After a light breakfast of a banana and yogurt I set off for the Old Town. It takes me about 15 minutes to walk there from the flat. Along the way I stopped for a coffee - I do have my priorities! Eva has instant coffee but with the excellent coffee available here I want to enjoy it while I can.
First stop was the tourist office where I booked a tour to Lake Bled for tomorrow. I was toying with the Slovenia in a Day tour but there is an hour and a half walking tour inside a cave and that is not something I wanted to do. (let's not even go there okay...) I think this tour will be fun and fingers crossed the weather holds - they are even going to pick me up here. Today it was mostly sunny but windy and cold. To tell the truth I haven't been warm since I got here - here as in over the pond. Yeah yeah I come from Canada where it's colder but we actually have heat in our homes! Central heating in the UK is a joke and the weather wasn't overly warm there either so no chance to warm up. Only when I have my hot flashes (yes them, they didn't bother me much the first time around so decided to come back and give it another go) am I warm - never thought those would be welcome! Anyway I digress (I am good at that) - I am looking forward to tomorrow the tour - it will be a five hour tour. I am especially looking forward to trying the Lake Bled cake...yep there I go thinking about food again. I also found out info on the buses to Piran which is a beautiful town on the coast - I hope to go there on Sunday.
I walked through the market as well as the Friday food market but of course I had just eaten. Still it was interesting to see the variety of food on offer.
I took a bit of a detour on the way to the market and couldn't resist this shot,,,
Now that's what you call a stroller...
At 11 a.m. the free walking tour began and what a crowd. They were astounded at the amount of people as there were only two guides. It was quite crowded and when they split the crowd in two there I was in the half with all the damn kids. Actually they weren't as bad as I feared - at the beginning one baby was screaming and one kid was whining for England or wherever the hell it was from. Our guide was in his early 40's and really quite tasty. He is an artist and apparently had been interviewed on TV the day before as he and some other artists had published a book. He is passionate about history and really knew his stuff. Almost every place we visited I had been the day before but it was so interesting to know the history of why it was there. I did find out that Ljubljana basically means love. How sweet is that. Don't ask me the rest unless it comes up in conversation but there is so much info that it kind of goes in and out again - or else someplace where someday maybe if somebody mentions something that triggers it I can say "when I was in Ljubljana"...
The Town hall was built in the 17th century although apparently parts of the interior date from the middle ages. We visited different bridges but I had visited yesterday so didn't take any photos as there were more people out today and more difficult to get good shots.
I was really drawn to the buildings here - former monastery now a venue for summer concerts but it also houses part of the university. Somewhere I would never have found on my own.
One of the kids on our tour...at least letting off steam on her scooter cut out the whining. :). I love these buildings!
Another university building. Apparently it's dark as you enter but as you go higher more light appears...a unique way of saying how knowledge leads you into the light. No time to go in though.
The tour was two hours in all and I'd highly recommend it - it is totally free but at the end you give the guide a tip if you enjoyed it. If you are poor, didn't like it or you are a tightwad then you don't pay. Walking tours are normally ten euros so that's what I gave him.
By now it was past one o'clock and I was starving so I headed for somewhere to eat. Along the way I was stopped by a couple of young ladies and asked to take photos of them so I did and then we did the other side as well. I asked for mine to be taken as well as I like to have a photo of me in every place I go to.
I was having problems finding a place that appealed to me, was in my price range or wasn't packed but I finally came across a pizza/pasta place that also served traditional food. I had to wait a little while for a table but it was worth it. I ordered roast pork with potatoes and vegetables. Delish!
Needless to say I couldn't finish it! I then headed over to the funicular to go up to the castle. I wasn't interested in visiting the castle as I am more interested in British castles as I love the history. The views however were lovely and the funicular ride up and down was fun. You can walk up or down or both but no...just no.... The beauty of being on my own....one of them...there are many....
On the way to the funicular I stumbled onto this medieval looking street with the castle hovering above..loved it!!!
By now I was pretty tired so decided that was it for me and headed back here. I picked up a bottle of red and a bottle of white and hauled that in my backpack so then I was really tired.
