I actually had to wake Beth up at 9am and I knocked on the kids room and also woke them up - what? That was a good night’s sleep! We headed downstairs for the hotel breakfast, which kind of reminded me of a Turkish hotel breakfasts - not bad with more variety than you’d usually find in North America.
By the time we checked out, around 10am, we still hadn’t heard from Paul and Blair. We hopped in the car and started out on our little road trip - what a different way to travel. The kids were shocked when we told them they could pack their stuff in a suitcase -“no backpacks?!? Sweet!”. It kind of reminded us of our road trip on the big trip in Turkey - there’s a certain sense of freedom when you’re four wheeling it around the countryside.
We plugged the Ljubljana hotel in my phone’s GPS and were off. Zagreb wasn’t in the plan for this trip - we wanted to get to Slovenia relatively early as it was Saturday, we were only staying there two nights, and Sunday is apparently quite quiet there.
Within a half hour, we were at the fairly porous border (though they did take a casual glance at our passports, which was more control than I thought would happen... perhaps the refugee crisis has tightened things up here) and crissing into Slovenia. We stopped to buy a driving sticker for 15 Euros - mandatory in Slovenia and continued following the beautiful highway into the rolling hills of Slovenia.
I could tell the girls were pretty relaxed and pumped up at the same time. They chatted excitedly in the back seat and pointed out little hillside villages as we passed. Europe seems to compact! Abby was shocked when I told her that if we drove another two hours we’d be in Northern Italy!
We got to the capital city in just under two hours of driving. It felt nice yet sleepy as we drove in from the outskirts of the city. Eventually, we got to our hotel, only to find out that we had to make a separate reservation for a parking spot and there were none available. Doh! Oh well, we drove around and eventually found a spot and got our rooms twenty minutes later.
Ljubljana is a really nice little city. The population is around 300,000 people, and the historic area is a just a 3 kilometers stretch of area skirting both sides of the river that runs right down the center of the city. It’s kind of a combination of a little Paris with its 3 storey buildings and pedestrian friendly streets and a little Rome with its cobbles and piazzas.
We set out on foot and explored up and down the riverside, eventually landing on a little sidewalk cafe near the market area at the north end of the city center. We all had the soup lunch and we were sufficiently impressed! Beth even dipped out to the market to get some sliced cheese to accompany our bread which was delicious.
The whole market area felt very local - we saw lots of Slovenians buying fruit and veggies in their little woven baskets, and there was a clothing side to the market that was very obviously aimed at the lower end of the local populace.
After checking out the dragon bridge (Slovenia is big in dragons apparently), we walked over to the base of the fort that overlooks the downtown area and boarded the little funicular that takes you up the steep hillside to the fort/castle up top. The castle has a long history of various uses (defence, political office, prison etc) but the best part for us was the slight break in heat from the city below. It was getting scorchingly hot and the little trek up the stairs to the top of the lookout tower that looms above the river was a great reprieve.
Beth and Robin needed a break from the heat so they headed back to the hotel while Abby and I continued to explore. We got a gelato and checked out a local punk band that was kind of hilarious.
Eventually we headed back to the hotel and picked up the sleeping beauties. We had connected with Blair and Paul and made plans to mee them at 6:30 for dinner. We decided to take an hour long river cruise up and down the main river, which was a nice, enjoyable way to rest the feet and kill some time sipping a beer in the late afternoon sun.
Up and down the river we could hear huge cheers break out every time France or Argentina scored a goal in the first of the World Cup knockout games. I had a feeling this little scene would be playing out often over the next two weeks.
We met Paul and Blair as promised and found a nice riverside restaurant for a great meal. So far, so impressed! After dinner we strolled back up the river towards the hotel in search for a pub to watch the Portugal - Uruguay game. The game was disappointing - I’m sure a lot of my trades were sad at the result but with Portugal’s loss it does mean that work will go on as usual next Friday!
We’re here for another night tomorrow, so with the City getting quiet on Sunday, we may head out on an excursion for the day. The rest of the crew is due to arrive tomorrow night!
By the time we checked out, around 10am, we still hadn’t heard from Paul and Blair. We hopped in the car and started out on our little road trip - what a different way to travel. The kids were shocked when we told them they could pack their stuff in a suitcase -“no backpacks?!? Sweet!”. It kind of reminded us of our road trip on the big trip in Turkey - there’s a certain sense of freedom when you’re four wheeling it around the countryside.
We plugged the Ljubljana hotel in my phone’s GPS and were off. Zagreb wasn’t in the plan for this trip - we wanted to get to Slovenia relatively early as it was Saturday, we were only staying there two nights, and Sunday is apparently quite quiet there.
Within a half hour, we were at the fairly porous border (though they did take a casual glance at our passports, which was more control than I thought would happen... perhaps the refugee crisis has tightened things up here) and crissing into Slovenia. We stopped to buy a driving sticker for 15 Euros - mandatory in Slovenia and continued following the beautiful highway into the rolling hills of Slovenia.
I could tell the girls were pretty relaxed and pumped up at the same time. They chatted excitedly in the back seat and pointed out little hillside villages as we passed. Europe seems to compact! Abby was shocked when I told her that if we drove another two hours we’d be in Northern Italy!
We got to the capital city in just under two hours of driving. It felt nice yet sleepy as we drove in from the outskirts of the city. Eventually, we got to our hotel, only to find out that we had to make a separate reservation for a parking spot and there were none available. Doh! Oh well, we drove around and eventually found a spot and got our rooms twenty minutes later.
Ljubljana is a really nice little city. The population is around 300,000 people, and the historic area is a just a 3 kilometers stretch of area skirting both sides of the river that runs right down the center of the city. It’s kind of a combination of a little Paris with its 3 storey buildings and pedestrian friendly streets and a little Rome with its cobbles and piazzas.
The whole market area felt very local - we saw lots of Slovenians buying fruit and veggies in their little woven baskets, and there was a clothing side to the market that was very obviously aimed at the lower end of the local populace.
After checking out the dragon bridge (Slovenia is big in dragons apparently), we walked over to the base of the fort that overlooks the downtown area and boarded the little funicular that takes you up the steep hillside to the fort/castle up top. The castle has a long history of various uses (defence, political office, prison etc) but the best part for us was the slight break in heat from the city below. It was getting scorchingly hot and the little trek up the stairs to the top of the lookout tower that looms above the river was a great reprieve.
Beth and Robin needed a break from the heat so they headed back to the hotel while Abby and I continued to explore. We got a gelato and checked out a local punk band that was kind of hilarious.
Up and down the river we could hear huge cheers break out every time France or Argentina scored a goal in the first of the World Cup knockout games. I had a feeling this little scene would be playing out often over the next two weeks.
