I would like to begin with a few Slovenian facts. If you are like us, you probably did not know a lot about Slovenia until becoming the recipient of these emails :0)

1) Slovenians love bees. They decorate the hives with art to show the bees the way home (pretty cool). There are 90,000 beekeepers in a population of only 2 million people.

2) Ljubljana is the capital, and largest city, with a population of only 279,000.

3) The Slovenian language has 48 dialects. It has singular, plural and dual grammatical forms. So if you are a couple in Slovenia, that’s something special.

4) There is one vineyard for every 70 people. I think you are already aware of our appreciation for the wine.

5) The oldest wheel ever found is the Ljubljana Marshes Wheel, which is 5,150 years old.

6) Slovenia is one of the 10 tallest countries in the world. A typical male is 1.803m or 5′ 11″ tall.

7) Slovenians are the 6th biggest smokers and wine drinkers in the world. We have seen a great deal of both and the smoking may explain the extraordinarily large number of outdoor cafes.

8) Almost 54% of the country is protected land. Only Venezuela has a higher percentage.

9) The bear is Slovenia’s national symbol. They have 560 of them at last count. That’s a small enough number for them all to have names….

Today’s adventure – Lake Bled. Early breakfast, short drive, rained the entire way though we started out with a peek-a-boo blue sky prompting us to bring our entirely unused sunglasses.

We are getting pretty handy at navigating the city and the highways, so had no challenges arriving at our destination and finding parking just meters from the lake walk.

Rick wisely suggested we explore the tourist shops in the hopes of finding some plastic ponchos to offer an extra layer of protection from the torrential rain, described as ‘light’ in my weather app. A poncho was surprisingly difficult to find because, unlike any of the other towns we have visited, the tourist shops had beautiful things, mostly hand made. There were no fridge magnets, cheap t-shirts, or cheap plastic rain ponchos. Until we arrived at the very last store and scored. The best 12 Euros we have ever spent.

We set off at a decent pace on the 6 km walk around the lake. We were determined to complete it before we were soaked through. Mission impossible. About 2.5 damp km in, we stopped at a little coffee place for a cappuccino and a chance to dry off a bit. We sat outside under large umbrellas, watching others brave the rain as they slogged past.

The cafe happened to be right next to the rowing club. Many of the Slovenian Olympic medalists are from this area, and some still live here. Rick was inspired to reminisce about his time with the Rutgers rowing club.

We had noticed large numbers of buoys in the lake during our walk. The town was preparing for a major rowing regatta on Saturday. I am sure it would have been awesome to see and we might have scheduled our time differently if we had known.

The walk would have been lovely in the sunshine but was a bit of a survival mission in such heavy rain. By the time we hit 4 km we looked as if we had been wading in the lake; nothing below our thighs was dry.

We passed a number of men dressed in camo and fishing from the lakeside. Most of them had camo rain covers or tents. Were they worried the fish would see them?

I did manage to take the largest number of photos known to man of the beautiful little island in the middle of the lake with the Church of Mary the Queen. I have a photo of that island from every possible angle, with and without wisps of clouds, but all through the downpour.

I also managed to get a few photos of the castle on the hill and the cathedral spire.

Our plan was to take the boat to the island immediately at the end of the walk. However, it was a 50 minute wait for the next boat (not a lot of boat activity due to the weather). We popped into a nearby cafe for yet another cappuccino and a piece of the local cream cake. I had read about in multiple places and David had recommended it the night before. It was good. Actually, it was great.

These boats are pletnas and the most common mode of transport to the island. Given the weather, we ended up in a small electric boat. It was fully enclosed, preventing us from getting any wetter than we already were.

Our boat captain had told us he would be back in one hour to pick us up for the return trip. That was the perfect amount of time to see everything the little island had to offer: the church, the museum (which was quite interesting) and the little souvenir shop.

The church was beautiful. There is a tradition that if you make a wish, then ring the bell by pulling on the rope three times, your wish will be granted. Rick did great, three pulls exactly. I must have yanked on the damn thing six times before it made even a tiny bong. But it was still fun.

We lit a candle for the Dads. The whole lighting of candles was not part of my Anglican church upbringing. However, over our years of travel we have found ourselves in many grand cathedrals or small chapels, lighting candles. It is a comforting thing. And since I have no clarity on what faith I really am, I think God – whoever he or she is – would be fine with the principle.

Soaking wet but happy, we took the boat back to the town and headed for the parking lot. On our way we passed the Palace Hotel, one of the nicest in town, and decided to stop for a drink. The lounge was very elegant with a lovely view of the lake and the still torrential rain. We did dry off a little bit. The rain kept falling while we enjoyed our respite and returned to a damp dry state (feet excepted) by the time we made it back to Ljubljana.

There are a number of stories about how the little island appeared in the lake; this is my favourite. The lake was once a beautiful green meadow, where the fairies came to dance and play. It was their very own magical place. One day some goats discovered the green meadow and moved in. They ate the grass, made loud noises and generally bothered the heck out of the fairies. So the fairies got together and cast a magic spell that instantly filled the meadow with water, turning it into a lake. The fairies kept the island for themselves as a place where they could dance and celebrate. This turned out very well for the fairies. But as Rick says – not so good for the goats.

Once back in Ljubljana, we changed into dry clothes and hung out for a bit before heading off for dinner. We decided to turn right and walk along the river to suss out a different spot for dinner. We crossed the river at tri-bridge, lured by the lights, happy voices and smell of delicious food.

Dinner was at a restaurant called Balthazar – all lovely green velvet chairs and booths. The pasta meal was good, though the restaurant was busy and loud.

We had our last gelato of the trip at a little dessert place called ‘Cacao’ on the way back. They offered a large number of options made with coconut or cashew milk. I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of restaurants that are either vegan or offer tasty looking vegan options. Perhaps this is part of the Slovenian style of sustainability.

We were tucked into bed for early night. Tomorrow would be a long drive back to Dubrovnik where we would catch our flight home on Sunday. I think we may still have one or two adventures up our sleeves, but let’s see what tomorrow brings. Until then, I will dream of the beautiful meadow that became a lake.