Balkan Road Trip: Day 11

It was very dewy when we woke up and everything felt a little damp. We ate some granola and cereal, packed up and left the campground around 8:15. We drove 10 minutes to Lake Bled and tried to find a place to park. Lake Bled is a huge tourist destination and we had to turn around a few times before we finally found a place to park a little ways from the lake. 

We didn't get to swim in the beautiful emerald-green waters of Lake Bled, but we did enjoy walking by it. We made it a little less than halfway around the lake. It's not a very big lake, only about a 6 kilometer walk around it. But what makes Lake Bled absolutely beautiful and unique is the backdrop of the Julian Alps, a medieval fortress towering above the lake on a 130m high cliff and a small island with a 17th century church on it that is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Slovenia.

Bled Castle.

Not a great picture, but you can see the island with the church on it. The church (Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church) has a 52 meter high bell tower and there is a Baroque stairway that was built in 1655 with 99 stone steps leading up to the church

We concluded our walk with some Bled Cream Cake (known as Kremna Rezina by the locals). Seriously, you can't visit Lake Bled without trying this heavenly stuff.  There is a thick layer of custard on the bottom, followed by a good amount of cream, topped with a flaky pastry and sprinkled with some powdered sugar, for good measure. It.was.delicious!

After filling our bellies with some cream cake, we left Lake Bled around 10:45, after first stopping at a grocery store to buy some things for lunch. We got to the Austrian border around 1:00. It was a long afternoon of driving, we only reached Lake Neusiedl (about an hour south of Vienna) around 5:00 and then couldn't find a campground to stay at. That was a bit stressful, but we prayed and then finally found one (not actually close to the lake though) and it ended up being the best for our kids.

And this is why our kids loved the campground so much . . .

Our kids had so much fun going down the water slide nonstop! And I loved seeing all 5 of them doing it together.

After swimming we had an amazing dinner of menemen. It's a traditional Turkish breakfast dish which includes eggs, tomato and green peppers. It's one of our favorites!

Around 10:15, as we were getting ready to play some Uno in the tent with the big 3 kids (the littles were already asleep up top) some crazy winds picked up! It was howling!! Joel checked the weather and it looked like a bad storm was heading our way. Joel quickly put the tarp on the top of the tent and tried as best as he could to secure the tent. Then we all tried to get some sleep, but around 11:15 Joel said we should all get in the van. It was a good thing we did because shortly after that it started raining and lightning and the bottom part of our tent partially blew off.

Haha, Vienna's face.

Anyway, we didn't get a good night of sleep, to say the least! Colson, Yohanis and Isaiah were squished in the backseat, Vienna and Brooks were in the middle seat and then Joel and I tried to sleep in the driver and passenger seats. ALL of our stuff and 7 people all crammed in the van for a night of sleep, it was TIGHT! What a crazy night it was, but one we will look back on and laugh about as a family for years to come, I'm sure! And those are always the best memories! :)