I LOVE Ljubljana. Which is weird, I thought it would be a bit like Zagreb and a kind of in between city but it was actually so much fun. We seemed to go at a good time as the EuroBasket is currently being held there so there were so many events on and funny people dressed up going about supporting their country in the basketball.
So the day we arrived we again got lost. Turns out our hostel was in the middle of Ljubljana University. So we were walking into all these uni buildings with our giant bags like ‘is this it?!’ And being turned away by angry receptionists. Ljubljana was quite expensive so when we finally did find it we were staying in a 12 bed dorm. That was kind of weird as it was like squatting in a school and we were just sleeping in some random beds arranged in their dance studio basement (there were mirrors everywhere) but it was good anyway – we were close to the city centre and able to walk everywhere. Once we dumped our stuff, we headed to the city and wandered about, eating food and watching street performers.
The next day we got up early as we wanted to head to the famous Lake Bled which is about an hour train ride from Ljubljana. We walked around the entire thing which took about 2 hours and just sat and relaxed with the amazing view. We also met another girl there who was travelling on her own and she spent the afternoon with us which was nice. She was from Australia but had heard of Fleet – crazy!! We got the train back to Ljubljana and spent the evening in the city centre watching the basketball on the giant screens and seeing a few live concerts too. Everywhere we’ve been to so far they sell corn on the cob in little street stalls and I’ve been wanting one for ages so I finally had one – while everyone was drinking beer, being rowdy and watching the game I was just happily nibbling away like a 6 year old.
Our next day we spent more culturally and really got to explore the city. We started off on a free tour which was actually really interesting but it was so hot and after about half an hour I almost fainted so we had to leave which was annoying! But on Fridays all the local restaurants set up market stalls and you can go and have tasters or lunch at any of them. Weirdly, it was mostly Asian cuisine so I ended up having Pad Thai. Which was a bit strange as I had that at least 4 times a week in Thailand, I didn’t imagine the next time I would be eating it would be in the middle of Slovenia! In the afternoon we went to the big park in the centre and visited some of the main sites. Like in many cities, there is a bridge in Ljubljana with loads of padlocks on that symbolise true love or friendship or whatever really. Seeing as this was the first city we both really fell in love with and Tora had a spare padlock we thought we would be really cheesy and put one on. Some people’s were specially engraved, some had sharpies or tippex….having neither of these we expertly (by that I mean very badly) scratched our initials on the lock and a smily face with the key. Sooo, if you ever go to Ljubljana, go to the Butchers bridge on the west side, 9th section along, 3rd row down and our little padlock should be there! You’re supposed to make a wish as you throw the key in the river so we hoped that in 10 years time we will go back and visit our little padlock. SO CHEESY!
There was also a big triathlon event which was fun to watch. They had to cycle, run and then swim in the river. And do it all 3 times! We got really into it and ended up watching for like 2 hours (which is impressive for a hard-core sports lover like myself) but I think the fact that we were having a bit of a perve probably made us watch a bit longer.
We spent the evening having a nice meal and again just wondering about. As it was Friday night the stag and hen parties started to come out which was pretty funny. They always come up to you trying to ‘raise money for their wedding’ or whatever. Trying to get you to pay for a kiss or a beer. Obviously me and Tora were a bit like ‘no thankssss!’ But one guy kept asking and shaking his tin at us so we said ‘sorry we’re poor!’ He was so drunk that he replied with a very sad look on his face ‘oh you run out of money?’ Then grinned ‘HERE! I have money! Have this!’ And tried to give us his tin of change he collected. It might have been one of those you-have-to-be-there moments but it was so funny.
Sad to leave Ljubljana but that night we had to get an overnight train to Budapest. This turned out to be pretty stressful as we had to get 3 trains. The first was so packed it was running half an hour late so when we arrived at our first stop in Salzburg we literally had to leg it to just catch our next one. Really didn’t realise how unfit I am! But anyway we made it and we’re now in Budapest. We slept most of yesterday but last night was super fun but I’ll tell you about it on that update!!
Abby Goes Travelling! 