Have you taken part of the contest I told you about last month? Well, I just did.

I submitted last night, 5 hours before the expiration, my 2500-characters story on the theme of “A place I’ll never forget” in which I reminisced on the town and lake of Bled in Slovenia (photo above), which i visited in 2007. You can read my submission below. Let me know if you think it can win!

                                          

Arriving by train to Ljubljana from Zagreb, eyes still sparkling from the lush steep flanks of the mountains through which my train had passed, I received the news that the host I had found on Couchsurfing could not eventually host me. Following the usual curse, I took out from my notebook the list of hostels I had jotted down for such contingency and, gauging with one eye the height of the hill upon which was the castle I intended to visit the next day, I started enquiring about available beds. The fourth innkeeper I met was all too familiar with such "emergencies" and had a sort of solution: a dubious mattress in the stairs, behind a curtain which he was all too happy to cede me at half-price for the night until a bed in the dormitory would become available. Counting my blessing, I agreed and fell on this mattress exhausted but relieved. Had I not accepted, I would not have met, the following day, at breakfast, an English cinephile backpacker who told me about a place so eerily enchanting and beautiful that it deserved a full Miyazaki movie. I confessed that the name of the place, Bled, did not ring a bell, and was even synonymous with a French slang word for a remote and god-forsaken place – but I let myself convinced. One hour and a half of bus later, I arrived on the shores of a lake which waters were so crystal clear that I could see the fish three meters deep down, unperturbed and peaceful as the reflections of the clouds. And in the middle of the lake was an island, covered with vegetations and tree, with a huge staircase rising from the waters, leading to the entrance of a white church. All around the lake, in the distance, could be seen the mountains I had crossed by train the day before on my way from Zagreb, topped by the thin crust of late spring snow. It took me all morning to make the tour of the lake, stopping here and there to let the place soak in among young and old holidayers, and a part of the afternoon to ascend the sinuous road towards the castle standing at the top of rocky hill on one side of the lake, high enough to encompass the whole scenery, but low enough to enjoy every little details such as the rowing boats on the waters. It was too late when I enquired about the way to get to the central island, but it didn't matter: the place had enchanted me. I came back to my hostel, and a real bed, still amazed and swooned by a place which had popped up unannounced on my itinerary to leave an indelible mark in my memory palace. 

For information, when I submitted my text I could see all the text submitted… There are more than 7000 (seven THOUSAND!). Take a look!