Lake Bled

So yesterday we left Innsbruck behind and traveled to Lake Bled in Slovenia. But the fastest way to do this was actually to head up the motorway into Germany, then back into Austria and finally through a tunnel into Slovenia. If it wasn't for Tom, which is the name we've given the TomTom (original, I know!), then we probably would've just taken the smaller roads, not knowing that we'd save an hour by staying on the motorway even though its in the wrong direction! For those that asked, TomTom is a brand of SatNav, so Tom just shows us where to go. Generally he's the most useful when we're travelling in a town where the big country map doesn't show more than a shaded blob.



Now Lake Bled is absolutely amazing. Lonely planet says it "seems too good to be true" and I can see why they think that. The lake is glacial so its a dazzling emerald green and the water is perfectly clear. To top that off, in the middle of the lake is a tiny islet with a medieval church rising out of the trees. The weather was scorching when we arrived and we quickly set up camp at Camping Bled which is right at the top of the lake, opposite Bled town. We went for a quick walk around a bit of the lake before deciding to hire a row boat and row across the lake. Being complete tourists we picked a boat that is decorated like a swan. We rowed all the way around the island, snapping photos as we went and then anchored up to explore it. As we walked around the edge we could see huge schools of fish shading themselves under the trees.



When we got back to the campground we noticed that there was a "zoo" on the mapboard and upon further investigation we found three lambs in pen. And there was a lady there throwing bits of bread to the lambs, who were clearly not interested in eating it. Very weird. We cooked up some dinner just before a brief shower (we had some yummy kebabs). Next we thought we'd head down to the camp cafe for some dessert. This turned out to be a bad idea. While down there the sky opened up and there was a torrential downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. We got absolutely drenched on the way back to save the tent (we stupidly left the door up) and there was sheets of water running down the paths. Next time I think we'll just skip dessert, either that or remember to close up the tent nomatter what the weather looks like.