Ljubljana and Bled, Slovenia: A Well-Kept Secret

Today, we spent the morning exploring Ljubljana, the 216,000-person capital of Slovenia.  In addition to being this tiny country's primary university town, Ljubljana also has very nice architecture and quaint streets, including a tridge: three bridges crossing the river at the same place (warning: this word was coined by Danny and I, and is not [yet] officially recognized by Webster's).

A delightful place in and of itself, our experience was made even better because it was the first Saturday of the month, and the local farmers' and crafters' market was in town.  This is a view of one end of the market area from a section of the tridge.

After our brief foray into Ljubljana, we drove an hour to Bled, a tiny little Slovenian town near the Austrian border.  Bled is renowned for its stunning lake-castle-church combo.  Though this sounds like a typical trio for Europe, Bled pulls out all the stops by situating its 17th-century church in the middle of the lake on Slovenia's only natural island.  The result: magic.

More of that magic: a castle!

Bled actually became one of my favorite destinations on my trip thus far because I was able to swim to the island and back (which is farther than it looks).  It was epic :-)

After Bled, it was time for the long drive to Frankfurt, as Danny and I both have early flights tomorrow.  The shot above is of Danny with the driving stickers he has acquired from the various countries he has driven through on this trip.  Thanks so much to Danny for inviting me along for a portion of his road trip—it was a blast!