Our relatively short 2 hour train ride this morning took us across the border from Ljubljana, Slovenia to Zagreb, Croatia. During most of the trip we were following the Sava river through farmland, passing small villages.

This village is near Sevnica, about half way between the two capital cities of their respective countries.

We reached Zagreb mid-morning and got a ride on the public electric tram from the train station to the car rental office nearby and picked up our rental car.

We had difficulties trying to make arrangements for train travel through Croatia and most websites recommended car rentals instead!

We loaded our backpacks and headed out of the city towards the seaside!

In the interior, once we got out of the suburbs of Zagreb, we were in mountainous country.

As we neared the coast the country became more arid and rocky, with very little agriculture evident.

Then we saw the Adriatic Sea, with the barren-looking islands of Croatia.

The water looked cool, blue and inviting!

We followed the coastline down and entered the region of Croatia known as Dalmatia. We reached our destination, the small resort area of Stinica in late afternoon and unloaded our baggage for a one night stand. This isn’t a village or town, there is no grocery store and just a few restaurants, but there are lots of apartment blocks and holiday homes, and tons of cars lining the narrow roads!

We had dinner at the largest restaurant in the area, just a short drive from our apartment up the hill!

After dinner ( half of which will be our breakfast tomorrow!) we drove further down to the waterfront to see the last of the sunset.

Down at the waterfront we found a large area off the road with an old cement pad, a crumbling large structure and smaller stone building. It looked like something industrial or military, perhaps from the Soviet era of the “Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia”, run by dictator Tito from 1939 until his death in 1980.

Lit up by a passing car, the bombed-out looking building reminded me of the Balkan conflicts of 1991 into the early 2000’s.

The Conflicts during the break up of Yugoslavia into the countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia, were horrific, with hundreds of thousands killed in acts of genocide, and millions displaced. It is amazing that some of these countries are tourism hotspots just 30 years or less later!

Part of our exploring yesterday was to go to the bus station and procure bus tickets to Lake Bled for today on the advice of our B&B host. We got up early to catch the 2nd bus of the morning, trying to beat the heat. We arrived in Bled at about 8 in the morning, time for breakfast! After breakfast we strolled to the edge of the lake.

Our first glimpse of Lake Bled and the iconic view of the church on the tiny island in the lake.

We were thankful for the cooler morning temperature here in the mountains and decided we should hike up to the castle overlooking the lake before the afternoon heat!

After passing the white steepled Church of St. Martin and climbing the winding switchback trails and steps up to the Castle, we got fabulous views of the surrounding countryside!

And a better view of the island and church at the far end of the lake!

The Bled Castle is a sight in it’s own right, with a long history that is explored in it’s exhibits throughout the buildings.

The interior of the richly frescoed chapel, next to Robert in the previous picture.

A mannequin dressed in the garb of a local peasant from medieval times, next to one of the beautiful radiators of the castle from the 17th century. The tiled radiators were heated from a central fire box on the opposite side of the wall that fed the heat to several radiators in adjoining rooms. They are now electrically heated!

We finished our tour of the Castle as the tourist crowds began arriving and hiked the trails back down to the lakeshore. We decided to walk all the way around the lake, which is smaller than I expected, thank goodness!

“I’m actually, finally here! I’ve been wanting to visit Lake Bled for about 10 years!!!”

At the far end of the lake there is a very popular swimming beach. The water is clear and turquoise blue, with Bled Castle on the rock outcrop to the left and the Island with the Church on the right! The actual town of Bled it at the opposite end of the lake.

As we rounded the far end of the oblong lake we could see on the island the steps leading from a boat dock up to the church. There are 99 steps and the story is that if a couple wants to be married in the church the groom must carry the bride up all 99 steps!

The “Church of the Mother of God on the Lake” was built on an old temple site of the pagan Goddess of Fertility of the Slavic people before Christianization. Looking past the church on the island, to the right  you can see Bled Castle on the high rock outcrop and further to the right and lower down you can see the white steeple of the Church of St. Martin. After our circumnavigation of the lake we caught our bus for the 45 minute ride back to Ljubljana.

We had a little more stair climbing to do to get to our B&B! The rickety looking stairs were the only thing not renovated on the older building where our apartment was on the 2nd floor with the horizontal windows and skylight on the left.

