2geonomads

Thursday 1st April

Breakfast at hotel superb, although a little too calorie-laden for our own good.

City blanketed in fog but with the prospect of a sunny day.

If I come across Murphy I’ll kill him as we have arrived in Ljubljana on a National Holiday and many museums and most shops are closed.

Fortunately, the City Museum( apparently the best one for Slovenian history) and the Castle are open so after a quick visit to Preseren Square before the crowds arrive we head off to the City Museum. This brilliantly showcases the Ljubljana in all its good and bad colours throughout history. Probably in an effort to avoid offending us the girl at the ticket office offered us Student’s tickets rather than Seniors.

Parliament House Ljubljana

3 bridges Ljubljiana

  one of the ‘3 bridges’ LjubljianaDragon Bridge

With our egos suitably intact we spend about 2 enjoyable and instructive hours before setting off to the river for a 45 minute trip on a river  cruise. On board I meet up with some Italians from Sicily and after I had attuned my ear to their dialect I was able to have a fairly lengthy conversation, good preparation for our Italian stay later on in this trip.

Views from the river cruise

Under very threatening thunder clouds we take a VERY steep funicular up to the Ljubljana Castle, high on a hill above the city.

Missed out on a discounted ticket for the Castle as the obviously short-sighted girl at the ticket office didn’t ask us whether we were seniors.

We start off the tour by a visit to the Outlook Tower but only Gail is brave enough to tackle the 100 cast- iron steps to the viewing platform. Even Gail admits that it certainly was not for me!

Spiral Staircase Ljubljana Castle

After viewing a Virtual Castle video showing the history of the castle we stop off to shelter from the pouring rain and another calorie intake.

Time to book train tickets to Zagreb and book a table at Julia’s restaurant, recommended by Luka at the hotel. Top-class meal in great ambience and return to hotel to prepare for departure for Zagreb the next day.

We would heartily recommend a visit to this delightful city which can best be described as a Slovenian Lucca, full of history, character and small enough to cover easily on foot. Slovenia itself has been a revelation and one can only hope that the Government manages to overcome the current serious economic problems and avoid the same fate as such as Greece. Disturbingly, we heard quite a few comments form locals which suggested that a return to the previous pre-independent days would not be such a bad thing.

We will be sorry to leave Slovenia but hopefully Croatia will be equally welcoming.

Cheers

The Obese Ferret