My travelling companion and I arrived on the shore of Lake Bled near the Castle Baths in mid-afternoon with plenty of time, we thought, to visit the church and ring the bell. Unless you swim, the only way of getting to the island is by gondola, which normally holds around 16 people.

Gondoliers ferry people to the island from a number of places on the lakeshore and, as we could see a couple of craft near the island, we concluded there was still a good chance of making our visit that day.

Extract from Julian’s Journeys