We explored old town Ljubljana today, walking the one mile from our apartment to the main train/bus station, where we caught a bus to the old town section.

We crossed the Ljubljanica River that winds through the center of the city, several times in our travels today.

Scenes from Old Town! Top left; The fountain in the square next to the river. There was a Sunday flea market going on, with tables of glassware, old pins, photos, books and nick-nacks. Beyond the fountain, under the trees there was an oompah band playing rousing music! Everyone was jockeying for a spot in the shade! Top right; The town hall, richly decorated with frescoes in the inner courtyard. Inside the town hall there was an art gallery exhibiting photographs of avante-garde theatre that was interesting. Bottom left; A church with a rather modern frescoe painting. Bottom right; Lunch! The original pig in a blanket! A sausage wrapped in sauerkraut and mustard then baked in a flaky croissant pastry!

From down in the old town you can look up to see the Ljubljana Castle on the hill overlooking the town.

We hiked up the hill, thankfully in the shade of the forest canopy, to the Ljubljana Castle to see the almost 360 degree view of town.

Looking down on the red roofs of the old town.

We caught a bus back to our apartment and were happy to get into the air-conditioning!

We woke up early and had to leave our B&B before breakfast to catch the bus down into town to catch the train to our next destination, Ljubljana (pronounced “Lube-lee-Yana”), Slovenia!

A beautiful sunrise in Innsbruck. The Ski Jump is lit up with morning sunshine!

We had two train transfers, one in Schwarzach-St. Veit that went smoothly. I had booked the second transfer in Villach, Austria with an over 2 hour layover, just to insure we had time to find the platform, maybe have something to eat and make the next train, otherwise it would be a short 9 minute transfer! It turned out we could have made the 9 minute transfer, but the train looked very crowded, in fact quite a few passengers from our previous train rushed to fill up this ongoing train! We opted to wait the 2 hour layover for the next train, get some lunch and try to stay cool in the over 90 degree heat! It turned out to be a great decision! The next train was newer, with a 1st class car, and we could board a half hour before departure and enjoy the air-conditioning!

The many trains we traveled on today (except the vintage one)!

Traveling through Austria afforded us fantastic views of little villages at the base of lush green mountains!

Even a castle (or maybe a church?) up on a hill!

Today we leave our wonderful friends in Geneva to travel east into Austria. We said goodbye to Raymonde and then Michel joined us on our early morning bus ride to the train station.

The bus stop is just opposite their house, so we didn’t have far to walk!

We had time at the train station for a coffee before we waved goodbye to Michel as the train left the station. Our route took us along the shore of Lake Geneva before it turned northeasterly towards Zurich.

The excellent Swiss vineyards along Lake Geneva!

My “window on the world” as we traverse the Swiss countryside.

Before we left Switzerland we had wonderful mountain views along Walensee also known as Lake Walen.

A beautiful park along the lake.

 

We crossed the tiny country of Liechtenstein and entered Austria. We traveled through valleys surrounded by mountains and dotted with small villages set in emerald green fields and meadows with darker green forests spilling down the mountain slopes.

We haven’t seen greens this vibrant since we were in New Zealand!

We reached our destination, Innsbruck, home of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics, at a little after 4pm. It took us a little while to figure out the city public transportation, but it was necessary since our B&B is located up in the hills above town!

The view from our B&B room overlooking Innsbruck! In the distance, left of center you can see the Ski Jump!

We settled in, for only one night, with minimal unpacking, then had dinner at the Inn’s restaurant. It was still light out after dinner and we had purchased a 24 hour bus ticket, so we caught the bus downhill into town to see the sights.

The bus crossed the swollen Inn River and we disembarked at Marketplatz, a popular square alongside the river, filled with young people and tourists! The pastel painted buildings across the river compete with the mountain skyline for your eye’s attention!

We joined the throngs of tourists and wandered through the streets and squares of the old town, admiring the architecture and decoration.

The Triumphal Arch or Triumphpforte framing the mountains.

We caught the bus back up the hill at dusk and had our last view of Innsbruck before we slept!

The Ski Jump is lighted up in red on the left!