The bus ride along the way was filled with lots of snow and snow capped mountains landscape, passing through numerous villages.
Got into Bohinj at 9am, to find lots of snow everywhere around the lake too. There wasn't much people around yet, possibly it's not as popular as touristic spot like Bled, or perhaps I reached really early.
I was looking at catching the 10.47am bus to Bled (otherwise the next bus would be at 12.47pm), so I kept an eye on time and didn't venture too far from the bus stop.
Lake Bohinj is the largest natural lake in Slovenia, located within Triglav National Park - the only national park in Slovenia. The water is extremely clear and you could look all the way to the bottom.
The best view point would be the left side of the lake (from the bus stop), as it would have a good view of the church and the bridge but also the mountains reflected in the lake.
Perhaps if I had more time and visited during the summer, I would venture and explore the national park and the trails.
The trip to Bled from Bohinj took only 30 mins, so I was at Bled Mlino bus stop just before 12 noon. I took a quick packed lunch at a bench with an amazing view of the lake - the water is not as clear as that of Bohinj, but what stands out in Bled is the island in the middle of the lake, with a church on top. It is the only natural island that Slovenia has.
The island has several buildings, the main one being the pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary.
There is the option to take a boat across the lake and visit the church but I decided against it. Instead I chose to walk the circumference of the lake.
It's amazing how the view of the island changes dramatically just from viewing it from a different spot on the lake - I can't decide which viewpoint I love most!
There is one viewpoint that is a must do, which is to climb up a trail so that it gives you the advantage of seeing the entire lake plus the island from high up. There's about 3 main ones to choose from, and originally I was planning to do the longest, but after attempting to climb the trail, I changed my mind and pick the easiest.
On normal days, it would had been an easy trail. But with the recent snow, some of it had ended up leaving a layer of ice on the trail, and was extremely slippery to walk on.
I had a few slips while trying to ascend, and I knew just then that I was going to have a hard time on the way down. And I predicted accurately, as I had slipped many more times on the way down and completely fell at least twice. It's a good thing my bum-bum is well cushioned 😂
The view at the top was completely worth all the hard work. One of the locals I met at the top mentioned I am really lucky to be able to see snow at this time, as they don't always get it so early in December in recent years.
The Slovenians are a really friendly bunch, as a few of them spoke to me in English and was curious about my origins and me travelling alone.
By the time I was done with the walk back to the Bled station (I skipped the section between Bled Station and Bled Mlino, since I had dropped off at the Mlino stop), it was already 3.30pm, spending more time than expected at Lake Bled. The sun was about to set, and as I had just missed the bus back to Ljubljana, the next bus would be at 4.30pm.
With some extra time to kill, I decided to pop into a café to try the Lake Bled cake, otherwise known as Kremna Rezina cake. I had randomly walked into a café (Zima), to soon realised that the cake was originated in Zima.
Unfortunately I found the cake way to creamy for my liking, and I didn't like that the filo pastry doesn't break easily, which means that whenever I try to cut it from the top, it doesn't cut through but rather squash the cake and forcing the cream to run in all directions.
The hot chocolate however was thick and rich, lovely!
I made it onto the 4.30pm bus back from Bled to Ljubljana, which took about 1hr 20 mins.
The whole trip only cost me Euro 5.10 (there is a 75% discount off bus tickets on weekends. Purchase tickets directly on bus, as buying from the bus station incurs an additional Euro 0.50 fee)! I saved about Euro 55, as I had originally booked a tour, that would had brought me to the same spots!
Been out for 11 hours... it's been an extremely long day, but it was a great day out in fantastic weather.
Grateful as I did see the weather report that it's expected to be another horrendous weather tomorrow.
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