Ljubljana isn’t big. We were going to be here for essentially two days before everyone arrived, so it was hard not to do everything before they joined us. One thing we did have the chance to do was the Friday night market. It was filled with food and drinks stalls, and for the first time in a few weeks, I had some real choice in terms of what I could eat. It felt a lot more like being back at the start of our trip in Western Europe rather than in the Balkans.
We had a quiet, non-eventful day between everyone arriving in Ljubljana (again, to avoid doing it all before the rest arrived) which I won’t bore you with (the main high light was me buying a new Tshirt after I’d spilt a lot of coffee on an old, greying 2 year old white T-shirt).
It was initially a little strange having people we knew well travelling with us after nearly 3 months. Not unpleasantly so but took a small adjustment. You don’t realise how many little idiosyncrasies you develop when it’s just the two of you. We had 4 people join us. Abby and Ian (whom I’ve known for the majority of my and Elen’s relationship) and Will and Mary (neither of whom I’d met yet). Much like when anyone meets friends you’ve not seen in a while, things were normal as soon as could be (despite my not knowing half of the new arrivals). But after a couple of beers, it felt normal.
We spent 2 days in Ljubljana. The first revolved around a land train tour, a walk along the river to a waterside bar and drinking beers at a pub Elen and I had found before everyone’s arrival that served local beer in frozen mugs. The second day (a little worse for wear on my end at least) saw us visit Tivoli Park, a modern art museum and take the funicular to the castle for a drink. Ljubljana is spectacular, but what takes it to another level is their mascot, “Friedrick,” a cartoon rat with seemingly endless hobbies, catchphrases, and merchandise. I’m now the proud owner of a bookmark with what I can only describe as “Friedrick lore”, so ask me for more details in person if you’re interested.
The following day saw us take a train towards Italy into the Slovenian wine country. Abby had organised an unofficial “wine walk” around vineyards in the region. The tour started at our beautiful accommodation, then to a nearby wine/cured meat cellar (someone has a photo of me standing underneath an alarmingly large wall of meat) with home-brewed wine and spirits before a 5km cross-country walk to our next stop. Our next host arrived from the fields and invited us into the cellar to try wine straight from the barrels before essentially declaring Abby the “Wine Queen” as her dress was the same colour as the actual wine Queen’s (a local custom whereby a woman represents the region’s wine growers). The next 2 stops felt like we were walking into people’s houses, and we moved on quickly to avoid awkwardness. A total of 11km later, we returned to our starting point before a bit more wine and some food (which, due to a Google Translate error, was sold to us as a prosciutto mission).
The next day, surprisingly fresh, we travelled to Lake Bled where we would spend the next few days. Bled is one of those really on the touristly track places and honestly, I can see why. It was previously home to Tito’s (the former Yugoslavian dictator/leader, depending on who you ask) villa over a stunning lake. We spent the next few days swimming, walking and for myself, Elen and Mary, rowing around the lake.
It felt sad to leave Slovenia. Both Elen and I were a little concerned that we should have stayed, due to the glorious scenery and outdoor activities we hadn’t managed to do. But, as we discussed, it’s on our list of places to come back to and (spoiler as I’m writing this in Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina) we loved our next stop. Seeing/meeting friends was a fantastic addition to our trip. It gave us a bit of a boost to see familiar faces and not to have to make all the decisions ourselves. With this renewed spirit, we headed to our final section.