The Circumcision of Jesus, Lake Bled, and the Julian Alps

Upon leaving Ljubljana in the big comfy bus, we headed to Lake Bled. The first stop was at the medieval Bled Castle for bird's eye views of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the island in the lake. The sun was just starting to come out.

Free time has been built into the schedule for doing activities at Lake Bled. Because Bob and I had spent a few days pre-tour in the Lake Bled area, we had already walked around the lake and ridden the summer toboggan at Straža Bled (see 8/27 post). We chose to ride a classic Pletna boat out to the island.

Bled Castle on the precipice and St. Martin's Parish Church.

I think that we paid about €20 each for the ride.

Tradition says that the groom has to carry the bride up all 99 steps to prove the groom's fitness for marriage.

It's a small and pretty church.

Rick Steves' guidebook says to look for the fresco of the circumcision of baby Jesus, proving that he was a Jew. Found it! 

The last thing was to ring the church bell so that all our secret wishes would come true! Keep on travelin'!

After the Pletna boat ride back from the island, we had time for lunch and birthday cake for Kay! We loved the traditional Bled cake, Blejska Kremšnita, with layers of pastry, vanilla cream and whipped cream, and also Gebanika that is pastry layers of poppy seeds, ricotta, apples, raisins, and walnuts. Both are yummy!

With a brisk walk along the lake, we met up with the rest of the group to head back to the bus for the ride to Planica up in the mountains. This was a large ski area and ski jumping and training center. To the far left in the photo, is the biggest and longest jump. You start out small and progress up. I wonder how many people have broken their necks or backs trying to do this.

The Julian Alps are spectacular and would have been fun to explore. There were no stops made on the mile-high Vršič Pass on Highway 206 through the Julian Alps with its 50 hairpin turns. The road was built by Russian prisoners of war as a supply road during World War 1.

The day ended with a night in Bovec and dinner at a lovely village restaurant.