The bus was at the hotel door. While we are only 12, we have a bus that accomodates 35 pax (no WC) so lots of room to spread out.
We headed northwest out of Ljubljana but were on the road for some 20 minutes only when we stopped in at Škofja Loka, Slovenia' s best preserved medieval town. We hiked up to the castle which we then toured, led by a local guide who covered the history of the castle and the town.
After the castle, we dropped down to the old main street, visited the church and then we were on our own for lunch which we had in an outdoor restaurant (on the left in the pic below).
Continuing on the road, we headed cross-country and up into the mountains on a skinny road -
the vistas were breathtaking and the switchbacks heartstopping!
Our destination was the town of Kropa in order to visit a 'nail' museum, something which had not inspired much interest for us personally.
Well it turned out to be about much more than nails - Kropa had been a major iron forge with its output having broad applications and being shipped widely throughout Europe and into Africa.
In addition to covering the manufacturing aspects of the forge, the local guide also covered the social aspects of life for the workers and their families. So an expected ho-hum visit turned out to be most interesting, helped by the guide's dry wit.
Back on the bus, we took a much kinder/gentler road into Bled only to learn that our hotel had been overbooked. Instead, we would have to put up with the lakeside Grand Hotel Toplice. As much as we normally avoid 5-star hotels, I guess we'll simply have to cope for the next two nights. ;)
The above pic was shot from one of our two balconies. Shooting ino a low sun using a camera without manual exposure controls can't make for great photography but the pic gives some idea of the great beauty for which Lake Bled is known. Note the island in the middle.
Our group supper was at the hotel. The choice of main course being trout, pork steak or Weiner schnitzel. The dessert was the reknown and much vaunted Bled Cream Cake - according to their stats, over 10 million servings have been made so far, an occasion for a major celebration scheduled for this Saturday. [Note: the cake is very good - much like our Canadian 'milles feuilles', but without any chocolate.]
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I think that photo is beautiful.
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