If you’ve been following my summer European travels I’ve shown you some of the amazing food and sights in Rome, Florence, Venice, Cinque Terre, Bologna, and wine-tasting in Piedmont, Italy. Our trip continued north into new territory: Slovenia and Austria. Bled, Slovenia situated on a picture-perfect lake with a little church-topped island in the middle, is in the Northwest part of Slovenia, very close to the borders of Italy and Austria. We drove from Venice to Bled in just under 3 hours.

The minute we crossed the border into Slovenia the terrain changed from coastal and dry to green, lush, and hilly. The climate changed too from boiling hot heat to a drizzly, misty cool day. It was divine! After two weeks of temperatures of 90-100ºF every single day, this weather felt like heaven. The roads also got smoother with reliable lines (geez Italy!) and barely anyone driving on the roads themselves.

We stayed at the formidable Vila Bled, a large, marble mansion located directly on the lake with views from most bedrooms of the lake itself and verdant hills and Julian Alps beyond. The Hotel is a throw-back to the time when it was once owned by the communist-era Yugoslavian President Tito. The guest rooms are truly massive and the service is old-school, which a formal restaurant that has indoor and outdoor seating options. Vila Bled is famous for the best Bled Cream Cake or Kremna Rezina around, a dessert so decadent you want to close your eyes to savor every last bite. See recipe at the end of this post.

After strolling the well-made path around the Lake, rowing out to the island (and being carried up the 90 stairs to the Church as instructed by Slovenian custom for a marriage’s good luck), and bottling our own wine at the clifftop Castle, we felt Bled was well worth the detour from the beaten track. It was so relaxing there I am sure we would have enjoyed another few days. But off to Austria we went. Austria is only about 20 minutes north of Bled and looked basically the same but with a little more grandeur: green, mountainous, and quaint towns left and right. Our first overnight stay was in Hallstatt, a tiny, picturesque village on another lake with a humongous salt mine that is considered one of the oldest continuously-running operations in Europe.

In our first days in Austria we had already eaten some of the staples: pretzels, spaetzle (my favorite version was cheese-topped), weiner schnitzel, sauerkraut, and of course beer. The salt mine tour was a highlight however and well-worth the money. About 2 hours after riding a funicular that brought us to the top of the mountain overlooking Hallstat, we had entered a gigantic cave system, donned silly miners outfits, slide down two wooden slides deeper into the caves (yes slides!), seen Europe’s oldest wooden staircase (thrilling!) and bought a basket full of salt souvenirs. Then it was back into the car to journey through some of the loveliest countryside I’ve ever seen to the big city of Salzburg.

The bustling city of Salzburg is in the upper north-west corner of Austria near the Germany border. It is to date my favorite city. Now, I lived in San Francisco for 6 years, grew up visiting New York City almost every year because of family being near there, and have seen some of the big capital cities in other European countries, but Salzburg feels different. It is extremely clean, the people are very friendly, the buildings are beautiful, from a crowning castle on a hill to cobbled streets and large Mozart-era squares. I came here in my early teens with my parents and remembered some of the main sights as we wandered around. There is a lovely river flowing between the two sides of town and there are more places to listen to classical music than probably anywhere else, at least it seems so during August’s Salzburg Music Festival. We enjoyed a wonderful concert in a baroque, gold-covered hall with world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman.

Besides the history and music, Salzburg had a fun atmosphere for nightlife at the Augustinerbrau. An outdoors beer garden where you grab a mug (two sizes: large and crazy large), fill up on the brewery’s one beer on tap, nosh on some traditional foods from the various indoor stands, and then find a seat at a communal table under the trees. We were shocked by the fact that locals actually wear lederhosen out and about…especially to their local biergarten on a Friday evening. It was a very convivial atmosphere, rounding out the decision that Salzburg is a city I hope we return to again someday.

Recommended Hotels and Restaurants:

Hotel/Restaurant: Bled, Slovenia: Vila Bled, large and impressive building, huge guest rooms, formal restaurant, located right on the Lake with views from most guest rooms

Hotel/Restaurant: Hallstatt, Austria: Hotel Gasthof Seewirt Zauner, Cozy hotel, lots of wood decor and rooms have decks and very light with modern bathrooms, in heart of the village square

Hotel: Salzburg, Austria: Hotel Elefant, modern interior, nice breakfast, perfect location near Domplatz and Castle

Restaurant: Salzburg, Austria: Augustiner Brau, outdoor beer garden with traditional food stands

Restaurant: Salzburg, Austria: Hotel Sacher Salzburg, famous for the Sacher Torte dessert, decadent food and hotel right on the river

Bled Cream Cake

Recipe from: World Recipes, Expo 2015, Paciulina

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 10.5 ounces puff pastry (rectangular and dusted with baking sugar)
• 3/4 to 1 cup of whipped cream
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white baking sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 cups whole milk
• 1 Tbsp. of rum
• 1 pinch of powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Beat the whites with half of the sugar and the vanilla extract. Once the egg whites are foamy, pour in 50 ml of milk and the flour, adding a little of one, then a little of the other.
2. Bring the remaining milk to a boil, incorporate the egg yolk cream, and stir constantly over medium-low heat to give the cream a firm texture.
3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and slowly fold them into the boiling-hot cream, using a bottom-to-top motion.
4. Add the rum and keep stirring. Put 150 g of puff pastry on a platter, and add a uniform layer of pastry cream on top. Once the pastry cream is cold, add a layer of whipped cream and smooth it out, then cover with the remaining puff pastry.
5. Keep the Bled cream cake in a freezer for about an hour, then cut it into 7×7 cm squares, dust it with plenty of powdered sugar, and serve. Keep refrigerated.