Part 3: Lake Bled – Kärnten – Ljubljana

Yesterday evening I arrived in Bled quite late. It was already completely dark outside and the pretty buildings in Bled were beautifully lit. I took a photo of Lake Bled without taking my gloves off… and I stupidly let the lens cap of my Fuji X100 camera fall. It fell 3 meters down into the lake. Shit.

Now I am traveling with my camera without a lens cap. If anyone knows how to get a new one in one of the next countries on my list, please let me know! At least I got a pretty photo.

I arrive at The Millhouse Bled at the same moment when two other guests arrive, a Finnish couple. Paul, the host, lets me in and shows me my room. I unpack my stuff and go to the kitchen downstairs where I have a quite long conversation with Paul. We seemed to understand each other pretty well and I learned my first things about Slovenia.

I was so tired that I slept like a baby and wake up quite late. All of us, Paul, the Finnish couple and me, have (unplanned) breakfast together. This was a very cozy guest house, wow! I could stay here longer but I don’t prefer to stay at the same place twice, except if I am having a resting day or a “rain day”.

After finishing breakfast I pack my stuff and drive back to Lake Bled and follow Paul’s recommendation to do “Walk 6”. This walk which should provide me with an amazing view over Lake Bled. I manage to do the beginning of the trail on the motorcycle but eventually the trail is getting steeper and steeper and even walking the trail consumes a lot of energy.

When I get to the top, I get spoiled by this amazing view. I was told that dark clouds are very common this time of the year. As long as the clouds stay up high in the sky it will stay dry though. They help making the photos a bit more dramatic, which is cool!

Of course, the weather could have been better but it was not raining. And actually I don’t even mind that there is no sun today. I am already completely exhausted, having walked up a mountain in my motorcycle gear.

I leave Bled and start with the trip that I planned for today. Especially the part just before the Austrian – Slovenian border and the part in Austria are very spectacular and I can highly recommend you to drive that road. There was barely any traffic except for maybe a handful of other bikers and the views were stunning. I did not feel like stopping in every corner today because I just wanted to enjoy the twisty hairpin roads. I can’t tell you anything about this area because I was just busy having a great time 😉 Here are some photos:

Celica Art Hostel

I arrive in Ljubljana in the late afternoon and head directly to the Celica Hostel. They allow me to park the bike in the locked courtyard and give me the key to my room. Hostel Celica is a former prison and they designed all rooms (in my confirmation they wrote that I had booked a “single person cell”) to be unique. You can be lucky or unlucky (although there are no real bad rooms, just less spectacular) with your room… my room was not that spectacular but I find a couple ones which are quite spectacular rooms and I am actually impressed. They did a really good job here!

In the evening I walk into the city and get some dinner. Ljubljana seems to be a very pretty city. Very European and maybe less Balkan, but still very pretty. I get a salad at Makalonca (which is actually a burger bar but I’ve had so much meat the last couple of days that I actually prefer some green food) and drink a local Makalonca Pale Ale, which was very nice.

After taking some photos of Ljubljana by night, I return to my ‘single person cell’, lock myself in and hope to get out tomorrow… 😉

To be continued!

The route I drove today