On ya Bike

You left us yesterday wandering around Lake Bled and hoovering down Kremsnita.

Having devoured a day's worth of calories in a teaspoon, it seemed as though a bike ride would be a good idea. I love a good ride. Even though it was already 3pm and rain clouds were gathering, we rocked up to the bike hire shop and each selected an appropriate 'horse'. Destination Radovljica.

If you have travelled with me before you will remember me visiting this village before, but so quaint is it that I was happy to share it with my guinea pigs. Radovljica's old town is one of the best preserved town structures in Slovenia, with houses dating from the 15th and 16th century, and the pedestrian village is filled with well preserved gothic-renaissance buildings, some with facades painted with iconic frescoes.

The church of St Peter is adorned by gorgeous vaults, and angel star and a black marble altar, and from the scattering of rose petals at the front of the church, it had obviously hosted a wedding this morning. The pews in the church were also festooned with tuille and sunflowers. Unlike other churches, there was no noisy silence in this stunning church, it was filled with choir music. This church is on one of the various pilgrim trails heading for Compostella.

Every little niche and corner  in the village was filled with geraniums or flock of all colours. This is a town which is well lived in and well loved. There was a function taking place in the Music School  - we thought about segueing into the crowd but felt that cycling shorts and aperitifs may have seemed incongruous.

We separated with instructions that the category for the photo comp was 'coloured' photos with a second category of 'black and white'. Again, not that we are competitive in any way or shape.

I was wandering with Jenny past a 'Gingerbread' museum (which establishment I may have discounted in the past, apologies) when the proprietor called us in - and beckoning, lead us out into the most beautiful terrace restaurant, out the back to a private room where he explained that the house itself was three hundred years old, while the restaurant was two hundred and fifty years old. The private room had a huge open fire, and a low smoke stained ceiling. He then suggested that we go downstairs to see the 'living museum' where young women in Slovenian dresses were making lectar, which are traditional Slovenian biscuits made from a dough of honey, flour and spices, rolled and then decorated. They last up to 6 months before eating, and are as bright and cheerful as you can imagine, with messages on them like 'I love you' - I immediately bought two.

And seeing as it was 5, and seeing as we were hungry and thirsty, we further honoured this fine establishment with our company for an early evening meal (and the judging of our photo competition), a glass or so of wine, some delicious porcini mushrooms picked in the forest that morning, and then a swift cycle back to Bled as the rain started. Welcome to Bled!