Blogs from Ljubljana, Upper Carniola, Slovenia, Europe - page 10

Ljubljana – The Only Capital City I Can’t Pronounce Sunday 24th April Today I say goodbye to Emma and Jo as they have to return home and go back to work. I still have another week until I have to start work and I want to avoid all the hype of the Royal Wedding back home. I head North through Slovenia towards Venice. There’s a train every day from Rijeka up to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Sanja has done all the research for me and we’ve been to collect the ticket the previous day. I have bad memories of train journeys in this part of the world as I Inter-railed around this area as a student. It seems that they are still using the same rolling stock as they were using 40 years ago but ... read more

Album I’m listening to: Minstry of Sound Chilled II: 1991-2009. Slovenia is a very cool place. Not only is the city centre a great place to be day or night, but you’re only about an hours train ride from skiing, hiking, swimming, rafting, cave exploring, you name it. With more than half the country covered in forests you can see why. I arrived in Ljubljana (the capital) on the 9th without a problem. I hadn’t eaten all day so as I got off the train and saw a McBen (they have a McDonald’s so this would be more dodgy than that!) I had a Pleskavica which is a hamburger but on a different bread and the pattie is flattened. Afterwards I got into my hostel and set my things down before I decided to head out ... read more

Once we were finally free of the immigration queue at the border, we headed for the hotel Mum had booked for her and Phoebe. Talk about luxury!! This was a boutique hotel of the first order and I was highly jealous. Once they were settled in Nick and I looked for a spot to free camp, which we found next to a river. When we woke up early that next morning we went for a long walk by the river, over to the university where students were already huddling together amidst a sea of text books and exam papers. I thought to myself that it was good to see university is the same everywhere. Walking further along we realised we must have chosen a good spot to park as every second grand house belonged to the ... read more

Split....bye bye...and back on the road, this time again avoiding most highways. The road from Zadar to Rijeka is really nice....with thousand of turns. I have to admit these turns are not the friends of Leslie...and for me...well, I needed to stay focus on all these turns...but this place is beautiful. This is true till you reach the area of Rijeka who lose all interest as a big industrial port. Next, we crossed the border to Slovenia, and there, in a few minutes the land changes in an impressive manner. Imagine, both countries have been part of Yugoslavia for years, but the two seem so different today. You cross the border and you enter green Slovenia (and also back in the EU)....it actually looks more like Austria or Switzerland than the south neighbour of Croatia. This ... read more

Meet up for lunch with Cathy from Ireland before she flew home.... read more