Vintgar Gorge

August 17 - We woke up a little later than usual today (8:30).  Our day was divided into two halves.  In the morning we took a trip to Vintgar Gorge and in the afternoon we hiked up to Bled Castle.

Vintgar Gorge is merely 4 km away from Bled.  We hopped on a bus and headed out to the most hiked trail in all of Slovenia.  Despite the crowds, the walk was stunning.  It was a very easy 40 minute hike along wooden walkways that criss-crossed the river flowing at the bottom of the gorge.  Like Lake Bled, the water in the river was an absolutely stunning, yet clear, bluish-green.  The rapids in the water beneath blew up a very cold yet refreshing mist along most of the walk, significantly lowering the temperature in the gorge.  The hike ended at quaint 13 meter waterfall.  There were only two down-sides to the hike.  First, there were far too many people.  Second, the path was clearly defined and restricted, thus limiting the angles with which we could photographically capture the beauty of the gorge.  Regardless, it was a great morning.

The castle was cool.  It was only about a 10 minute hike uphill from our hostel, which is already up a substantial part of the hill, so it wasn't nearly as intense of an afternoon hike as we had expected.  The view from the top was stunning and the castle housed a museum about the archaeology and history of the region, which was pretty neat.  Yet the best part of our trip to the castle deserves its own post, and I will get to that in just a minute.