We awoke to overcast skies so it was obvious that we were off to Lake Bled. I had heard about the beauty of Lake Bled for a few different people including the three British guys that I had given a lift to over 2 weeks ago. The drive there was stunning, following the river Soca (“socha”) and passing near the tallest mountain in Slovenia, Mt. Triglav (at a height of 2864 meters). Unfortunately the cloud base was low with intermittent rain so we didn’t get the best view of the mountains. Just before we began a switchback filled climb, there was a young couple thumbing for a ride. I stopped and they jumped in Betty (thanks Holly for making room for them in the back). Fleurian and Marion were from France and they had been travelling for over a month through Switzerland and into Slovenia.
We followed another campervan from our campground for a while:
Betty slowly puttered up the countless switchbacks (actually, they weren’t countless as they were all numbered, I think there were about 55 in all, up and down, with a climb of about 500 meters). There were some great views even though the weather hid some of the spectacularness (yes, not a word...but it should be!). Strangely on our descent my carbon monoxide alarm went off which startled everyone, probably our hitchhiking friends more than anyone. We pulled over, opened the windows and doors, checked propane tanks (not that we had much propane in Betty as we still didn’t have the main camping gas!). I think it might have been caused by a large vehicle coming the other way but it was good to be cautious.
Gorgeous view as we ascended the mountain:
The views got better:
We dropped the couple off in a town called Franjiske Gora, had some lunch (soup, cheese and bread) by a small lake and then puttered on towards Lake Bled.
The view from the lake:
I couldn't help but "Harley" this statue...but you can tell that I obviously wasn't the first...
Holly had read of a “Bee Museum” in a town called Rozlickja and her recently past father used to be a beekeeper for many years so we had to head there. The town was gorgeous with a long history (800+ years) and the museum was in one of the cornerstone builidings in the early days. Garth and I were both surprised with how much we enjoyed the museum. We learned a lot about bees, checked out a live hive and admired the many hand painted entrances of bee hives which depicted many scenes ranging for religious ones and some fairly obvious ones (a beekeeper shooting at a bear stealing his honey) but there were also some odd ones, such as a bear holding the reins of a wagon pulled by a couple of chickens! They had real hive in action there and it was cool to watch the bees coming and going, with the ones coming with their back legs filled with pollen and nectar. There were some bees just hanging out by the entranceway flapping their wings and they seemed to be getting in the way but thanks to an educational film, we learned that these guys were just airing out the hive (I guess bee farts can be a problem!). Of course it was hard not to break out a bunch of low hanging bee puns...I told Holly to be on her best bee-haviour going in and overall I gave the museum a B.
Bee-lieve it or not, this is a bee mansion beehive:
The real beehive (note the reflections of me, Garth and Holly):
Some beehive entrance paitings:
The strange beehive entrance painting:
On the other side of the museum was a smaller exhibit about Anton ???, a native from the town who was a writer and thinker from the local area. He was one of the first to essentially document the aspect of the Slovene culture in the late 1500s. I was mostly intrigued by a semaphore signalling machine. It consisted of some pulleys with some black and white chequered flat pieces of wood. By working the pulleys, one could signify each letter of the alphabet. The sign could be seen up to 10-15 kilometers away so they would have relaying stations at this distance between cities. What would take a messenger horseman 24 hours to deliver could be done in about an hour with this system. Very impressive.
We had a drink at a cafe on the main, quiet street before heading out to get some groceries. Heavy rain began to fall and Garth and Holly contemplated what to do seeing as their tent wasn’t exactly cut out for extreme weather. We decided to check out a nearby campsite called Camp Sobec and by the time we found a site, in this, the biggest campsite in Slovenia, the rain had abated. We had a lovely curry dinner and all had a good night’s sleep (probably me better than the other two...being in a campervan and not a tent).
A happy guy post museum:
Betty at the campsite in Camp Sobec:
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