Slovenia

So AJ and I finally sat down around 9:30pm Christmas night to figure out where we were going the next day – we figured it was about time. Semi-jokingly I had suggested earlier that we deviate from our original (but vague) plan of Switzerland and France to add a side trip to Croatia, since with all of my new-found cartographic knowledge I realized that we were in fact quite close to the Balkans… So we looked up the train times and figure out that it was actually fairly feasible to get to Slovenia and Croatia and that it was definitely the most reasonable time for both of us to get to that part of Europe.

We quickly read through AJ’s guidebook’s sections on Slovenia and Croatia to learn the essentials (currency, language…) and figure out where we wanted to visit. Our first stop was just a little ways inside the Slovenian border in a town called Bled (Side note: the train ride to Bled was GORGEOUS. There had just been a snow and they had gotten just that perfect amount to coat all of the tree branches and we went through a couple adorable little towns nestled in Alpine valleys – a few dozen houses grouped around a single church spire. Incredible.) Anyway Bled, which we eventually figured out was pronounced more like “blade” than “bled”, was a fantastic little town on a lake. It had three major sights: an island with church, a castle on a cliff overlooking the lake, and another church along the lakeshore. An exhibit in the castle referred to these three as “the three buildings of Bled”, however, there were in fact more than those three buildings… notably there was a casino on the lakeshore that we kept getting as a point of reference any time we asked for directions.

To get to Bled, we actually had to get off at a train station in Lesce and then take a bus, which wasn’t too complicated, though it might have been nice if the train station had been open. The information center and ticket office and all of that was completely closed up – I think the 26^th of December is still an official holiday in a lot of European countries. Thankfully the bus was still running and other things were open. By the time we got to the lake, it was already starting to get a little dark outside – it was probably only 3 or 4 in the afternoon, but since it’s the dead of winter and we were in a valley, sunset was pretty early. So we got there a little too late to make it out to the island (bummer), but we walked around the lake to the church and then up to the castle.

Getting up to the castle was kind of an adventure. We had to wind our way up some forest trails (with our full packs), but it was more than worth it. The view from the top was awesome – here’s a view of the lake and island from the castle:

We went through the castle museum which gave us a bunch of information on the area around Bled from glacial valley to Roman settlement to Napoleon’s influence to Slovenian independence. By the time we left the castle it was already pretty dark (because we are nothing if not thorough in museum exhibits – if you’ll allow me a Zorb family reference, AJ approaches nearly all museums the way Brian approached the Ripley’s Believe it or Not museum – EVERY informational sign must be read). Anyway, we climbed back down the wooded trails in the dark. Fun times – this would not be our last late-night walking in the dark adventure (see Switzerland…).

We grabbed dinner at a kebab joint. I have no doubt that kebab stands will be coming soon to an American town near you because they are absolutely everywhere in Europe, it’s only a matter of time before the market here is fully saturated and they reach out across the pond. Instead of a Wendy’s or Arby’s or McDonald’s on each corner, there’s an independently run kebab stand where you can get a sandwich (and if you’re lucky fries and a drink) for right around 5 euro. This kind of street food is ideal for students and travelers, and above all, traveling students, so this also would not be our last kebab.

We caught a bus back to the train station and then a train to Ljubljana, where we were going to spend the night. So we arrived in Ljubljana after dark and without a hostel reservation, which was basically our SOP for the entire trip. But thanks to AJ’s guidebook and an ad in the train station, we found a hostel that had been converted from a former Soviet prison and we decided we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to say we spent the night in an Eastern European jail cell, so we decided to spring for that slightly more expensive hostel. It was definitely worth it. It was a really nice hostel (they served a great breakfast – unlimited coffee and a fantastic cheese – and yes, that is a major factor in my evaluation of a hostel’s quality) and didn’t actually end up being that expensive. Fortunately and unfortunately, it didn’t really resemble a prison very much anymore, though we managed to lock ourselves into our room for a little bit because the room had a fairly sophisticated double locking door system that baffled me at least for awhile. There were at least bars over the window, though:

The next morning (Sunday the 27^th for those of you keeping track), we walked around the city of Ljublana, which was very walkable. We had time to walk into about 5 different masses in Slovene, climb up to another castle, and wander through the town’s Christmas market, before catching an afternoon train to Zagreb, Croatia.

Highlights of Ljubljana:

- Founding legend: Legend has it that the first settlement at Ljubljana was created by none other than Jason, of Jason and the Argonauts (I don’t think he arrive on the Argo, so his companions probably couldn’t be called Argonauts in this case…)

- Dragons: the city’s symbol is the dragon, so there was a bridge with really cool dragons on it, but even more fantastic was the dragon exhibit in the castle. We when down some stairs into one of the rooms of the castle that was open, only to be greeted by a soundtrack of strange creaking and growling noises and the sight of about fifty neon-colored, 2-feet tall paper maché dragons. The exhibit wasn’t clearly labeled, but I sincerely hope they were created by a local art class of Slovenian school children.

- The river: Apparently this region of Slovenia is fairly marshy/swampy because the river that winds through the city actually goes underground and re-emerges different places 7 times along its length.

- The view from the castle: The day had been overcast and rainy, so initially I was pretty disappointed with the view/the area surrounding the city. But then, as we were walking down the hillside from the castle, we suddenly realized that we could actually see the alps reemerging ABOVE a line of clouds hanging low over the city. My pictures didn’t turn out that great, but it was really breathtaking at the time: