Blogs from Slovenia, Europe - page 9

How lovely to wake up to glorious sunshine and a fantastic view of Ljubljana Castle! Breakfast is great again, and I find a lovely spot in the restaurant all to myself. (Mrs Anti-social!) I am reading my Kindle and still feel a bit guilty about reading for pleasure instead of MBA and business books! Soon after breakfast I head into the Old Town. It is only a few minutes walk from the Hotel Lev. On the way I notice a large department store with a Spar in the basement. If anyone reading this decides to visit Ljubljana, I can recommend this Spar shop for all your bits and bobs. It is spacious, quiet, well laid-out and air-conditioned. And inexpensive - for example, cold bottles of water cost 40 cents. You can stock up on wine, beer, ... read more

Best sleep of the holiday:check, first cup of proper tea in a week :check, opening the lounge curtains and seeing lake Bled:check cuddling Seth on the sofa for an hour looking out into the lake:check. I'm definitely going to cry when we leave here! The morning yesterday was time for a ride on the tourist train to bled Town (it goes right past the door, I cannot over emphasise how much this is the best apartment in the world) and a trip first, to pub bled! More great views (totally unappreciated by Seth who decided pretending to be Dr elephant the dentist from Peppa with a leaflet as a mask was a far better way to spend the time) and a light snack and drink and then an explore. Despite having visited pub bleds toilets twice ... read more

From Zagreb I took a bus in the evening towards Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital city. Slovenia is the richest country of the former Yugoslavia (Croatia second). I did not plan this visit ahead and I was happy with my choice, even though I had only 3 days in the country! There was a thunderstorm on the way towards the city. Those who know me well, know that I love thunderstorms, even though I know they can be very dangerous. Once I arrived in Ljubljana, around 11pm, it was still raining. My hostel wasn’t too far from the station so I covered both my bags with a rain-cover, put my rain jacket and rain pants on and walked to the hostel. Luckily the weather was great the next day and I started very early, since my time in ... read more

The beds were very uncomfortable so none of us slept well but we had a lazy start to the day as our first stop - 10am tour of Postojna caves - was just down the road. Again LOADS of people. The caves felt a lot more touristy - especially with the twee train ride to start it off! It was also a lot colder than the Škocjan Caves & I was glad I'd brought a jumper. The caves were beautiful & we saw olms!!! Such awesome animals! I love that people used to think they were baby dragons!!!! After the cold caves we were for once glad to get back into the sun. Vicky & I did a bit of shopping then joined Chavaunne for lunch - wraps with roasted veg & pine nuts with optional ... read more

Today was our day of adrenaline-filled activities! We started the day with some white-water rafting with TOP rafting (conveniently where we were staying!).The three of us were joined by three lads, also travelling around on their holidays & we got two instructors as one was in training. After getting kitted out & being shown the basics on dry land we carried the boat down the stream by the TOP base and into the Soča river. I managed to bagsie one of the "tiger" spots at the front of the raft! After some practice in calm water and a bit of a swim in the river (to practice pulling mates back into the boat!) we tried our hands at the rapids (up to grade III)! With a couple of stops, once to paddle up a stream & ... read more