Slovenia, Austria: Part 7 - Day 8: Bled Castle, toboggan ride

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 8.

30/7 Day 8: Hiked to Bled Castle and Straza trail. Took toboggan down.

Costs

(1) Tobaggan - EUR10 per person

Food
(1) Breakfast from Pekarna Planika bakery - 3 types of buns (EUR1,75 each) EUR5,25

(2) Mercator Grocery store in Bled - Burek with minced meat 220g EUR2,89, Burek with cheese 220g EUR2,79

(3) Back Bar & Sobe - Radler 500ml EUR2,90 

(4) Espresso at View restaurant - EUR2,80

(5) Mercator Grocery store in Bled - Non-alcoholic Beer and Jaffa cake EUR1,98 

(6) Dinner at Pizzeria Rustika EUR16,59 - Pizza Bella Ciao (Tomato sauce, mozzarella, salami, onion, peperoncino, buratta) EUR15,80, tips EUR2,71 

The Story

30072024 : I woke up to a beautiful sunrise! This was from the window of my bedroom.

For breakfast, one of us woke up early (not me because my sense of direction will bring me somewhere else and I will never get back to the apartment) to go to the bakery that we visited yesterday to buy buns and we had breakfast in our apartment. There were coffee sachets so we boiled water in the electric jug and had breakfast on the balcony. It was a great way to have an affordable breakfast.

After breakfast, we headed towards Bled Castle. We found out that there are free buses during summer in Bled that one can hop-on and hop-off at designated bus stops. We saw a free bus that stopped right in front of Bled Jezero train station which was very near our Airbnb. So, we decided that we will take this free bus tomorrow after check-out so we don't need to walk far with our backpacks.

We found a sign that pointed us towards Bled Castle. One can take the free bus there too but we found out after we came down from the castle and saw buses at the parking lot. I am happy we hiked up the trail to the castle as it gave us something to explore. It costed EUR17 to go into the castle and that was too much for us to pay. So, we took in the view from the top and walked back down after that. 

This is the view of Lake Bled from the castle.

We took another trail back and stopped for radler at a cheap bar that we had yesterday too. My travel companions said that this place sells very cheap beer and it is very worth it. 

We were not hungry yet so we decided to hike another trail, Straza. A travel companion wanted to post a postcard so the two of us had espresso at View Restaurant. The view was gorgeous from this restaurant! I understand why it is called View Restaurant. I waited for some customers to leave a table so that I could stand there and take a photo of the background behind me. 

Then, we continued towards Strava trail. I could not help but admire the blue waters. It was very sunny and the skies were so clear. 

Straza trail! I could see that not many people hiked this trail because the grass was long and the trail was not very visible in the beginning. It was very hot and I felt as if it was a long hike but it took us only 30 minutes to get to the peak where we stopped to have our burek that we bought from the grocery store. 

On the other side of the peak, I could see many kids and families. I saw tourists coming up on the chair lift and I thought that we were going to hike down until my travel companions told me that we are taking the toboggan down. I did not understand what they meant. We stood in line and I thought it looked fun! UNTIL I GOT ON THE TOBOGGAN and panicked when the toboggan rolled downwards and I was so scared. I slowed down and braked many times until I got shouted by the others behind me to push forward on the stick. The feeling of going downwards uncontrollably was so foreign to me. If you ski or use skates, you will not think this is weird.

When I reached the bottom, I had the worst stomachache ever! I felt nauseous and could not drink. I was shaking so badly and I had no energy. Apparently, I had stomach cramps due to stress and it felt like I did 100 sit-ups. We went to the bar at the bottom of the hill. I rested for an hour. I was too weak to leave my place. I felt really silly. So many zoomed down and were laughing when they reached and I had the opposite reaction. Once I felt better, we went back to the lake to take a dip in the lake. Then, we went to the local grocery store to buy snacks. I bought a Jaffa cake and a non-alcoholic beer. 

For dinner, we had pizza that had great reviews. There was a queue and it took us 20 minutes to get a spot in the outdoor seating. There were places indoor but we preferred to sit outdoors. My pizza is supposed to be spicy but it was not.