Day 48

Dobro jutro,

Today we took a day trip to Lake Bled, which is only 45 minutes to the North of Ljubljana.

Lake Bled is stunning, especially in autumn with the leaves on the trees turning colour.

High above the lake, on top of a steep cliff, is Bled Castle, the oldest castle in Slovenia. The oldest part of the castle is a little over 1,000 years old.

Like Ljubljana Castle, Bled Castle is a proper medieval fortress. It has the draw-bridge, a keep, ramparts and towers.

The views from the castle over the lake and the town of Bled were spectacular.

Inside the castle was an iron forge, a museum, and an old printing shop. And, of course, a souvenir shop.

Halloween was only a few days ago, and the castle looked like it had been decorated for Halloween. There were a few skeletons hanging around, and carved pumpkins still sitting about.

We can’t get over the size of some of the pumpkins that are grown for

Halloween. With bright orange skins. The little pumpkins we get in New Zealand usually have grey or green skins.

Judging by the beauty and creativity that has gone into the carving of the pumpkins, some people have spent a lot of time on these Halloween decorations.

Inside one of the towers the King had his own special throne room - the toilet. A quiet place the King could escape to and forget about the troubles caused by noisey and bossy grand daughters.

Inside the castle walls was a honey shop. It sold all sorts of products made from honey and bees wax. Buzzy Bee was very excited to visit this shop.

Buzzy Bee has been impressed by how seriously Bees are taken in Slovenia. The people of Slovenia recognise how important bees are to our environment. The government encourages people to grow specific types of flowers on their balconies to attract bees and help them produce more honey. In the cities, bee hives are kept on the rooftops of some apartment buildings. These bees harvest pollen from the flowers people grow on their balconies.

Lake Bled is a very small natural lake. It would not take very long to walk around it. In the middle of the lake is an island with a church on it, the Church of the Mother of God. It looks like a bit of palaver getting to the lake. Row boats only, there didn’t seem to be any motor boats, so we didn’t bother. We just admired from afar. We’ve seen enough churches.

After visiting the castle we drove down the hill to the little village of Bled. It took a long time to find a parking spot, because this village

was so busy with Slovenians visiting and strolling around the lake.

Our lunch was very average. In fact, Grandma didn’t even get lunch; the lady forgot about Grandma’s sandwich. Then when it did arrive, it was wrong. Grandma was not happy and sent it back. What a silly lady. You do not make a mistake with Grandma’s lunch.

Koro decided to try a famous Lake Bled delicacy. Cream Cake, or Kremsnita as it is called in Slovenian. It is almost exactly the same as a custard square, even the pastry is the same. The only differences are there is no icing on the top, and there is a layer of whipped cream on top of the custard.

Lake Bled was worth the time, it was very beautiful.

Love to you all from Grandma and Koro and Buzzy Bee. XXX OOO.