Essential Travel Destinations # 2 - Lake Bled, Slovenia

Lake Bled is without doubt one of the most picturesque locations in Slovenia, if not in all of Europe. The shimmering lake surface, cliff-top castle, island church and backdrop of towering mountain ranges form a view that is certain to take up a lot of memory space in your camera.

Given it's relatively accessible location from the capital Ljubljana (a little over an hour by bus), the lake sees a steady stream of visitors all year, but especially in the high summer season when many come to take part in activities like hiking and horseback riding in the surrounding mountains.

The most enjoyable way to experience the lake and its stunning backdrop of mountain peaks is to take a ride in a pletna (a small rowboat of a design which is unique to the Bled region) to reach the small island in the centre. A church has stood on the island since the 9th century and archaeological evidence suggests it was the site of stone-age burials long before. The appearance of the current Church of the Assumption dates from the 17th century. It is traditional for visitors to ring the church bell and make a wish; this means that in the high summer season the bell is kept ringing almost continuously.

It's possible to walk around the lake in about two hours, allowing you to see the island and clifftop castle from every possible angle. Making the hike up to the Osojnica lookout for knockout views of the lake and surrounding countryside is also highly recommended. For those who would prefer to comfortably ride around the lake, a wheeled tourist train operates in the summer months. Willow branches reach out over the water at many points along the shore, providing shady spots that draw huge schools of fish looking for cooler temperatures in the summer months.

The first written record of Bled dates from the year 1004, and visitors have been making the pilgrimage to see the island church ever since. Towards the end of the 19th century the lake became a popular spa resort for the upper classes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who came to drink its supposedly curative waters.

Several socialist-era hotels line the shore of the lake near the town of Bled, though luckily they aren't prominent enough to detract from the lake views. Leader Josip Broz Tito enjoyed visiting the lake so much that he had his summer residence built there, a grand villa where he entertained many famous guests. The Slovene national poet France Prešeren praised the beauty of Bled in his verses, calling it a 'second paradise of Eden'.

It's possible to visit Bled as a daytrip from Ljubljana (about 1 hour and 15 minutes on one of the frequent buses from the main station in the city), though there are plenty of hotel and pension options for those who would prefer to stay the night and have the chance to experience the lake when it is peaceful at dusk and in the early morning. Buses also run regularly from Bled to Lake Bohinj (one hour), another beautiful alpine lake with clear views of Mt. Triglav.

Amazing Architecture # 1 - Garni Temple, Armenia

This Greco-Roman temple sits near the edge of a cliff above a deep canyon in Garni, a small village 32km east of Yerevan. The stunning mountainous landscape which surrounds it greatly enhances the beauty of the temple itself. Most likely it was originally constructed in the 1st century AD by King Tiridates I of Armenia using funds he received from the Roman Emperor Nero, and was dedicated to the heathen God Mithra.

The temple was sacked when the region was conquered by Timur Lenk in 1386, and in 1679 the temple was levelled by an earthquake. Most of the original columns and building blocks remained at the site until the 20th century, and the temple was reconstructed under the guidance of Soviet archeologists between 1969 and 1975. The sloped roof of the temple is supported by 24 Ionic columns which sit on an elevated podium.

The blocks of the temple are made of basalt, and it is possible to distinguish between the original bocks and the modern replacements by the lack of carving on the newer stones. Several Christian churches, a palace and a bathhouse were built around the temple after the adoption of Christianity in Armenia in the year 301 AD. These buildings are now in ruins, but floor mosaics can still be seen in the bathhouse. A series of fortification walls made of huge basalt blocks protected the temple complex, and together with its location on a triangular outcrop above the valley, the site had superb defensive capabilities.

Garni can be reached by bus or marshrutka from Yerevan and makes a great daytrip from the capital. Many people go to see the temple in Garni while on the way to or from a visit to the Geghard Monastery. While in Garni village, another worthwhile sight that few tourists visit is the ruins of the fortified monastery of Havuts Tar.

Beautiful Towns # 5 - Kruja, Albania

This small historic town sits on a steep mountainside north of the capital Tirana. The drive up the winding road full of hairpin turns is thrilling and impossibly scenic, particularly if you're bouncing up and down and hanging on for dear life in the back of a Furgon (An Albanian taxivan).

The town features an old cobbled market bazaar with many brightly-coloured carpets and metalwork for sale, as well as a few souvenirs for the relatively small number of foreign tourists that make it here. Kruja castle is the former stronghold of the country's greatest hero, Skanderbeg, who united the Albanian princes in their fight against the invasion of the Ottoman Turks.

