It was another fine morning in Zagreb that saw us spring out of bed (LOL … more likely it was to groan and roll over, pull the covers and enjoy a last few minutes of cosy snuggling) and prepare to leave Croatia behind and head for Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Reports I have had from multiple sources is that it is a vibrant and verity interesting city so I was very much looking forward to it.

With time up our sleeves to start with we first touched base with our Oz connections (or tried to ..... Happy Birthday to my much loved daughter Sally), enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, I faced the perennial challenge of turning my bag into a tardus-like object and packing (remind me to halve the number of everything next time I travel by packing early and repack half instead of packing at 11pm the night before and just piling in everything I think I will wear), checking out and ordering a taxi.

 The next step after arriving at the Zagreb Bus Station was easy, as booking the bus had been a very straightforward online process, uploading the bus company's app, downloading tickets and copies of them on multiple devices (phone, iPad and laptop... ) in multiple places so that despite my failing memory I could find them in a hurry. We found our departure spot easily and got into some 'people watching' to pass the waiting time.

 
 The very slick, bright green bus arrived with its driver and helper wearing the same bright green ties, and we got away on time. From there the only delay was crossing the border into Slovenia, where we all had to get out and present passports, which was duly stamped, as they have been each time in and out of Croatia (such as when we went to Mostar in Bosnia)… growing the stamp collection.

The scenery was all very, very green and the landscape changed considerably from what we had seen in Croatia – flatter, no major rocky mountains, lots of agriculture, plenty of houses and at the 130kph permitted on the A3, things went by fairly quickly. Several pics are attached to show the scenery in brief.

 On arrival I made phone contact with the man organising our accommodation (a private apartment booked via Booking.com such as we had in Zadar and Split) and armed with directions via SMS we loaded into the taxi and were soon at our meeting spot (and were pleasantly when the 5 star seeming taxi charged us considerably less that the man on the phone had said we should pay). We were then greeted by the friendly apartment lady (not sure where she fitted into the picture – probably the owner) and a short walk later we arrived. This was quite interesting as we had assumed that the Apartment Vega would be in an apartment building (or a more standard format of apartment) but while it is an apartment it is just part of what seems to be a locally occupied building, not upmarket at all, but the look, feel and amenities were all good. Later we realized that the location is fabulous – just a short walk (5 mins at my pace) to the river and the centre of town.

 After dropping our bags we realized that it was quite a long time since breakfast and the square where we met our landlady had several very great looking restaurants that were calling us to eat and drink. Our first surprise was the price of all the items – I settled on a German white beer that was less than E2 (get used to this ‘E’– I mean 2 Euros) and a salmon Caesar salad for E8. Not only was the salad made from iceberg lettuce (my favourite) but the salmon was a large salmon steak (not the slivery type that is often draped on lettuce). JJ’s wine was correspondingly well priced and her toasted sandwich cost less than E4!

 Then the next surprise in the restaurant was that the waiter, a very charming English speaker (there are lots here and their English is very good – generally much better customer service than Croatia where many are quite grumpy) has lived and worked in Perth for about 6 months. We naturally swapped travel stories and were even more impressed when he said that our apartment owners had told him that our first drinks were on the house! We are still wondering how he knew it was us – but were pleased nevertheless.

 Our next step was to head into town (after working out which way up the map should be – primarily by orienting ourselves to the hilltop Ljubljana Castle - more on that later) and once we reached the river, which is lined with row after row of restaurants we realized what a fabulous city this is (at least the central area – some of the outskirts on the way in of course didn’t look too buzzing or affluent at all).

 On the way along the river I saw a group of fellows in pink shirts (see pic) standing outside a bar drinking and they looked very happy so I stopped to take a pic, and they responded with waves and cheers. As I approached one of them stopped me and said (in a very friendly way) that I should pay for the photo and if I wanted I could also pay to take the photo of a friend dressed in a rabbit suit (it was all very funny… no pressure at all). Which I did and was also offered a little model car by the rabbit fellow. I asked the other one what this was all about and were they fundraising or something and were they university students or some other group? The response was that no, they were just a group of friends and they do this for a lark… and get nearly enough money for most of their drinks from the rabbit pics and toy car sales… then we got chatting about Australia, travel, their group etc… which was all very nice.

