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Published: October 20th 2005
A random taxi driver in Manchester was the inspiration for this trip! On the way to the airport on a trip to Spain, he was raving on about his wonderful holiday to Slovenia - he was a persuasive man! A little seed was sewn in my mind and Slovenia nudged it's way to the top of my next-to-go-to places!
... and let me say THANK YOU taxi man! Slovenia doesn't disappoint and it was one of the friendliest and most beautiful countries I've been to!
We chose to go in Autumn (kind of half thinking we'd do the Ljubljana Half Marathon - which did not happen!).
Due to budget constraints, we basically found the cheapest flights to anywhere nearby. We ended up flying into Treviso in Italy - now this is not all that convenient for Slovenia but if you've got the time! Why not! We had to get the train to the border with Slovenia - once there we hopped on a bus.
Note to Australians - you may experience difficulties crossing the border on a bus - but fear not all was not lost. After informing us that I was allowed to cross, but Cam
The Dragon Bridge
This is in Ljubljanahad to get out (very convenient suggestion!!). I think the border guards just didn't want to deal with him - they sent us off in some random direction... so off we walked - following instructions I might add! Then we ended up at this railway crossing - we crossed over and then reached a little hut that was empty and walked on... then realised that we had actually just walked into Slovenia! We then walked through the 'Secret Tunnel' which basically just came out behind the border where the bus had made us get out. So after waving to the border guards... we walked on into Slovenia! 😉
After MORE waiting for trains/buses... we waited for another bus... this time heading towards the Julian Alps and Lake Bled. We arrived late at night and got to our hostal - 10 minutes outside the town where this sweet man who ran/owned the place - he ended up giving us a private room instead of the one we booked (with an en-suite!). And he drove us into town whenever we wanted... his wife cooked us a free lunch. It was all very splended.
We spent the day exploring Lake Bled,
before walking up to the Medieval castle overlooking the lake. The Autumnal colours were stunning!!!!!!!! We also got a little boat over to the island in the centre of the Lake.
After our Bled trip, we headed south on the train to Ljubljana. A beautiful city with lots of bars/cafes along the edge of the river. It's a wonderful place to relax with a pivo (beer), listening to live music and watch the world go by.
We ended up hiring bikes and cycling round one of the large parks. It was a splendid lovely relaxing break.
on the way back we got the train up to Austria... then back from Austria into Italy (saving us a nights accommodation!). We arrived in Venice at 4 in the morning. We decided to stop off in Venice because I had never been there. Venice at 4/5 in the morning is certainly different! We sat on the Piazza San Marco - the only people there!! It was a strange eerie quiet... really quite amazing actually.
We had a coffee next to the Rialto Bridge watching the commuters starting to filter in and the city slowly waking up. Then we had
to head back to the airport for our flight home. Not the normal experience of Venice... but interesting.
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