Day 52 - A Whistle-Stop Tour of Ljubljana

I left my lovely apartment in Graz this morning and enjoyed the pleasant 3.5 hour train journey to Ljubljana. I had decided that I wanted to base myself in Bled rather than Ljubljana, but as my route to Bled would take me through Ljubljana, had planned for a couple of hours in the capital at least.

The train felt quite old school as the carriages had compartments - I was sharing with two Austrian ladies, who were super glam and I was a little in awe, and then a cyclist, who was up and down like a yo-yo, and each time he got up he had to (I do not know the technical term) crank up his shoes!? Anyway, the train was a little late but otherwise it was all pretty uneventful.

On arrival in Ljubljana (alert for Dad - this is a new country - Slovenia!), it became clear that the station was undergoing some pretty extensive renovations, and it was not super straight-forward to navigate. I eventually did find the luggage lockers, only to discover that they would only take coins. So off I went to the nearby shop to make a small purchase to get change. Back to the luggage lockers I went, to find a very confused girl unable to rescue her luggage from said lockers as she had stayed over the maximum time. I tried to help, but ultimately suggested that she might need to talk to someone to actually worked there! Luggage successfully stored, I decided to get some more cash out of a cashpoint. I patiently waited for the elderly man in front of me, and when he was done, went forward to the machine. The screen looked odd, and it became apparent that the man had left his card in (with PIN entered so ready to withdraw money). I got the card and hot-footed it after him. Eventually, I was in a position where my bags were stored, the man had his bank card, and I had cash - it was time to explore Ljubljana!

I walked into the centre, and my first stop (except for a quick cache grab!) was the main square. It was very pretty with the pink church and the triple bridge.

I crossed the bridge, and enjoyed having a look at some of the shops - in particular, a dragon shop that sold only dragon memorabilia. Apparently dragons are a big deal in Ljubljana.

I then made my next stop at the cathedral, which was absolutely lovely. It was peaceful inside, as well as being beautifully ornate.

My final stop on my whistle-stop tour was the castle. I obviously would have walked up if I didn’t have a train to catch (…), but for expediency, took the funicular to the top to enjoy the view.

I did walk back down the hill, and then over the river (this time over Butcher’s Bridge) and back to the station, via an ice cream shop, for my onwards journey.

The journey to Bled was great, with lots of hills/mountains. Local expert Laura has told me over WhatsApp that they are called the “brda” (Gorizia hills), and then subsequently shared a Croat tongue twister that I don’t stand a chance with!

The nearest station to Bled is actually a bit out of the main town, so I had to wait for a bus to complete the journey. It was a bit of an annoying wait (and then I was the muppet on the bus scrabbling around for the correct change, having used all my sensible coins on the luggage locker!) but luckily my guest-house where I am staying is really close to the bus stop and I was soon checked into my very homely room.

Better yet, there is a restaurant under the guest house, so I was able to roll out of my room to somewhere serving yummy Slovenian food. I had a really good kind of mixed grill for main, and then thought it would be rude not to have Bled Cake as a dessert. Possibly just the first of a few samples in the coming days…..