Bled: 6^th October 2023

Taking a boat trip across to the sole island in Lake Bled was almost compulsory. There’s only one building on the island, the Church of the Assumption, which is reached by a rather steep flight of steps … with an ice-cream stall at the top!

The boat is a sort of man-powered punt affair, which carries about a dozen people, Some guide-books call it a gondola … like in Venice, the ‘gondolier’ stands at the rear, but propels the boat with two oars.

In retrospect, it may have been better to have taken the river cruise we just did, from Bucharest to Budapest before the one we took in 2018, from Budapest to Amsterdam. When you compare the two, ‘Buc-Bud’ comes out less favourably … although it’s quite enjoyable in its own right, especially if you haven’t done ‘Bud-Ams’. Those who booked ‘Buc-Ams’ are in for a real treat.

The cruise visits four countries, each with its own currency. This could have been a major pain in the olden days, but nowadays, in practice, most places will accept the euro. It’s best, though, to carry your euros in small-value notes, for you’ll often get your change in the local currency. And, if all else fails, there’s always The Plastic!

There shouldn’t be any problem with language; most people you’ll come into contact with speak English … I only came across one person who didn’t, and we got along quite nicely in German.

One thing to remember; the Danube is a busy river. Although all cabins have windows, often, if you aren’t actually cruising, your view on rising will often be either the quayside, or the side of another ship.

All being well, we should be off again tomorrow, cruising the Danube between Bucharest and Budapest. But, before that, we’ll be going to see ‘Dracula’s Castle’. We know, of course, that Count Dracula wasn’t a real person, but a figment of the imagination of author Bram Stoker.

It is said that Stoker based the legendary Castle Dracula on Bran Castle, and Dracula upon one of its more unsavoury occupants … Vlad Tepes, sometimes known as Vlad Drakul. He’s better known to us as Vlad the Impaler, because he impaled people, and that’s really all you want to know about that.

As far as is known, Stoker never visited Transylvania, or laid eyes upon Bran Castle, although he may have seen pictures. Vlad predates him by several centuries … but he was a natural for the role; the Victorians loved that kind of thing.

From the book, we gather that Jonathan Harker journeyed to Castle Dracula from Bistritz (Bistrita) to be met at the Borgo Pass. The Count returned to the castle along the Sereth (Siret) River, which would put Castle Dracula well to the north, an estimated 100 klicks away from Bran Castle.

But, hey; it’s only fiction! There’s no such person as Count Dracula. I might, however, have a crucifix and some garlic in my baggage, just in case!

Bled: 6^th October 2023.

I’m not quite done with the carriage ride yet. Here’s some video.

Music: ‘Sardana’ by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

(Sorry, Kevin; I turned it down considerably, to emphasise the sound of the horse’s hooves.)

Bled: 6^th October 2023

We took a ride around the lake in a horse drawn carriage. Well, we couldn’t not, really. It seemed the little park near where we had lunch held more carriages than cars! But, for your money, you do get a complete circuit of the lake, and had several glimpses of the castle, and of THE island. It’s claimed as the only island in Slovenia, the only building on which is the prominent Church of the Assumption.

It would have been possible to hire an e-bike or an e-scooter instead, which would have meant a lot more stopping and staring time … but, probably, wouldn’t have been quite the same. Besides, we had a boat to catch.

I didn’t say much about Bled Castle when we visited last week … mainly because there wasn’t much to say without launching into a prolix history lesson. In which, I’m sure few people would be interested; it’s probably on Wikipedia if they are.

Because, it’s pretty well impregnable, which means all the occupants had to do was stay within the walls, and wait till the Ungodly went away. Which doesn’t make for very interesting history, anyway

But, here’s a few pictures …

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Bled: 6^th October 2023.

It’s a long way into Slovenia to visit Bled, but it was worth it. The paperwork that came with our trip said take passports, but our guide told us that, since Croatia had recently joined the EU, they were no longer necessary.

Our first visit was to Bled Castle, a fairy-tale confection perched high on a rocky tor. We got through the difficult bit first; the climb up many steps to the castle. That’s the only way up; to approach from any other direction would be impossible, unless you had excellent rock-climbing skills. It was, we were told, never invaded, and you can see why.

Its unassailable position means, of course, an excellent view, as it overlooks the beautiful Lake Bled, with its solitary island containing the Church of the Assumption can be seen in the distance. But, more about that later. First, we descended into the town, to eat the packed lunches provided by our hotel, while sitting on a bench by the tranquil lake.

Pula: 4^th October 2023.

I’ll round off our visit to Pula to post a short slide show of some pictures of the old Italianate centre … and another one of a gelato stall. Most of the signs are in Italian, as well as Croat, for there was a strong Roman, and later Venetian influence. Betweenthe wars, Istria was occupied by Italy … and, indeed, some considered it a part of that country.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

When I discussed street art a little while ago, I wondered if it might include paintings on the walls of commercial premises, whose message is simply ‘Come in! Buy things’?

Let’s have a look at the town of Franschhoek, in South Africa. Since it’s a noted wine area, every other shop sells … you’ve guessed it … wine! Most of the remainder sell food, and, of course, to go with superior wine, it has to be superior food. Some shops, indeed, sell food and wine.

Now, if you’re selling the same quality product as Smith, next door, or Jones across the road, you need some way of attracting customers to choose your establishment over the others. And how better than to decorate your shop with some street art?

Pula: 4^th October 2023

We went to Pula on the ordinary service bus, which passed right by the hotel gates. Unfortunately, we’d been misdirected; we turned the wrong way out of the gates, and would have queued on the wrong side of the road, anyway. But, after we found out exactly where the stop was, we managed to catch the next one. We passed through the villages of Liznjan and Sisan, and as we approached Pula, I thought maybe it was a bit too urbanised for my taste.

However, we got off the bus by the ancient Roman amphitheatre. We didn’t go in, but it was imposing enough from the outside; we had a good idea of what it might be like from amphitheatres we’ve visited in Jordan and Tunisia. It’s said that the Coliseum in Rome was modelled on it.

We took a walk down by the harbour, and I was just thinking this is an afternoon out of my life I’ll never get back, when we came upon the Old Town, Like on previous occasions, it consists of narrow streets of old houses, which gave out on to a wide piazza, which was once the Roman forum.

Again, the buildings gave off the flavour of Italy in more ways than one. They sell superlative gelato!!