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Bled Castle 

This mighty castle perched on a steep cliff above Lake Bled is one of the oldest castles in Slovenia and a popular tourist attraction.

Bled Castle is one of the oldest castles in Slovenia. With its unique position on a cliff overlooking the lake, it has been admired by visitors and locals alike for centuries.

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Intersting facts

What you can see at this point

A clifftop castle

As you walk across the pastures from St Catherine’s Church to Podhom, the imposing castle atop a sheer cliff is always in sight. Bled Castle, which lies above Lake Bled, is a well-known symbol of Slovenia and of Bled itself. It makes its first appearance in written sources in the year 1011 and is one of the most beautifully preserved castles in the wider region.

The legend of the lake

These days Bled Castle overlooks the famous Lake Bled. Legend has it, however, that in the distant past there was no water here, but only a grassy hill topped by a rock on which mountain nymphs danced at night. Herdsmen pastured their animals in the valley below the hill. The nymphs asked the herdsmen to build a fence around their dancing place to stop the animals from eating all the soft grass.

The herdsmen refused and one night the youngest nymph fell and broke her leg while dancing. This made the other nymphs very angry and they summoned springs and streams from the mountain and flooded the valley. All that remained was the hill with its rock, now an island in the middle of a great lake, where the nymphs could continue to dance every night. These days the nymphs are long gone, but the lake and island are still there.

The legend of the bell

According to legend, the lady of Bled Castle once ordered that all the gold and silver in the surrounding area should be collected together and melted down to make a bell for the chapel on Bled Island in memory of her late husband. Unfortunately, the vessel carrying the bell sank in a storm and the bell was lost in the depths of the lake. Even today the sound of a bell can be heard on stormy nights. It is said that the Pope himself heard this sorrowful story and sent a new bell for the church on the island.