Jamie’s Travels

Our emotional fair well with Chris left us grabbing our train to Ljubljana shortly afterwards. A strange journey but mostly comfortable – and my first in a compartment. There were some Germans in hysterics about something going outside (one man was in tears). I’ll be left to wonder about that one forever I think.

We arrived fairly late into Ljubljana. Directly outside the station was fairly concrete jungly. As you would maybe expect from a Soviet era country. I was left in some ways thinking Maddie and Eva had taken me to a real shit hole – how could this be the ‘beautiful’ country it was described as?

I didn’t get to appreciate the beauty yet, as the half hour ordeal of buying a bus pass left us tired and frustrated so after reaching the hostel we didn’t go for an explore. We did head over to a local cafe/bar where we tried some Slovenian beer though. If ever you’re there get the green one, although red one isn’t bad.

I’d been relegated to a dorm with 3 random dudes while the girls took a private room (some friends they are). My room mates were nice, one was a structural engineer from London who had quit his job to travel the world…

We left early the next morning and headed to the city. We hiked up to the castle and took in some great views of the city. We also had a look around at some ancient prisons – repurposed for POWs in world war 1.

Afterwards we headed to the old town – an unbelievably beautiful and picturesque area – and went on a walking tour of the city which was very interesting. Slovenia has a rich history from even before soviet control. It’s centre has thankfully been saved from the drab structures dotted around the out skirts. It is fully baroque and Austria influenced. Unfortunately the tour did not include much soviet era history but was good anyway.

The tour ended after lunch time which left us all feeling a bit hungry. We wondered around the old town for an hour looking for anywhere with space but my spaghetti in the end was really nice – even if it was essentially a fancy version of the simple pasta dish I make myself regularly.

After our late lunch we grabbed our bags at the hostel and headed back towards the train station. I’m disappointed to have spent such a small amount of time in Ljubljana – I hope to return to see some of the sights I missed and try out the famed night life of this surprisingly expensive, but lovely city.