 After finding the information center and checking out some options, the next agenda item was to head to the Ljubljana Castle up a short funicular. The Castle is a majestic structure – quite complex once you get inside and hear about its multiple layers of history (the ancient foundations were only discovered when major renovations were being done and the mound in the center of the castle was reduced. In renovating the castle they have successfully maintained the lower levels, lots of the history and still built a facility that includes multiple eateries and event venues. For example we saw a wedding in one restaurant and the guests seemed oblivious of all the tourists traipsing within a few meters of them.

 In summary, the castle is a key element of the Ljubljana skyline. Originally a Medieval fortress, probably built in the 11th century and rebuilt in the 12th century, it acquired its present outline with an almost complete overhaul in the 15th century, whereas the majority of the buildings date to the 16th and 17th centuries. At first it was built as a defense structure and since the first half of the 14th was the seat of the local lords, from the early 19th century it was used as a penitentiary, then in the first half of the 20th century as a residential complex and in the latest times as a tourist attraction and a major cultural venue.

 In particular I noticed the chapel – and if you saw the statue of St George and the dragon from yesterday in Zagreb you will know him well, but this legend has relevance here. Legend has it that each year a virgin was given to the dragon but when it was the turn of the Mayor’s daughter to be sacrificed, he offered a reward …. and we know George stepped up and eventually killed the dragon. Ljubljana’s part is that apparently where the dragon was swallowed up is where the Castle’s chapel was built, which is why there is a lovely painting of St George slaying the dragon ( but no mention of what happened to the virginal mayor’s daughter though… maybe happy ever after in Slovenia?)

 While taking a short sit down before heading down from the castle, we got chatting to a couple with 2 small children and 2 dogs (dogs are everywhere in Croatia and Slovenia) – mostly on leads and always well behaved. Lots of chatter and we learnt that they are on holidays from Germany travelling in a camper van – heard their story about holidays and taking dogs with them, which lead to the fellow telling us that the dogs are trained rescue dogs (I had thought something similar using my schoolgirl German to translate the tags that the dogs were wearing ") that he uses (as a volunteer) to rescue people lost in the forest and at least once, someone carried away by an avalanche.

 Oh and, remember my reference to running into people again once have seen them once, well the couple who sat in front of us on the bus from Zagreb was walking in the castle gates as I was walking out! Go figure.

 After spending time looking around the castle and listening to all the content on the audio guide, JJ and I felt the impact of our international travel (bus) and decided to find a supermarket so that we could stock up on afternoon drinks supplies and fruit etc. While none had been obvious in our travels, we figured that there had to be one on the other side of our apartment so we set out. Nearing what we thought was a supermarket which looked closed, JJ stopped a young couple who were passing and asked if they knew where there was one open. While the lovely young lady said no that she didn’t know of one (and confirmed that the one up ahead was closed), her companion was looking on his phone to see if he could find one (bless his little cotton sox), which he did. As the supermarket in question was around the corner, he offered to show us where it was and on the way we got chatting about where were we from – and he told us that his uncle and family live in Melbourne and that he and his girlfriend are both keen to travel to Australia (but as they all say… ‘oh it is so far’… and that they haven’t come across many Australians in Slovenia).

 The supermarket was great – and cheap. For E5.7 I bought 2 large cans of beer, a bottle of juice, 2 bananas and 2 packets of chewy… go figure. I think it is cheaper to buy beer than water!

 After a rest we headed down to the river front for dinner – beer, wine and hamburgers, to top off a top day – and then there was a round of fireworks from the castle – and heaps of delightful goings-on in the streets to keep us entertained.

 A great day and I look forward to exploring more tomorrow.