Oh and I thought of something else that warms you up - wine!
First stop was the tourist office where I booked a tour to Lake Bled for tomorrow. I was toying with the Slovenia in a Day tour but there is an hour and a half walking tour inside a cave and that is not something I wanted to do. (let's not even go there okay...) I think this tour will be fun and fingers crossed the weather holds - they are even going to pick me up here. Today it was mostly sunny but windy and cold. To tell the truth I haven't been warm since I got here - here as in over the pond. Yeah yeah I come from Canada where it's colder but we actually have heat in our homes! Central heating in the UK is a joke and the weather wasn't overly warm there either so no chance to warm up. Only when I have my hot flashes (yes them, they didn't bother me much the first time around so decided to come back and give it another go) am I warm - never thought those would be welcome! Anyway I digress (I am good at that) - I am looking forward to tomorrow the tour - it will be a five hour tour. I am especially looking forward to trying the Lake Bled cake...yep there I go thinking about food again. I also found out info on the buses to Piran which is a beautiful town on the coast - I hope to go there on Sunday.
I walked through the market as well as the Friday food market but of course I had just eaten. Still it was interesting to see the variety of food on offer.
I took a bit of a detour on the way to the market and couldn't resist this shot,,,
Now that's what you call a stroller...
And the walking tour begins...
At 11 a.m. the free walking tour began and what a crowd. They were astounded at the amount of people as there were only two guides. It was quite crowded and when they split the crowd in two there I was in the half with all the damn kids. Actually they weren't as bad as I feared - at the beginning one baby was screaming and one kid was whining for England or wherever the hell it was from. Our guide was in his early 40's and really quite tasty. He is an artist and apparently had been interviewed on TV the day before as he and some other artists had published a book. He is passionate about history and really knew his stuff. Almost every place we visited I had been the day before but it was so interesting to know the history of why it was there. I did find out that Ljubljana basically means love. How sweet is that. Don't ask me the rest unless it comes up in conversation but there is so much info that it kind of goes in and out again - or else someplace where someday maybe if somebody mentions something that triggers it I can say "when I was in Ljubljana"...
The Town hall was built in the 17th century although apparently parts of the interior date from the middle ages. We visited different bridges but I had visited yesterday so didn't take any photos as there were more people out today and more difficult to get good shots.
I was really drawn to the buildings here - former monastery now a venue for summer concerts but it also houses part of the university. Somewhere I would never have found on my own.
One of the kids on our tour...at least letting off steam on her scooter cut out the whining. :). I love these buildings!
Another university building. Apparently it's dark as you enter but as you go higher more light appears...a unique way of saying how knowledge leads you into the light. No time to go in though.
The tour was two hours in all and I'd highly recommend it - it is totally free but at the end you give the guide a tip if you enjoyed it. If you are poor, didn't like it or you are a tightwad then you don't pay. Walking tours are normally ten euros so that's what I gave him.
By now it was past one o'clock and I was starving so I headed for somewhere to eat. Along the way I was stopped by a couple of young ladies and asked to take photos of them so I did and then we did the other side as well. I asked for mine to be taken as well as I like to have a photo of me in every place I go to.
I was having problems finding a place that appealed to me, was in my price range or wasn't packed but I finally came across a pizza/pasta place that also served traditional food. I had to wait a little while for a table but it was worth it. I ordered roast pork with potatoes and vegetables. Delish!
Needless to say I couldn't finish it! I then headed over to the funicular to go up to the castle. I wasn't interested in visiting the castle as I am more interested in British castles as I love the history. The views however were lovely and the funicular ride up and down was fun. You can walk up or down or both but no...just no.... The beauty of being on my own....one of them...there are many....
On the way to the funicular I stumbled onto this medieval looking street with the castle hovering above..loved it!!!
By now I was pretty tired so decided that was it for me and headed back here. I picked up a bottle of red and a bottle of white and hauled that in my backpack so then I was really tired.
Oh and I thought of something else that warms you up - wine!
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