Skanderbeg kept the Ottomans at bay for 35 years (1443 to 1478) during four sieges that were made on the castle. Although he was killed in the final siege and the castle fell shortly after, today he is revered as the greatest of all Albanians. Today a museum to Skanderbeg sits at the centre of the castle complex; it was designed by the daughter and son-in-law of the communist dictator Enver Hoxha and originally contained exhibits where Skanderbeg and Hoxha were given equal billing as heroes of the state. In the modern museum all traces of Hoxha have been removed, and the museum is now dedicated solely to Skanderbeg and provides a broad overview of Albanian history in the Ottoman period.

The town of Kruja and its connection to Skanderbeg continue to be a source of pride and inspiration for all Albanians. Kruja can be reached from Tirana by bus or taxivan and makes an easy daytrip from the capital. There are a number of traditional restaurants in the historic part of the town to try local cuisine.

Photo Challenge # 3 - Name This Location

Here is another picture of a location in Eastern Europe, do you know the names of the two lakes shown here? Perhaps I should give you a small hint, the peak of the mountain I was standing on to take the picture forms part of the border between two countries.

Slovakia's Most Unique and Unusual Experiences

Following the list of the top 100 places to visit in Slovakia, I thought it would be useful to add a list of some of the most unique and strange experiences it's possible to have in the country. These are in no particular order, this is just a set of some of the most unusual or typically Slovak activities.

- See a Kamzik (Chamois) among the peaks of the Tatra Mountains

- See the quirkiest examples of communist-era architecture, such as the Slovak Radio building, the Hotel Kiev basement lounge, the Mladá Garda student housing complex, and the Štefánik airport private diplomatic arrivals area (all in Bratislava)

- Visit the supposed "Centre of Europe" site in Kremnické Bane

- Sit on a WW2 Russian tank in the "Valley of Death" north of Svidník

- Go mushroom picking with a group of locals in the Low Tatras, Malá Fatra, or the Malé Karpaty mountain ranges

- See the annual folk festival in Východná

- Go to an ice hockey game in Trenčín, the country's hockey hotbed

- Jump over a campfire holding an axe

- Learn how to cook Bryndzové Halušky

- Drive or have a ride in a 1980's-era Škoda car

- Learn about the Slovak Robin Hood, the outlaw Juraj Jánošík, and stand next to his metal statue on the hill in Terchova

- Put a carp in your bathtub at Christmas time

- Carry one of the scales from a Christmas carp in your wallet to bring good fortune throughout the year

- Follow the former line of the Iron Curtain along the Morava river north of Devín, plenty of old fence posts, wire and bunker emplacements can be seen

- Visit Príkra, the smallest village in Slovakia, population 7. It's north of Svidník near the Polish border, and has an impressive wooden church.

- See and photograph the best communist-era murals found in the country's train stations

- Visit the terrific guitar museum in the far-eastern town of Sobrance

- Watch someone play a Fujara, or better yet, have a lesson and give it a try for yourself

- Attend the Festival of Ghosts and Monsters held at Bojnice Castle

- Watch or take part in the traditional custom of pig killing on a farm in Orava or Kysuce region

- Watch or take part in the high-speed hay-cutting championships (done in the traditional manner with a scythe) held in Terchová

- Learn to appreciate the fine taste of a glass of Kofola

- Hike along the Cesta Hrdinov SNP trail (National Uprising Trail of Heroes) to reach the Dukla Pass

- See an opera in the old opera house in Bratislava, or in the Košice opera house

- See a concert by local Slovak bands, I'd suggest Longital or Žive Kvety

- Hear a concert by the Slovak Philharmonic in Bratislava, world-class performances for a great price

- Hike to the peak on the border where Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine meet, north of Nová Sedlica in the far north-east corner of the country

- visit the Chatam Sofer Jewish memorial in Bratislava

- Sample some of the country's lesser-known beers, such as Martiner or Tatran

- Visit Luník IX, the Roma ghetto in a Košice suburb, to get a first-hand impression of the difficulties these people face in Slovak society

- Learn how to operate a communist-era Tatramat washing machine

- Watch a shepherd tending a flock of sheep or goats in the mountain pastures of Orava region

- See the Good Soldier Švejk statue at the train station in Humenné

- Visit the village and train station in Čierna nad Tisou, the end of the main train line on the Ukrainian border

- Wait for the bus at the Campbell's soup tin-shaped bus stop outside the Andy Warhol museum in Medzilaborce

- Visit the museum house in the village of Uhrovec where two major Slovak figures were born, L'udovit Štúr and Alexander Dubček

- See some of the collection of communist-era cars displayed by the Košice Trabant club

- Visit the Romanesque chapel in the village of Kopčany, the oldest church in the country, dating from the 9th century during the Great Moravian Empire

- Ride one of the old red-and-cream coloured Czechoslovak trams in Bratislava or Košice

