Lovely Ljubljana

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Easter Monday found us up for breakfast at 8 am and then packing up our bags. Our next task was to set off to find the bus stop for bus #15, the one that supposedly would deliver us to our mystery destination out in an industrial park where we were to catch our Florentia bus to Ljubljana. When i first booked our bus tickets I immediately checked out the location on Google Earth and was quite dismayed with where the bus stop was located. We decided to roll the dice and wait until we got to Padua where we would then ask. Suzy, our hostess, had never heard of this place but did some research and told us to take bus #15. After further searching I mapped out the route from the pickup point and decided to let fate have her way with us. Our bus was to leave the mystery point at 3:30 but we were to be there for 3:00. Being the anal retentive one, especially on travel days, I was determined to get there early. If the bus didn't show, our alternatives were limited! We hauled our backpacks down to the bus stop and went in to a cafe to have some lunch Curtis kept going out to check the schedule as we weren't entirely sure if they were following the "festivo" schedule or regular one. We saw one bus marked #15 go by as we ate so we knew we had the right place, but would it get us to our stop? We paid for our lunch and headed out to the bus stop. Not long after an elderly couple came along and then an older lady. As I was looking at the schedule she began asking me questions. I apologized for not understanding her and moved away. The next thing I knew this mothball-scented woman began making these gutteral sounds. Apparently she was cooing at the pigeons! I tried not to laugh for fear of tears running down my legs! Finally the bus arrived. We boarded and Curtis paid for the tickets. I asked, in very stilted but well practised Italian, if the bus stopped at our required stop (which I couldn't pronounce so was holding up a piece of paper while he drove the bus and I held on for dear life as I nearly toppled over). He nodded yes so we sat down. After driving out of Padua and into a less touristy area we began to wonder where we were going. Not long after he motioned for me to come up and show him my paper again. He explained he didn't stop there. I told him we needed to go to Della Regione Veneto. He nodded in affirmation and I sat back down. Not long after I spied the Esso station that was near where we were to get off. He motioned to the street we needed and let us off a ways up the street. We thanked him and headed off into the deserted industrial section of Padua. We wandered down the quiet, four lane road, past several large businesses that were closed for the holiday. We found our way to #10, which was a Renault maintenance company. We walked around the side to an open gate and at the same time a gentleman was walking in. I explained we were looking for the Florentia Bus and he told us "on the other side of the fence." We thanked him and headed out to the sidewalk, divesting ourselves of our bags. Now we arrived at 1:30 for our 3:30 bus (leaving lots of wiggle room - the anal retentive part of me which my husband accepts). So we wiled away the time doing our language lessons. At 3:00 we both looked at one another and said, "Well, the count down is on." We knew that if this was the wrong place we were really messed up for getting to Slovenia. Lo and behold at 3:25 our bus pulled up, I gave our tickets to the driver and we boarded the bus to Ljubljana!

It was a very beautiful ride as we followed the Mediterranean to Trieste, Italy and then headed up into the mountains. As we hit the freeway we watched as we neared the border. As soon as we entered Slovenia the signs changed to the most interesting configuration of letters that defied all my English grammar understanding!! We drove through the beautiful countryside where towns were tucked into the hillsides with a large white church as the focal point, usually up on a hill. Around 8:20 we got to the bus station in Ljubljana and retrieved our bags. Our hostess, Irena, had given us very good instructions which we followed. However, being in the dark things got tricky as we looked for the dead end at which we were to turn right. What we thought was the dead end did not match her description. Confused, I stopped a young couple and asked about the street we needed. He immediately broke into English and took us across the street to a hotel where he could get wifi. He took down the street we needed and pulled it up on google maps. Turns out we just needed to go a bit further to the true dead end! We found Apartment Irena shortly after where our hostess brought us up to our huge and colourful apartment! By far the biggest place we have stayed yet!!! Our bedroom is massive!'It is entirely decorated in purples, pinks, and mauves and I mean everything. Curtis' first reaction, "Wow, I've never slept in a purple room before!". Our kitchen area has a couch, table, and counter area and it is a bright lime green with one turquoise wall. And the best?? A washing machine!!!! We settled in to our digs, catching up on our blog and emails and then fell into bed after a very long day of travelling.

We woke early to the sunlight streaming into our apartment. The other great thing is it has lots of windows! We got up to the luxury of doing laundry. At home I detest this job, but when your clothes are as ripe as ours, it is indeed a small blessing. Curtis ventured out to find a few things for breakfast, coming back with fresh croissants, eggs, yogurt, juice, and milk for coffee and tea. We enjoyed our first meal of the day until we both emptied our cups and found a lot of thick, curdled remnants in the bottom of our cups. Checking the "milk" we realised it was either sour or not really milk!!!

After hanging our last load of wash up to dry we headed out. Right out of our apartment and down the street 50m is the large square, Presernov trg which is connected to the Triple Bridge. We marvelled at the wide expanse and the beautiful buildings encircling this square (an oxymoron, I know). We headed across the bridge to a wonderful outdoor market where we bought some huge strawberries, lemons, and succulent tomatoes. Taking them back to our apartment, unloaded our treasures and went out once more. This time we headed up the steep path that leades to the Ljubljana Castle which is virtually above our apartment. We wandered around the various paths and walkways, enjoying the beautiful views over the city. We soon took another path down and then followed the streets to Metelkova City which is an automonous social centre in the centre of the city. It was a former military barracks and was squatted in September of 1993. There are 7 buildings on this site, all of which are covered in various forms of graffiti and other interesting art forms. It was eerily interesting as bike wheels formed shapes and strange creatures filled the walls.

Next we made our way to Tivoli Park which is a huge greenspace in Ljubljana. We wandered the many paths, rested on a bench and then came across the famous species, the "squabbit". We have noticed in our travels through Europe that there are no mammals scampering through parks. We see birds, mostly obese pigeons and the odd lizard lounging in the sun. But nothing else, until today. As we headed down one trail we were surprised when a black creature scurried across our path. As we stopped to look we saw this squirrel-like creature but with rabbit ears!! A squabbit! We tried in vain to get its picture as that was the only one we saw. We travelled pack up the same path hoping to catch a glimpse of this species! No luck! As we continued on our way Curtis became slightly fixated on finding one (kind of like the elusive brewery in Costa Rica). We looked and looked but unfortunately found nothing. Deciding that he was probably mocking us from a tree above we headed back towards the old town.

We stopped to pick up a few things for dinner and realized that whatever Curtis picked up for our coffee and tea earlier in the wasn't milk (kind of knew that after we both had a mound of sludge in the bottom of our cups! We then went down by the river and joined the throngs of people who were sitting at bars and enjoying the sunshine. What a beautiful city! Tomorrow we try for a day trip to Lake Bled.

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Photos

Our Bus Stop
In the middle of nowhere