Frazensfeste to Ljubljana, Slovenia

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An interesting day of train travel with bikes. The trains are very bike friendly. Specially marked coaches have a compartment with 'meat hooks' on the ceiling from which you hang the front wheel of the bike. We were able to keep an eye on them through the glass doors. The trains were nearly empty but stops at many small towns to let small number of people on and off. The trains double as school busses for highschool kids - probably attending regionalized schools of various types.

We had one 2 hour layover in San Candido which was very good because we had whizzed through it on the way to Italy the first time on the bike path. Turned out to be a charming town and we enjoyed a great cappucino and strudel in the sunshine in one of the piazzas.

In Villach, Austria, we had just 1 hour to retrieve the bike suitcases from the Hotel where we had stored them for the week. We both dashed down and managed somehow to move these huge bags, bikes and all our other stuff back to the platform where Fred had to dismantle two bikes and store them properly in the cases in 20 minutes. This is quite complicated and I am not much help in this process. This particular train to Slovenia did not accommodate bikes but would accept any size and number of suitcases. It was extremely windy and bags, bubblewrap and foam protectors where flying everywhichway. I had to jump into the tracks to retrieve them and moments later a train arrived....hence the sign....don't jump into the tracks!! People on the platform were watching with great interest as the two of us worked furiously to get the bikes ready. However, the train to Slovenia came and went without us!! We missed it by 5 minutes....just not quite ready in time. After a long line-up to re-arrange things (people tolerate long lines better here than we do in Canada), we happily discovered there was another train 2 hours later and we dragged all our now very heavy stuff back across the station to an outdoor cafe to recover from the excitement.

The train to Ljubljana was Slovenian and really looked the eastern block part. We were sure it dated back to the 40s. There are certainly other Slovenian trains which are much more modern but ours wasn't one of them. It made it more interesting in a way.....the toilet was especially different. We had a 6 seater non-smoking compartment to ourselves. Whereas the Austrian trains never sound a whistle....this Slovenian train, once across the border, blew its whistle all the time. The train also switched from an Austrian locomotive to an old beast of a Slovenian one as soon as we crossed the border. There was one very long tunnel for approximately 15-20 minutes (not my favorite part), straight through the alps. At the border, police came aboard and asked to see out passports. I guess Slovenia hasn't signed onto the Swenger Agreement like other countries in the EU...yet. It was a very cursory look though and we were asked no questions at all.

We arrived at 8PM with our two friends waiting for us. An additional taxi was needed to handle all the luggage. We spent a lovely evening catching up sitting outside on our friend's patio eating wonderful local cheeses, cold meats, breads, fruit and drinking an excellent Slovenian red wine. This is going to be an intersting week.

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