Alps,Lakes,Radojica

Off in the car to the Julian alps. Goal is Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj.

Arriving in the touristy part of Lake Bled, we were earlier than the crowds so we got a parking spot right in front of a restaurant on the lake. A lovely waiter took great care of us, giving us wifi (so we could use the map,) arranging our boat trip and allowing us to leave our car right there to walk across to the boats. We took the paddle boat (guide paddles, we chat) over to the church on the lake. Church of the Assumption of Maria. Legend has it the original inhabitants of the island 1600s, when the wife was windowed she made a bell of gold and put her most valuable possessions in it. Sadly (supposedly) it was lost in a storm. A replica was created out of standard whatever-bells-are-made-of metal. The story is that if you ring the bell three times, the bell underwater will ring, too, and you will be granted a wish.

Brekky

Brekky with a view

Our gondolier

http://zupnija-bled.si/

T

he temple of the ancient Slavic goddess Živa, once stood in the place of the present Baroque church. The temple disappeared during battles between the followers of the pagan religion and Christians, who destroyed the altar and built a church.

On the Bled island, archaeologists have discovered traces of prehistoric (11th to 8th centuries B.C.) and Slavic (9th to 10th century) settlements. In the early Middle Ages a pre-Christian, probably Old Slavic cult area stood at the location of the present day church. 124 graves with skeletons from the 9th to the 11th century were found. The foundations of a pre-Romanesque chapel which was built during the process of Christianisation, also date from approximately the same period - this is probably the only discovered example of a cult building from those times on Slovenian territory. According to written sources, the first masonry church on the island, a three-nave Romanesque basilica, was consecrated by the Aquilean patriarch Pellegrino in 1142.

In the 15th century, it was rebuilt in the Gothic style: a new presbytery, a freestanding bell tower and the main altar were built. The renovated single-nave church was consecrated in 1465 by the first bishop of Ljubljana, count Žiga Lamberg.

We then drove further to the larger less touristy Lake Bohinj and just took a couple of pictures before trying to head back.

Next, our intention was to travel down to see the Lippizan horse farm, but Easter weekend traffic out of the alps was deadly and we were afraid we would not have time. We diverted to a lovely medieval town called Radovjica. It was a pleasant place to walk around. We went into the beekeeping museum which provided information about bees, beekeeping and specifically the fascinating history of beekeeping in Slovenia. I bought jars of three different traditional Slovenian honeys. Two of them are not all that populare outside of Slovenia because people say they are bitter. One of them is their lightest/sweetest one, from acadia. The others are forest (from the earliest traditions when the hives were tree stumps in the forest) and buckwheat, from the earliest agriculture days.

This is about the painted panels, next few pictures. If you can't read it, some of the important points are that he paintings identified the beehive's human keeper among other things.

Close up of a cool one.

How they looked in use.

Ain't I cute?

We went also to the gingerbread exhibit and learned wonderful stories about gingerbread and the various ways it is used in Slovenia and in other countries. These are edible, but you don't eat them.