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Published: November 7th 2009
So despite walking a calculated fifteen or plus miles yesterday, we got up bright and early because we had a lot to see before we hopped on a train to Zagreb. First, we went to the train station to get our ticket to Zagreb. Then since I was dreaming about that Mocha I had yesterday, I had to get another!
We walked into the main square of the city and where the castle up on a hill was visible. Again, no signs or routes shown, so we just went up and eventually found a trail that took us up to the castle. The trail was heavily wooded and beautiful because of the changing leaves. On the way up, we met a Slovenian lady and her dog whose name was "Funny." She was a mix of some kind but a really beautiful mix. Funny tried to follow us but finally gave up. We got to the top of the hill, but we found out we were half an hour too early. The castle didn't open until ten. So we looked around the castle area and walked around the gardens, courtyards and sitting areas. Already the view was incredible-- I couldn't imagine
what it would be like from the castle! Finally the castle doors opened, and we went in.
The castle was so much smaller than other castles I had been to in Europe! But it was nice and quaint at the same time. Again, NO SIGNS! We were wandering around the castle looking for the tower for about fifteen minutes until we came across the door that led up the spiraling staircase to the tower. Wow. Amazing view. It wasn't just the city, but the mountains behind it, surrounding it. Mark and I were saying if you could mix the landscape around Ljubljana with the city of Prague, THAT would be the most beautiful city.
After the tower, we walked down the wooded hill to find the St. Nicholas Cathedral. We found it, but it was so small! And I hate to say it, but I'm going to be honest... All churches are starting to look alike to me (besides the Serbian Orthodox Church- that was unique). It didn't hold our attention too long. We went to the ancient Roman wall after the cathedral. This wall was once the Roman town of Emona, but fell around 600AD. So this
wall is that old..
After the Roman wall, we went back into the town square, took some pictures, and headed to the city market which ran along side the river. Mark and I found this machine that dispensed cold fresh milk for .3 Euro.. So of course we had to do it and it was delicious. And we couldn't have that creamy milk without cookies, so we went to a stand and bought cookies and sat by the river and had milk and cookies in Ljubljana... We checked out the rest of the market, bought some souvenirs, and headed to the dragon bridge.
The dragon bridge was pretty cool.. On both sides, there are two dragons guarding the bridge. The legend is that when a virgin crosses the bridge, the dragons wag their tails. Kind of lame :-/ But still interesting. It was built in the early 1800's while it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After the dragon bridge around 2:00, we headed to the train station to leave for Zagreb. It was only a two hour train ride to Zagreb Croatia. We were thinking about going to Pulah, a coastal city, but decided to go
to the capital instead. When our train arrived, we had no hostel! So, we headed towards the town center because we knew there was bound to be a hostel there somewhere. We found an info center who sent us in the right direction. This hostel was very cool.. The posters, furniture and paint made it a very young place. I was the only girl in our hostel room.. which was a little weird but I got over it. We were rooming with Australians (btw.. I have not been to one city and not met an Australian--they travel like crazy).
We were both verrry hungry, so we went to a kebab restuarant near our hostel for dinner. After dinner, we walked around the city at night. Already, we could tell it was a beautiful city with awesome architecture and open space unlike the narrow roads of Prague. We went back to the hostel and mapped out our plan for the next day. And then SLEEP!
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Jeff / Dad
non-member comment
great blog, thanks for the updates!
Hi Tori,,,your blogs are wonderful. You sound like you are having the time of your life. I'm so proud of you and so glad there are level headed young adults like you and your friends who are gaing a global perspective. Love, dad.