26 - 28 August 2013
Day 1: Getting there
So this post starts with me still in Venice and sitting in the bus with about 50 minutes until it leaves. With about 10 minute before we were meant to leave the driver makes us all get out and jump into another unmarked van (sounds dodgy hey?) and says that this guy will drive us. The new driver turned out to be absolutely terrible and couldn't drive smoothly to save his life, or even the rest of our lives. He couldn't even drive in a straight line without twitching every now and then *sigh*.
Still alive
So we did make it, in one piece, eventually. The first task was to find out where I was and free McDonalds WiFi assisted with that, then I walked in the rain to find a hostel. I found the spot I had marked on my map but the hostel there had a different name but because it still looked nice, I booked in anyway.
Exploring
I met a girl from London in my room and together we went to see some sights; the dragon bridge, the castle, a city park and finally ended up at a bar with a really funny bar tender, where we stayed for a few beers and a kebab.
Day 2: Walking tour
The walking tour company that I normally go with doesn't have tour this far east but thankfully other companies do so that's where we (my London friend and I) headed this morning. The guide, Neja, was really good and we saw lots of the main sights including:
- The dragon bridge, also joked about as the mother-in-law bridge. Also, apparently the dragons will wag their tails whenever a virgin crosses the bridge...we didn't see them wag their tails.
- The markets where we tried sour turnip and sour kraut
- A area with shoes and goon sacks hanging from the power lines
- The library
- A theatre (I can't find what it's called but it looked cool)
We finished up with a great story about the history of Yugoslavia and Slovenia, which made me curious to hear the different point of view of each of the former Yugoslavian members as I travel the Bulkans.
Sunshine
After the tour finished my Londoner friend and I decided to make good use of the sunshine by sitting outside a pub and soaking up as much sun as we could. Once the time came for her to leave to catch a ride our of Slovenia I decided to go for a walk around.
Hot Horse
I found myself at a burger shop that the tour guide mentioned named Hot Horse. This place, as the name suggests, serves horse meat in various different forms and I was keen to give it a go. I ordered a sandwich type thing and although the meat was fairly chewy and tough, it still tasted fine which may have been helped by the 5 sauces they poured on it; ketchup, mustard, mayo, Tobasco and cheese sauce.
Metelkovo
This area is apparently an ex-Yugoslavian army barracks that was taken over by squatting students and turned into a street art heaven. It reminds me a lot of Kreuzberg, Berlin and has so much art crammed into a small space that you'll find yourself moving slowly and spending quite a long time in the area.
Quiet evening
It was starting to rain (no surprise) so I headed back to the hostel to hide out for a bit before venturing out again to get dinner; a nutritious and delicious kebab with super spicy sauce. On the way home I also ran into a guy who I met on the walking tour during the day and, separately, an Aussie guy I met in Venice who I was planning to meet the next day. What a small place Ljubljana is.
Day 3: Catch up day
Today was a bit of a lazy day but I can make it sound more productive by saying I did some blogging, researched where to go next and ventured out to get some lunch. I also ran into my Aussie mate again; Ljubljana is REALLY small!
Dinner
This time I caught up with my Aussie mate on purpose and we headed to a Slovenian restaurant to try some of the local food. We tried to order two different dishes to share but we ended up with two fairly similar goulashes although they were both quite nice so it wasn't all bad.
Thoughts on Ljubljana
- The name is really hard to say just by reading. It's pronounced loob-yoo-ana
- It rains a lot, apparently more than London
- It's a very clean and modern feeling city
- I feel like I've ticked all the touristy stuff off here but I'd definitely stop here if I was coming past (I have a mate here now that I can see too)
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| A kangaroo water fountain. Not really sure why they chose a kangaroo |
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| The shoes thrown over the power lines |
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| The dragon bridge |
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| Be careful on the castle! |
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| Goon sacks on the power lines |
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| Some dead fish sculptures on one of the bridges and of course, the padlock fad has been here |
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| Some interesting street art in the Metelkovo area |
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| More street art in the Metelkovo area |
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| More street art in the Metelkovo area |
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| More street art in the Metelkovo area |
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| More street art in the Metelkovo area |
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| Some strange signs in the Metelkovo area |
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| More street art in the Metelkovo area |
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| My horse sandwich |
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| A strange thingo in the castle |
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| Brass street sculptures. They're actually tiny faces, not horse shit |
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| A panorama from the castle |
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| The church had a picture of jesus dressed as Superman |
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| The Hot Horse menu |
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| I appreciate it when people are straight to the point |
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| Some dragon sculptures |
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| Ornate concrete poles |
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| The theatre thing |
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