Day 26: Lake Bled

We spent the day at Lake Bled.  It was absolutely lovely.  There's small island in the middle of the lake.  There are boatmen from one village that row you out to the island.  These boats aren't as stable as they look.  If you get up while the guy is rowing, as one woman did, the  boat starts to tip.

We then went to the Vintgar Gorge and walked in about a mile.  The views were spectacular.

Next we went up to Bled Castle.  Lots of steps.

We spent the rest of the day--about 5 hours--eating, walking, and relaxing on the lake.

We also had the specialty of Lake Bled--Bledska Kremna Rezina--Bled Cake.  It was originated at the place we had lunch.  It was delicious.

Day 25: Around Ljubljana

We are really enjoying Ljubljana.  There are tons streets with no cars--it may be the best walking city I've visited.  We wake up to views of the Ljubljanica River each morning from our room.

We walked to the huge farmers market after breakfast.

There was a big food festival going on, with music, dancing, and lots of food.

We then walked around town a bit more to the Dragon Bridge, which has 4 dragons guarding it.  Pretty spectacular!

We then spent the afternoon in the museum of modern art. There was a whole exhibit on the underground pamphlets, books, and posters made in Slovenia against the Germans in WWII.

We then walked to this gigantic park--Trivoli for a stroll.

On the way back, we stopped by this Serbian Orthodox Church across from the art museum.  There were services when we waled in, so I got these photos of the web.

After dinner we went to a concert in Congress Square.

Day 23 & 24 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Yesterday we flew from Split to Ljubljana.  We thought we could take a bus or train, but it would have taken 12 hours, so we flew.  Ljubljana is a fairy tale looking city.  The temperature has dropped from in the 80s on the Dalmatian coast to the 60s to 70s up here in the mountains.

It's symbol is a dragon.

We have a great hotel. Our room consists of both windows on the second floor facing out and the first two on the side.  

It's weird because the hotel looks old from the outside and is mid century modern/disco on the inside.

We took a walking tour of the city this AM.  Very cutesy and ate dinner at a traditional Slovenian restaurant--Julija's.

Day 22: Split Marina and Ivan Mestrovic

Today was our last full day in Split.  We headed west walking toward the Marina.  It was a nice walk along the sea.

We walked further to the Gallerie Ivan Mestrovic.  He is probably the most famous artist in Croatia.  He is known for his marble, bronze, and wood sculptures.  We visited his summer home, which has been turned into a museum.

We then had lunch on a hill overlooking the marina and city.  It was pretty spectacular.

While eating we watched this sailing ship raise its sails and move out of the harbor.

I will miss Split.  We had a very pleasant stay.  

Day 21 Split Museum of Art and Jews in Split

We are really enjoying our Art Nouveau hotel in Split.

In the square next to ours is a statue of the father of Croatian Literature, Marko Marulic.

I spent the morning at the Split Museum of Art.  There were more Ignjat Job paintings that I have seen in other cities.

Here is a drawing called "refugees" that I thought was really powerful.

A photographer put some sheep in the peristyle area of the Diocletian Palace. Split is known for its shepherds--pretty funny.

We had lunch at Kitchen 5 again.  Check out this bottle of wine.

I also went on a Jewish tour of Split and learned of the presence of Jews in Diocletian's place since the third century.  I visited the synagogue which is the third oldest synagogue still in use in Europe.

It was really nice talking with guide Lea and her father.

After dinner last night when we were walking along the sea, we finally saw our first Dalmatian in Dalmatia.