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| Its a Lake with church topped island. |
What was once a formidable East European country called the Yogoslavia is now divided into 7 independent countries. Our main intent this summer was to visit Croatia but once we started planning, visiting the neighbouring countries of Slovenia and Montenegro made a lot of sense. Slovenia is a bit inland but most of Croatia and Montenegro fall on the Adriatic coast. Connectivity is pretty decent as Adriatic and Croatian airlines fly from most major European cities. Yet, for us who hold the Indian Passport some hiccups are always there as visa issues remain.
Croatia has its own visa but they do honour/recognise the Schengen visas. So does Montenegro. Slovenia however is a part of Schengen member countries so to visit it, one must have a Schengen Visa. Now it made sense to apply for Schengen Visa from Slovenia and then visit Croatia and Montenegro on the same visa. We took an appointment and reached the VFS desk of Slovenia at the bustling Shivaji stadium metro station basement at Connaught place at New Delhi. Personal appearance was necessary as we hadn't been through the bio metric process for Schengen as that is now compulsory. You have to do it once in 5 years. The documents were scrutinised and found to be in order but there was a hitch. As more days were being spent in Croatia, as per the policy of Slovenia we needed to get Croatia visa first. This defied logic as we were visiting both the countries and while Slovenia Visa was recognised in Croatia, the Crotian Visa was not recognised in Slovenia. So this meant we had to take 2 visas instead of one and pay double the amount. But somehow, logic doesn't work in the complex visa systems designed by these countries.
Lake Bled
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| You can ride a bike, jog around, take a walk or just laze around the lake. |
Ljubljana Airport is a tiny airport. It is located in such a way that in 30 minutes you could either get to Lake Bled or Ljubljana city centre. They are in opposite directions. The airport has a convenient and cheap shuttle service to both places. After picking up the luggage as you come out to a small hall you will find this shuttle counter. Till Ljubljana it is just Euro 9 a person. It proved very handy for my son Kartik who joined us flying in from USA, in Ljubljana.
Yet, flying to a main airport like Frankfurt and then after a layoff flying to final destination does take a toll on mind and body. You need a day or so to recover and for that a beautiful destination is most appropriate of start required. Considering we were travelling to 8 different places in next 12-13 days using train, self driven cars, ferries , buses and boats ...........we needed to chill out completely on arrival.
Lake Bled is a lovely little town with Lake in the middle. The lake with the Church on an island in the middle looks divine. The place is green, it has mountains, it has a castle and it has churches. People cycle around, children swim in the lake and joggers run around the lake. After the heat and grime of Delhi in June, this was a welcome first stop for us and as expected, a day was too short a time here.
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| Our walk from apartment to the Lake |
We stayed in an apartment called Apartment Vila Ana which was a 10 minute walk from the Lake and whole lot of activity. I like staying in apartments and this place had lush green gardens very pleasing to the eye. The only thing not pleasing about this apartment and many others during the trip was the steps one had to climb up with all the luggage. The apartment was well located as it had a lovely bakery right next door and a super market a short stroll away. Having a bakery next door is always great as it solves the breakfast problem.
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| The Gardens of Vila Ana |
In a day that we had in Bled we walked around the lake savoring all the natural beauty. We had the famous Bled cream cake at the Park Hotel - and it was the finest cheese cake that we had ever eaten. The people of Bled are pretty proud of this and even in the bakery next to our apartment, I could see that there was a huge demand for them. So the next morning also I had a big chunk of it from the bakery soon after completing the breakfast. One was leaving soon for Ljubljana so didn't want to feel that I didn't have my fill while the opportunity was there.
Staying just a day in Bled, we missed out on two beautiful spots. The first was the Vintgar Gorge which was a hike of couple of hours. Another one was Triglav national park, which would have taken most of the day. Other than a lovely walk around the lake we didn't do much. We didn't climb up to the castle and we didn't reach out to the church to ring the wishing bell. Soaking in the freshness of the place and enjoying the sights was good enough for us.
The first day of a holiday is always special. My cousin Kunaal had carried a special whisky to celebrate the occasion. As the sun set behind the mountains overlooking the lake, the colour of lake changed every few minutes. It was time to say cheers and look forward to a two week holiday.
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