We've had a lazy couple of weeks enjoying the sunshine and the heat at Bled, most days it has been over 30 degrees, and some days as high as 37. As Richard mentioned in his post we found a bike shop in Lesce Bled that sells second-hand bikes, so got a couple for getting around and trying to get a bit of exercise. The Slovenians tend to drive rather fast and cut us up, but most of the tourist traffic round here looks like it is completely lost so doesn't zip around too badly. The people round here don't seem too concerned about theft, either. Cyclists leave their bikes all over the place and don't always lock them. No-one seems worried and presumably the theft rate must be low. I'm still paranoid though and lock mine!
During the Olympics, Richard was glued to the TV, and I spent the time sunning by the lake and having the occasional swim to cool down. I also started doing some painting, although only a couple of pictures so far, as when it is lovely sunny weather I feel I should go out and enjoy it. Plenty of time when it rains later in the year to paint! Richard has made the most of a local ice hockey tournament to see several games and have chats with the local ice hockey people.
While my mother was visiting we visited Vintgar gorge again, drove up the Vrsic pass in the alps and went to Bohinj to have a boat trip on the lake and go up the cable car to Vogel. The cable car climbs 1000m in 4 minutes - makes the stomach lurch slightly. The views from the top are outstanding, across to the Julian Alps and Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera so I'll have to visit again before I can post any pictures. It looks like a nice place to start some walks from, so I'll be twisting Richard's arm to do some mountain walks.
We have been for a few walks round the nearby hills, although it is a bit hot for lots of climbing. The bigger hills will have to wait until it cools down slightly. We've been walking up a couple of the local hills - Ribenska Gora, Velika Osojnica, and explored the footpaths to the local villages. Yesterday we did a 11.5km walk up to a local village that we can see from our balcony - Kupljenik. It was hot so were forced to stop at the first village (Bohinjksa Bela) for a cooling drink - we've discovered the local Radler drink. It is a mixture of beer and grapefruit, it sounds a bit odd, but is incredibly refreshing on a hot day and is only 2.5% so doesn't make you fuzzy-headed or dehydrated like beer can in the heat. Then we got up the hill, courtesy of a breeze and a bit of shade, and had lunch in the most beautiful spot with a fabulous, panoramic view across to Bled castle, the lake and the Karavanke mountains.
Bled has several festivals in the summer to keep us all entertained, and we have been enjoying them. The first one was back in July, with a weekend of bands, beer stalls and one evening a big laser show against the cliff under the castle - quite spectacular, and the next evening they floated thousands of candles on the lake and then had a huge firework display. It is amazing how the bangs of the fireworks echoed round the hills, it sounded like we had a minor war in the next valley over! More recently we had an Ethno music festival for several nights and we were tempted down to watch a band called Ahab, who were english. They were excellent and were much enjoyed with a kebab from the local take-away. Also, we went to watch a local band after the Ice hockey tournament one night. It is so nice to be able to enjoy the warm evenings out and about - it always gets a bit cool in England in the evenings so is never so fun.
That's about it for now, next week we have a few days away planned at Lake Balaton in Hungary, apparently a lovely place to visit in the summer. I'll make sure I take my camera to give you all a few pics. Then in September the big trips start with Venice and Rome the first one, then Munich for Oktoberfest. Later we plan to see Vienna and Budapest before the really cold weather sets in.
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