then rushed to get the bikes off to go and look at the lake. It was beautiful and we took lots of pictures as we cycled towards the town. It was looking very much like rain and as some drops starting to fall we decided to have supper at a convenient pizza restaurant. It was very pleasant and contemplative sitting on the terrace looking out over the lake and thinking of where we had been.

After supper we decided to continue cycling around the lake. It was a lovely route and the rain stayed away, although the roads were very wet in places. We got to the campsite just before dark and had a look at one of the free standing places described in Park4night. The situation had obviously changed since it was described as there was now a barrier in the way. Back at the camper we were kept awake by a very noisy German group. This was the first time that we had had such a situation on the trip. Everywhere else things had been very quiet after 22h00, but these went on long after that.

Geschreven door Leartravels