Once on the island we toured it's beautiful chapel. Inside, we learned the legend of the bell. "Once upon a time there lived a young widow in the castle of Bled. Her husband was killed by robbers and his body was thrown into the lake. She was so inconsolable that she gathered all her gold and silver and cast a bell for the chapel on the island, in memory to her husband. But the bell didn’t arrive there. The bell, the boat and boatmen sank during a terrible storm. The desperate widow sold all her property after this accident. She offered the proceeds for the construction of a new church on the island. She left Bled and lived the rest of her life in Rome as a nun. After her death the Pope had heard of her misfortune and of her good deeds during her life as a nun, so in memory to her he decide to make a new bell. He said that anyone that rings the bell three times and believes in God, his or her wish would come true. Even today sometimes, on a dark night you can hear the sunken bell ringing from the depths of the lake."
Ringing the bell was harder than you might think. Quite the pose don't you think? LOL
We soaked up this day like sponges knowing it would be our last trip while living in Europe. So sad! Once we returned to the mainland we decided to take a walk around the lake. It's a beautiful walk and it took us a few hours. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this gentleman while he painted the island. It's one of my favorite photos from our travels. I about killed the woman who walked in front of me while I was taking this picture. You can see the front of her head in the top left side of the picture. I didn't have a digital camera and wasn't sure how much of her was actually in the picture until I had it developed.
After our walk we all decided we would skip the hike up to the castle and drive instead. This photo was taken of us at the castle looking down on the lake and island.
Tell me about one of your favorite travel stories.
9 comments:
I feel bad for that girl!
I answered you.
Beautiful memories. I love the legend of the bell.
Hope you were not to harsh on the poor lady who walked through your photo.
Thanks for your concern.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. The pics look great in black and white. I still have the one you took of Ed and I out on display too:) I love this post as it is always wonderful to relive all of those special times, esp. when they were with such great friends. I'm so glad God finally brought us together!
You had such wonderful experiences overseas!!
What a tragic tale that is!
That is just such a tragic tale!
I was just there last year... and that guy painting is STILL there. I posted about it, did you see it? Had a video and everything. I almost bought one of the guys paintings, but we didn't have enough euros on us. We chatted with him a bit, he was super nice. We walked around the lake too, but didn't have enough time to go to the church...and I didn't know the story, thanks for sharing. it is so beautiful there.
I tried to leave a comment but I think it was gobbled up by some internet glitch. Anyway, if you hadn't mentioned the lady's head I would never have noticed...that painter steals the show!
Oh gosh, how I would love to travel again! I guess it will be a while.
Ooo great story... i am going to have to look it up & see if we can make a detour... I am going to start posting travel stories soon...(get me out of my winter BLAAAs)
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