Slovenia, Austria: Part 6 - Day 7: Boat hire and hike 3 peaks

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 7.

29/7 Day 7: Rowed boat to the little island in the middle of Lake Bled. Hiked up a small hill to see the panoramic view.

Costs
(1) Boat rent for 1 hour EUR25 (shared)

Food
(1) Breakfast at Pekarna Planika bakery - Chocolate bun EUR1,55, 

(2) Bled Jezero train station - Cappucino EUR2,30
(3) Mercator Grocery store in Bled - Burek with minced meat 220g EUR2,89, Burek with cheese 220g EUR2,79

(4) Lunch at Restavracija Zaka Camping Bled - Pizza Blejska EUR15 (shared), Radler 500ml EUR4,50

(5) Back Bar & Sobe - Radler (again) 500ml EUR2,80 (next cheapest radler and beer so far. The cheapest radler and beer we had was at Postojna town for EUR2,50)

(6) Dinner at Restaurant and Wine Bar (Gostilna) Murka EUR24,43 - Goulash with potato dumplings EUR14,50, 100ml Cabernet Sauvignon red wine EUR4,60, apple strudel EUR6 (shared), tips EUR7 (shared)

The Story

29072024 : Woke up to a lovely day. We walked to a bakery not knowing that there was no place to sit and coffee can be bought from a vending machine. So, no coffee for us. Two of us ate the buns we bought while walking towards Bled Jezero train station to walk to Lake Bled. 

We decided to buy cappucino at the cafe which is located next to the train station. The cafe serves quite good coffee. What a surprise!

We walked towards the lake and looked for a shop that offers boat hire. One can either hire a boat to row, hire a paddle board or buy a ticket to join a boat service where someone rows the boat filled with 25 persons. We are going to row the boat towards the little island in the middle of the lake. Well, not we, but one of us. It took us only 15 minutes to row the boat. The owner told us that one hour is sufficient to rent the boat as the island is really small.

There were designated spots to park the boat. It was very unstable for me to get out from the boat. I am not used to standing on a boat.

There is a church on the island. One must pay a fee to get inside the church. None of us were interested to go inside the church. We walked around the island, admired the clear blue waters and rowed back to main land.

The church on the island.

A kind gentleman helped me back on the boat because I could not find my footing to stand on the boat.

The boat services that one can pay to get to the little island. It costs EUR18 per person (cash only) while we (3 persons) shared EUR25 for our boat rent. Of course, it helps if you know how to row otherwise is better to get on the boat service.

Back on main land, we proceeded with our next activity - hike up some hills to see a view of Lake Bled. We bought burek at a grocery store so we can eat during our hike. Burek is a pastry filled with minced meat or cheese or spinach or potato or anything. We filled our water bottles too from the water stations available around the lake. 

First peak - Ojstrica. It will take 20 minutes according to the signboard. We started at 11.50am and we were very happy to get inside the mini forest.

There were signboards everywhere so we knew we were in the right direction.

It began to get a bit narrow and steep as we reached the peak. It is not a good sign if one see ropes to assist in the climbing. It means that it is not an easy hike. It got narrower when we met others from the opposite direction. 

It was very crowded at the peak. We hiked up higher to get a view. There were limited spots to stand as the peak is not flat.

The view from the top to see the little island in the middle of the lake.

We hiked down the same way on the narrow and steep trail. Thankfully, there were no tourists hiking up so we hurriedly hike down to take advantage of the space and the ropes. We stopped for a break to eat our burek. It was my first time eating burek and it was really yummy! The shops in Stockholm sell burek too but I have never bought them before.

We continued our hike to the next peak - Velika Osojnica, which will take us 25 minutes. There were many tourists too. At this place, we saw another angle of the church on the little island.

This time, I managed to squeeze myself in through the crowd to get a picture taken.

We continued our hike and found us on the actual peak of Velika Osojnica which does not have any scenic view.

We were not sure on the path to get back to Bled. So, we followed the crowd. We found ourselves on Mala Osojnica peak.

We found ourselves going down a steep staircase. It was almost 90 degrees!

We got back to touristy Lake Bled and shared a pizza for lunch. We took a dip in the waters after lunch and went back to our apartment to get some rest.

On our way to dinner, we walked on the wooden platform along the lake and got to see a nice view of the little island. By now, I am overdosed with the same view of the little island in the middle of the lake. 

For dinner, we found a restaurant with good reviews. It was about 7.45pm when we reached the restaurant and luckily, we got some spots! The food took quite sometime to arrive. My goulash came at 8.30pm. I had red wine this time with my meal. I was satisfied with my meal.