Day 35 – Friday 12 June

Our departure went like clockwork, including time for a coffee and mixed nut snack in the first class lounge. The scenery was pleasant with more rolling countryside and small tidy towns before winding up into a high range area with multiple tunnels, arched rail bridges, and picturesque valleys. Slovenia is very green and reminds us a little of home in that respect.

Whilst the Hauptbahnhoff at Vienna is very impressive – probably the most modern and clean we have ever had the pleasure of transiting, the train was another matter. The tickets cost us 125euro each (250 nzd) for first class. All we got for that was a wider seat and smaller carriage. Not even a bottle of water like the Czech rail. It also was an older carriage – not the one on the booking – so our selected seats were not together. Fortunately it was not too full, so we were able to move to what was the jack and jill seats we had selected. Next complaint, no wifi, and the train was filthy, including no soap in the toilet. Not good enough at all.

When I made enquiries about the wifi (which is stated to be included) I just got a shrug and a no answer as to how I can complain. This I will work out when I have some time, and most certainly complain. The carriage was that old, it did not have wifi capability. There is also no excuse for the lack of cleanliness which had me reaching for my anti bacterial gel several times.

I had shopped for picnic breakfast, that ended up lunch as well at the Superette before we left, which proved to be very useful. Also included in our first class tickets should have been service from the cafe with the attendant, but all they did was check the tickets. So a great big thumbs down for OBB railways from me.

The train station at Ljubljana is under major upgrade construction, so there was no lift which meant Vern had to do his weight lifting up the stairs exercise twice, once down and then up again. The walk to our hotel was 1.9km and flat, mostly without cobbles. It was pretty warm and we welcomed the cool clean hotel room and the bit better yielding mattress than the previous few.

The City Hotel is actually very well designed and well equipped room with complimentary water, good storage, great silent aircon and lovely bathroom with efficient roomy shower and L’occitane products. The window opens, however it is recommended to keep it shut due to noise and optimum climate control. Kettle in room with good selection and lots of shelves and hooks to hang and store things. Incredibly, this is the first hotel with a face cloth… I know!

For a few trips now we have noticed they no longer have them in hotels across the globe, so we always pack them. We are a bit old fashioned in that regard and also pack a good natural soap to use when we feel the need for a better quality experience. Some of those gels are horrid and cheap and probably full of chemicals.

Excitement about a nice room over, we enjoyed a cuppa and headed out for a relaxed walk around town and to find a meal. I had read that the ‘Open Kitchen – Central markets’ were a place to go but first we wanted to see a bit of the central city. Slovenia has a population of 2.1 million which is actually less than our small country of 5 million.

When planning the holiday we read that Ljubljana indicated there was not a lot to see, therefore we did not schedule a lot of time here – splitting a good day and the two nights between our entry and exit of Slovenia.

A short walk from the hotel – about 5 minutes took us to the famous Dragon bridge. Our youngest grandson LOVES dragons so we were keen to supply the 2.6 yr old with some food for his active imagination. The dragon is the symbol of Ljubljana and has been part of its identity since medieval times. With both pagan and christian legends moving the dragon from a scary monster to protector.

The current bridge was built in 1901 to replace an original wooden bridge that was severely damaged by an earthquake. It was one of the first bridges in Europe built out of concrete, and was highly praised for its safety and strength. The larger dragons are made out of copper and weigh 1.5 tons each. It is nicknamed the mother in law bridge by some locals due to the ferocious expression of the dragon!

The other notable bridge is the ‘triple bridge’ or ‘old central bridge’ that links the modern city centre with the historic medieval old town. It is not one bridge, but three separate bridges packed side to side. This particular crossing area has been in use since 1280, when a wooden bridge was in place. In 1842 a stone bridge replaced this, and later to cope with increased traffic the famous architect, Joze Plecnik designed two more pedestrian bridges on a slight angle to the original one (1929-1932). Not only were they functional but very beautiful with white stone balusters, stone lamps, and staircases leading to tree lined riverside terraces.

In-between the two bridges we stumbled across the food markets and were in for a real treat! There were four and a half double rows of food stalls, including drinks and desserts. The aromas and market buzz were gastronomically titillating. We walked all the rows as best we could between the hundreds of people and made a decision for octopus and steak. It was excellent as in a restaurant of good quality. The markets include restaurant stalls, as well as smaller caterers, so we chose well. Pricing was not cheap, but very good value for portion and quality measures at 20 euro a dish.

We finished the meal with a handmade apple, pecan and caramel pie with ice-cream and a beer.

Wishing we could fit in more, but excising restraint we ambled through old town and enjoyed the warm summer evening before heading home to our cool crisp sheets.

One cloud on the horizon is another heatwave hitting parts of Europe, in particular Slovenia, Italy and Lyon (plus others) but the three locations we have until the end of our holiday this month. Lyon is forecast for 37-40 degrees. We may yet divert to somewhere cooler if it is that impossible – no point staying in a hotel room for 5 days? Hopefully it will blow over sooner rather than later and we will miss the worst of it.