Top 10 places to visit in Romania

1. The Painted Monasteries of Bucovina - Moldovita, Voronet, Humor and Sucevita are the four main monasteries, which rank among some of Europe's greatest cultural monuments. Each is painted with bright frescoes not only on the interior walls, but on the exterior walls as well. The remarkable state of preservation of these outdoor frescoes after 500 years of snow and rain is what makes them memorable - the red tones of Humor, the Blue of Voronet, the yellow of Moldovita and the green of Sucevita make each of them rather like a giant biblical colouring book. The frescoes were painted at a time when christian armies gathered to fight the invading Ottoman Turks, and these armies would stay sheltered inside the protective walls of these monasteries. To keep the bored soldiers entertained, and to keep their religious passions running high, biblical scenes and scenes from the lives of saints were painted on the outside of the churches, where they could be more easily viewed by the soldiers. Many frescoes show saints being beheaded by Turks, and one memorable panel at Moldovita shows the siege of Constantinople by the Turkish armies. The Last Judgement wall at Voronet is generally considered to be the finest of the frescoes, although in my opinion the most spectacular is the wall at Sucevita depicting the ladder to be climbed to heaven with the aid of the angels flying above and over the temptations of the many devils that lie below. The monasteries of Dragomirna and Putna are less visually impressive than the 'big four' monasteries, but are also worth visiting.

2. Sighisoara - the grandest small town in Transylvania, with the added incentive of being the birthplace of Vlad Tepes (Dracula). A hilltop medieval citadel sits at the heart of things, packed with atmospheric laneways beyond a highly impressive stone gate tower that evokes thoughts of wooden stakes and bats flying out on a moonlit night.

3. The traditional villages and wooden churches of Maramures region - simply like going back in time, this region feels a world apart even from the rest of Romania. Horses and carts are a major form of transport, and traditional costumes are still worn by many, not only the elderly. Cultural heritage isn't practised for the tourists, it is represented in daily life; villagers go out to work in the fields by hand, and continue to live much as their ancestors did, often without any modern conveniences. The region has several dominant architectural features, the first being large, decorative wooden gates in front of people's houses, meant to reflect the family's wealth and stature to those passing on the road. The second is the abundance of beautiful wooden churches with tall, shingled steeples, some dating back six hundred years.

4. The fortified Saxon churches of Transylvania - Biertan is the finest of these, with a brooding church and towers perched on the hill in the centre of the village. Viscri is also recommended; both are pretty much impossible to reach without a car - hiring a driver for the day in Sighisoara is a good option.

5. Sibiu - The most vibrant medieval old town centre in the country, and with the most highly developed cultural scene outside the capital. Much of the historic centre was given a face-lift for the year the city held the title of European City of Culture in 2007, and much of that event's dynamic energy remains. The city feels much more like central Europe than any other Romanian city.

6. The Danube Delta - a corner of the country unlike any other, with endless opportunities for wildlife watching while zipping about between villages by boat. The highlight is to visit the end of the Delta and the small town of Sulina.

7. Brasov - The most popular destination in Transylvania, and a base for visits to Bran and Rasnov castles, Peles palace in Sinaia, and the fortified churches of Prejmer and Harman. The city has a pleasingly unrestored medieval quarter, surrounded by steep forested hills to either side. The huge 'Brasov' sign on the hillside above is intended to evoke Hollywood, but they stole the idea from the Romanian city of Deva, who came up with the idea first.

8. The Merry Cemetery in Sapanta - so much more than just a cemetery, this is a place of beauty, representing a love of life through its sense of grace and gentle humour. Each of the graves is indicated with a brightly-painted blue wooden marker, each with a carved and painted picture depicting the occupation the person had, or in some cases, how they met their end - several show car crashes, and one portrays a man drinking and smoking while being pulled downwards by a demon. Other notable markers to look for include one showing a church construction worker being struck by lightning, and the grave of the original maker of many of the markers, Stan Ioan Pătraş. Each marker also has a poem below the person's picture, usually telling something about that person's life and often making a light-hearted joke about them.


9. Bucharest - worth visiting to see the massive Palace of the Parliament, which can be viewed on a jaw-dropping guided tour of the interior. Another important stop is Revolution square, the site of the mass protests that resulted in the toppling of Ceauşescu. It's also intriguing to go church-spotting in the back lanes tucked out of sight behind all the grand communist edifices lining the main boulevards.

10. Hunedoara - Contains the country's most spectacular castle, cast against a backdrop of ugly abandoned factories and steel mills. This is the perfect place to get a feel for what life must have felt like under Ceauşescu, and to gain an understanding for how that wound is slowly being healed. The castle was left to decay during socialism, as the castle's long Hungarian history didn't sit well with Ceauşescu. Now it is his factories that are slowly collapsing into rubble, and the castle is gradually being repaired and restored to its former glory.