we parked our avis rental car at our hotel parking lots. great weather & sunshine on 15.9.2018. ^^
rooms were not ready. actually it was not checking in time yet & they asked if we like to pay €30 to get the room. we didn’t need that (unusual in my experience, usually they give it to you free when available at time of check in, though if you prebook early check in it is usual to pay).
the room came with an 1 hr free row boat so we left our luggages & hopped onto one to row to bled island, or so we thought! lol! 🙂
our grand hotel toplice looked nice.
but price was exorbitant, service was extremely poor or non existent, and rooms were in poor condition, very run down, not worth 1/2 the price!
son took charge of rowing.
son was quite spent after scaling mt fuji with gf 2-3 days back. PLUS we were not in the best attire after 15hrs flight inc transit & jetlag. 🙂
bled island looked alluring & deceptively close.
and opposite our hotel was the bled castle up in the hill.
lake bled was serene, tranquil, mesmerising.
son rowed past the cottage by the lake, maybe a bit past the 1/2 way mark or at most 2/3 way to bled island. took 25mins.
son didn’t relish the idea of me rowing back from bled island. so we decided just to relax & enjoyed the lake & the boat on the water. 🙂
we saw pletna boats ferring passengers. they came from a ferry point next to our hotel. it took the professional botman 35mins to get to bled island. he had 20 passengers of course.
son & i decided to row back together, one oar each. it was a lot faster & less than 1/2 the effort i think.
still early to check in so we decided to go hike up to ostrica the well acknowledged best veiw of bled island & sunrise. 🙂
we decided to drive to camping bled instead of walking along the scenic lakeside.
we found camping bled but was guided to a free parking area at the train station in the hill.
it didn’t make much sense after we parked our car & walked a short stretch to return to the trailhead we missed earlier.
so we decided to drive back, find a place to have lunch & parked our car nearer to the trailhead. this a good decision. 🙂
a very nice morning, wonderful lake & good start to our slovenia holiday.
c.h.e.f andy