A Second helping of Hungary and Lake Bled, Slovenia

Back to Budapest

We returned to Budapest with our friends for a few more days, taking a walking tour, seeing the Central Market, the St. Stephen’s Basilica, and Hero’s square. We took the M1 subway line, the oldest metro line on the European continent. The stations are original, so it is not very deep in the ground, short platforms, small diameter tunnels, so the train cars, though newer, are equally small and short in length. There are mini statues all throughout the city, installed by a local guerilla sculptor and beloved by the locals and tourists alike (along the lines of Banksy, but with cute mini bronzes). We spent a couple hours at the Szecheny thermal bath, which was very relaxing. Susie and I picked up a rental car (a Suzuki Swift) and drove back to Lake Bled in Slovenia to do some hiking in the region.

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Our apartment host in Bled, Slovenia recommended several hikes for our 5 days in the area, and we chose three:

Mountainside hike

This was an out-and back, high traverse on a mountainside above Bled, near the Austrian border. We drove up a windy dirt road to a guesthouse (Google Maps tried to send us through a cow pasture, but we found the correct road 200 meters down the road) We had an enjoyable walk through forests and occasional pastures with other guesthouses and grand views of the valley below.

A Walk around the Lake

The next day we walked the perimeter of Lake Bled, stopping along the way to row a boat out to the island, and to hike a hill for a classic view of the lake/island/castle, and to eat a kebab pizza at a restaurant at the end of the lake. These activities are top tourist attractions for Lake Bled, but being shoulder season and with Covid still a factor, it was pleasantly uncrowded.

Triglavski National Park

The park is large, including sections of the Juliana Alps. Trails and roads crisscross the park, and villages are scattered in the valleys and mountainsides. Someday we may hike the entire Juliana Alps trail, a multiday loop hike through the park and Lake Bled Region. This time, we just did a 7 mile loop above the small village/pasture lands of Uskovnica. This was a 1000 ft climb up to a guesthouse (closed now for the season) towards the end of a high valley. We walked along a small stream through trees, and stepped out into the open area at the top of the hike with grand views of the surrounding mountains with several small cabins scattered around the small guesthouse. A very beautiful view. The walk down went past some vacation homes, a few cows and more grand views of the valley below.