Labor Day Weekend in Lake Bled

I'm sure you've never heard of Slovenia before. Maybe as some 15 minute stop over in a James Bond move from the 80's, but honestly, could you find it on a map?? Well if you could, then you could find yourself in a fairy tale, the way we did when we spent Labor Day Weekend at Lake Bled, Slovenia.

Slovenia is the country due east of northern Italy. Since it is part of the European Union, we were able to drive over there with no problems at the border. The drive took us about 3 1/2 hours on the Autostrada. Lake Bled is just north of the capital of Slovenia: Llubljana.



Cynthia got us a full weekend spa package at the only 5 star hotel on Lake Bled, the Grand Hotel Toplice. The package included a beautiful suite with a balcony overlooking the lake including it's little island and castle. The entire forested scene was too enchanting for words.

A view of the castle from our balcony.

Our first afternoon at the Hotel Toplice started off with an hour-long soak in the spa's "private" hot tub. Cynthia and I had a private room with a large jacuzzi tub. We took full advantage of the
situation to achieve complete and utter relaxation after our long drive into Slovenia. We followed up with a nap in our room and then explored the quiet mountain town adjacent to the lake. We stopped by for dinner at a quaint fish restaurant across the street from our hotel. We didn't have reservations, but the host was able to seat us after a short wait. We felt pretty lucky because they turned away several other parties after we were seated. We had a wonderful meal, including the local dessert specialty, kremsnita cream cake. We were also introduced to an extraordinary blueberry liquer. I spent the rest of the trip trying to find a bottle of it to take home with us!


The next day our wonderful spa weekend continued with a morning massage then a row boat ride out to the island in the middle of Lake Bled. Cynthia grabbed our picnic basket, and I jumped on the oars. I've never rowed a boat before, but I've seen it done on TV, so how hard could it be?? It took me a good five minutes to just get the oar into the holder and we almost ran over a swimmer that got negligently close to our watercraft (how dare he). However after I finally got the oar grooved, we were on our way to the island.

Braddah only knows how to paddle one canoe!

The tiny island is only big enough to have a church and a cafe but had a wealth of tourists there ready to take in the charms of this idylic place. Our little jaunt included a champagne and strawberry picnic because we're first class all the way. After a delightful repast in the cool shade of a tree, we got a capuccino at the cafe and then I rowed back for home (with a little more success). The afternoon weather was too lovely to spend indoors, so we took a 45 minute carriage ride around the lake.





Sunday came all too quickly, as we enjoyed our coffee and omelets at the breakfast buffet. After we checked out of the hotel, we drove up the hill to the castle that overlooks the lake. There's a variety of museum exhibits including an enoteca where a "monk", or at least a comedian dressed as a monk, helped me bottle my own wine. How cool is that!? Even better, I finally found a shop that sold that incredible blueberry liquer.


We will definitely go there again!

It's Official: I'm a "Certified" Drunk!