Tag: alps

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Bled, Slovenia – A Blue Karawanken Gem

At the base of the Southern Limestone Alps[1]They are additionally known as the Julian Alps., or Karawanken Mountains, sits the small town and lake of Bled . It is almost a must see place to go on a day trip from Ljubljana, especially if you have enough time. Since we have the time, we usually overbook our stays at places that are totally unknown to us. For Ljubljana specifically, and Slovenia in general, we were happy that we did, since it afforded us a day trip  such as the one to Bled. Slovenia really is a great place to visit!

Bled – entrance from parking lot – panorama

Lake Bled – Getting There

To get to the lake you must travel northwest from Ljubljana, there is the E61 that can be taken by car or bus. The trip normally takes forty-five minutes by car, and up to an hour and a quarter by bus, but can take longer if there is an accident or construction on the highway. Upon the suggestion of the information booth by the Triple Bridge we took the bus, even though we now think the train may be faster. The bus is packed, so if you are worried about Covid-19, and you should, you should be prepared to wear you FFp2 mask.

It should be noted, the bus takes two different routes going to and coming from the lake, each taking about the same time. There is of course the train, which may actually take less time gong to and fromm Bled, but then you have about a twenty or so minute walk from the town of Bled Train Station to the lake. The bus on the other hand goes all the way to the lake, even though we chose to get off at the Blen Union station.

Lake Bled – The Trail

Bled – Assumption of Mary Church on Slovenia’s only island

There is an excellent trail that totally circumnavigates the lake, going through several tourist beach and cafe points, any one of which you can take a pause  in your walk to get refreshed.

Here is a slideshow of our great afternoon walking the lake shore trail, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery.

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Restaurants

Hotel Starkl Restaurant

Around  12:30 or so we stopped about  three quarters of the way, going anti-clockwise around the lake, at the restaurant Hotel Starkl. It is best to get to any European tourist restaurant thirty to forty-five minutes in advance, because at one o’clock they fill up quickly. Here we purchased simple salads and enough wine and water to enjoy the fabulous weather.

References

References
↑1 They are additionally known as the Julian Alps.
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Grindelwald – Oberjoch

If you are looking for things to and have the time, the way to probably see the area around Grindelwald is with a package, like a three day pass. There are others to choose from and some can save you some serious money, if you plan correctly. Since we were kind of flying by the seat of pants, this being a rather long excursion for us, we decided to go the à la carte, even though we kind of knew what we wanted to see.

GrindelwaldFirst_2

Grindwald First

Though included in several packages, you can purchase this tourist package separately. It cost us 62CHF per person with no discounts, which they constantly asked us for but would never tell us how you can obtain one of them (is that not typical Swiss).

However, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The alpine air, the walks and especially the views. Here is a slideshow on our way up the mountain Schwarzhorn for our amazing views of the Grindelwald Valley and the surrounding moutains.

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Here are also a few video clips of our ascent up the Schwarzhorn and to the Oberjoch ridge and Grindelwald First.

The Bachalpsee

After the Grindelwald First, and yes that actually just covers the walk around the Oberjoch cliff, there is also a nice hike to the Bachalpsee. It is signed as a fifty minute walk, but if you are with children and others, you may want to add ten or twenty minutes to your round trip time, just for talking and other diversions, like picture taking.

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The above slideshow details our lazy day trek to the Bachalpsee, a very nice walk to an alpine lake. A bit rocky along the way, but you can make it with a good pair of tennis shoes or sneakers.

That’s it for now, will be back tomorrow with more travel adventures.