That was my plan for Monday, but instead, I walked out of town with David to the Gorge.
It took less than an hour to get to the gorge and it was nice walk through the countryside near Bled.
The gorge was absolutely stunning and David let me take some photos with his digital camera since I once again killed my battery and failed to bring any extra batteries. Stupid square batteries.
But, the clear, blue-green water, was calm in some places, but ended in a beautiful waterfall, complete with a rainbow in the spray. Not bad for a days walk.
We made it back to town around 1:30 p.m. and putzed around for a bit, then decided to rent a rowboat and take ourselves to Bled Island.
Good thing David had rowed before, since I hadn't in ages and it was pretty windy on our way to the island.
We docked without anyone falling in the lake and climbed the 99 stone steps that by tradition, a man getting married in the church at the top has to carry his bride up those steps as the last test of whether he can marry her.
I can't imagine being carried up those steps, nor do I think I'd want to be. It would be a hard fall back down, straight into the lake...in a wedding dress. Not a pleasant scenario to me.
But a church has stood on that spot since the 1100s or so and its amazing that they were able to build a stone church, tower and some other small buildings on Slovenia's only true island.
Theres a wishing bell in the church and you'll hear it all day long in town. The legend is that a woman lost her husband to some pillagers and was so distraught that she gathered all her gold and had a bell cast. It was to be put in the church, but on the way some sort of storm came up and the boat overturned and the boater drowned. The bell sunk to the bottom of the lake and the brochure didn't say whether it was ever recovered. She was even more upset now, so she went to Rome to become a nun. The pope somehow heard this story and commissioned a new bell, which is now in the churh and supposed to grant wishes to those who ring it.
We only paid €10 to rent the boat for an hour, but we ended up being gone for two, but no extra charge. Quite a bargain really.
I got quite a bit of sun for the day and was exhausted. We spent ages trying to email those pictures to myself, and eventually I got frustrated and quit. We went for pizza instead.
It took less than an hour to get to the gorge and it was nice walk through the countryside near Bled.
The gorge was absolutely stunning and David let me take some photos with his digital camera since I once again killed my battery and failed to bring any extra batteries. Stupid square batteries.
But, the clear, blue-green water, was calm in some places, but ended in a beautiful waterfall, complete with a rainbow in the spray. Not bad for a days walk.
We made it back to town around 1:30 p.m. and putzed around for a bit, then decided to rent a rowboat and take ourselves to Bled Island.
Good thing David had rowed before, since I hadn't in ages and it was pretty windy on our way to the island.
We docked without anyone falling in the lake and climbed the 99 stone steps that by tradition, a man getting married in the church at the top has to carry his bride up those steps as the last test of whether he can marry her.
I can't imagine being carried up those steps, nor do I think I'd want to be. It would be a hard fall back down, straight into the lake...in a wedding dress. Not a pleasant scenario to me.
But a church has stood on that spot since the 1100s or so and its amazing that they were able to build a stone church, tower and some other small buildings on Slovenia's only true island.
Theres a wishing bell in the church and you'll hear it all day long in town. The legend is that a woman lost her husband to some pillagers and was so distraught that she gathered all her gold and had a bell cast. It was to be put in the church, but on the way some sort of storm came up and the boat overturned and the boater drowned. The bell sunk to the bottom of the lake and the brochure didn't say whether it was ever recovered. She was even more upset now, so she went to Rome to become a nun. The pope somehow heard this story and commissioned a new bell, which is now in the churh and supposed to grant wishes to those who ring it.
We only paid €10 to rent the boat for an hour, but we ended up being gone for two, but no extra charge. Quite a bargain really.
I got quite a bit of sun for the day and was exhausted. We spent ages trying to email those pictures to myself, and eventually I got frustrated and quit. We went for pizza instead.