Advertisement
Published: December 26th 2007
Edit Blog Post
We decided to celebrate our final days in London by going on 'Our last Trip' to Ljubljana, Slovenia. It had taken us about three months to get our tongue around the pronunciation of the word and had no clue on what to expect!! Apart from a war with Yugoslavia in the early 90's there was not alot we did know about the place!
In actual fact our Europe guide book had all of three pages on Slovenia which does not necessarily give the sense that there is a lot happening!!!
After arriving mid afternoon we decided to go for a walk to the city centre. The city centre was spectacular with its Christmas decorations and snow falling! The decoration consisted of all the planets, comets, the sun, the moon, stars and angels hanging over the streets, lit up reminding all that christmas was quickly arriving!!! The sight was incredibly pretty and there was a real buzz in the air with all the outdoor bars packed with people!
It was at these outdoor bars that we discovered that they serve warm wine, both white and red, and it proved to be our achilles heel over the next few days
as the temperatures did not go any higher than -2 degrees celcius. They were the ideal 'prescribed medication' to resisting the cold.
It was at these bars that we met up with Karen a work colleague of Cris' and Karens friend Jo. Needless to say we stayed out till quite late just absorbing the sights and wines!
The next morning we decided to wear all our clothes at once and purchase beanies as it was freezing and went to the city centre and Ljubljana castle which overlooks Ljubljana- the castle is perched on a mountain and on a clear day you can see a third of all Slovenia from here!!
On the way to the castle we walked the streets we strolled through the night before. The city now had a very different feel as there was little snow and the Ljubljanica river and the main square were now taking centre stage!!! The streets were very quaint with Christmas markets and other markets located on what seemed to be all the streets!!! This area was overlooked by the castle on top of the mountain surrounding the city!
The castle seems to have been built prior to 1144
and was used as a seat of the Carinthian dukes Spanheim. In the 15th century, the castle was enlarged with a complete wall and towers at the entrance, where a drawbridge was placed. A chapel was also built at that time. In the 16th and 17th centuries, other objects were gradually built.
The castle is a hodge podge of various building styles expanded organically over time and in accordance to what was required. It is a picturesque castle made all the more beautiful by the snow that did settle on the castle overnight!
The walks around the castle with snow covered trees, rooftops and streets covered in snow made for a very pretty sight!
Ljubljana was a relaxing and very interesting place to stay for the three nights- a population of 300,000 does not make much noise when you compare to Londons 8,000,000 people!!
Lake Bled was our following destination which was located an hour and half or so out of Ljubljana. The trip to the Lake Bled was really something so beautiful that my embellished words could not do it justice- I will let the photographs 'speak' for themselves. The road trip came second, however, to
the beauty of Lake Bled!!!
Lake Bled is a glacial lake with an island in it that has a church, Church of the Assumption and a castle perched on a mountain overlooking the lake. The backdrop is of snow capped Alps mountains totally surrounding the area!!
The church which can only be accessed by boat (on island!!!) was built in its current form in 1700's- however- there has always been a church on this site since the 1100's. The various churches were damaged beyond repair in earthquakes. The church, although rather difficult to get to, is small and charming. We were fortunate enough to arrive on the island alone where we quickly walked around the whole island and absorbed the wow factor views from it. We then ran up to the church and Cris quickly knelt down as always into prayer whist I rang the bells located in the bell tower!!! It was at this time that we noticed we were not alone......there was a gang of about 25 chinese/ japanese tourists running up the same steps and into the church we were in....We could not get out of there fast enough- they would were definitely the loudest
tourist I have ever heard! The bells were really getting a work out. The island was beautiful- they weren't
The castle was our next stop- for a fabulous view overlooking the whole lake, the island and church and the snow capped mountains beyond. The view was absolutely breathtaking.....again we will let the photos speak for themselves.
We went back to Ljubljana for our flight back to London with a slight lump in our throats as we knew this would be our last holiday......we boarded the plane ready for our departure. The plane went to its position ready for take off- this is when I noticed about 5 fire fighting trucks speeding towards our plane. You could feel the fear in the plane! Then there was a voice over the loud speaker in the plane which said that they 'had a slight problem with the engine'. We were told to put our seat belt whilst they did test on the engine. Of course, 5 fire trucks are not needed for slight problems, and the only thing you want to do in those situations is get out of the plane!!! I am not sure why you are told to buckle
into your seat maybe to identify your dentures in the possibility of a 'slight' explosion!!! Eventually we were led off the plane and had to stay another night in Ljubljana! The official reason: there was a burst main fuel pipe in the engine- I am not sure- but it sounds like a bit more than a slight problem........
We finally made it to London the next day- frantically packed for our trip back Home and had one last night of drunken and disorderly pleasure my office christmas party!
Thank you to all who read these memoirs- they are a bit of a one way conversation but I hope you enjoyed them- even a little bit as I have really enjoyed doing them!!!!!
Cheers and all the best for Xmas and 2008!!!! Can't wait to catch up with you all then.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.248s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 9; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0451s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
tardree
Matt and Ed
Alas... last trip
The photo titled 'LaKe Bled- Church Island and castle beyond' is awesome - might have to steal it for our corridor wall! So great to have you home! yay!