Bled to Salzburg

Today we had planned to walk around Lake Bled and take a boat to the island in the center of the lake, where people go to get married and the groom carries the bride up  long, steep stairs. Instead I got sidetracked by a couple of museums in another town near by. 

It has always amazed and horrified me how such beauty and such evil could exist side by side. I knew that Croatia had been in a war, and we saw physical signs of it, yet the people were so kind and helpful, and their country has such great beauty created by God. I hadn't really given that much thought to Slovenia. 

What happens when you don't agree with the government in power. Today we went to the Museum of Hostages in Begunje na Gorenjskem, Slovenia.  I am not sure what I was expecting.  I have been to concentration camps,  and probably expected something like those.  The museum actually consisted of prison cells. As you walked through the room of cells,  they  played the names of those who had been killed. Their purpose as stated on their brochure, said "Visitor to the museum stop for a while and think about human violence, caused by different ideologies.  Sadly, there is still a lot of it in the world today. .."  The Nazis took a beautiful building and turned it into a prison and torture center for those in the town who disagreed with them.  80% of the people were under 40, with half of the prisoners being under 30.  These were not Jews. They were simply townspeople who did not agree with the Nazi Government.  For disagreeing,  they were tortured and killed. A burial area is nearby. The town is beautiful and the people are very kind and helpful,  but they have had to endure a lot. 

Now the Villa that housed this prison is a psychiatric hospital.  I wonder how many,  if any,  of the patients were prisoners or,  children of prisoners, who suffered in that very place. It is so sad. And all because they did not agree with the government in power.  I pray that our nation will wake up quickly before we lose our freedoms as these people did. 

Next we went to the town of Radovljica. I just wanted to swing by a 2nd hand store I had heard about,  but it was closed.  We walked through the town and found a German military bunker that had been turned into a chapel dedicated to a nun the Nazis  had killed.

As we were walking through town, we came upon the "Bee Museum".  Slovenia is apparently well known for its bees and honey.  The museum showed how beekeeping started. In this part of the world,  they painted or carved the panels on the beehives. The museum had some of the really old ones on display. They also had beehives that were shaped like people,  animals and houses.  Interesting place.

We finally made it back to Lake Bled, where we had lunch,  then drove around the lake. 

Then we began our journey to Salzburg, which should have been a relatively quick and easy process. Unfortunately,  they were working on the tunnel.  . .so. ..we took the up and over the mountain road. How do we always end up on steep, narrow mountain roads?

We made it to Salzburg late, but thankfully the hotel restaurant was still open.