Bled · SI

Bled Castle

Perched on a sheer limestone cliff more than 100 metres above Lake Bled, Bled Castle (Blejski grad) is the oldest castle in Slovenia first named in written sources in 1011. A Romanesque tower, two linked courtyards and a drawbridge over a filled moat rise above the town, and from the ramparts you look straight down on the emerald water, its little island church and the ring of Alpine peaks beyond. This is the postcard view that Slovenia's poet France Prešeren called the image of paradise. Today the castle is a living museum and one of the country's most-visited sights. Wander through a historical exhibition on Bled and its people, see a 16th-century Gothic chapel glowing with illusionist frescoes, watch old hand-printing techniques at the castle printing works, bottle your own wine in the cellar with a wax seal, and finish at the clifftop restaurant. Set at an elevation of about 599 metres, it rewards the short climb with the single finest panorama over Lake Bled.