The Ljubljanica river runs through the city centre
And what's not to love? It has a beautiful and easily walkable old town, super nice locals, free* bike share, flat streets perfect for rollerblading (I left my rollerblades in Munich - d'oh!!), is experiencing a craft beer revolution and has huge green spaces in the middle of the city.
*Bike trips under 1 hour are free - which is pretty easy as there are return terminals everywhere!
Because this is our last "adventure" in Europe (we have two weeks in Slovenia, followed by a final week in Munich before heading to Indonesia), we decided to try a few new things.
A bus trip!
First up, rather than taking the train - our usual mode of transport - we decided to get a bus from Munich to Ljubljana. This made sense because the bus was both cheaper and faster (5 hours) than the train and... free wifi - woo hoo!
Generally, the bus was a good call - we had some of the most beautiful scenery of the trip through the Austrian Alps. On the downside, by the time we got our luggage on the bus and came to choose seats EVERY SINGLE window seat was taken and we couldn't get seats together... Lesson learned for next time - get on the bus early!!
The girl I sat next to spent five hours craning her neck to talk to her friend seated behind her.. just sit together and avoid a crick neck people!! Oh, and a tip from me to you - try not to sit next to someone eating salami the whole time...
Puppy apartment
Airbnb continues to deliver great places to stay! For this trip, I found an apartment which was shared with the host and... a boxer puppy. If you've been following this blog, you might recall that we chose an apartment in Athens based on the two cats that lived there and it was awesome to have pets for a few days.
Airbnb pic with puppy
I was soooo excited. But sadly, it turned out that out host is staying with his girlfriend...and so is his dog. But he did pick us up from the bus station with the gorgeous doggie in tow, and the apartment is awesome, so all is forgiven.
Even without the puppy, it's a great apartment - an easy walk to the centre, an awesome hammock chair (see pic above) and a stereo - set to Slovenian rock radio - wired up to speakers in the bathroom so I can sing along to Def Leppard in the shower!
The dogs
Speaking of dogs, Ljubljana is the most dog obsessed city I've seen with possibly the best dog-to-human ratio in Europe!
Big dogs, small dogs and loads of people have 2 dogs! Imagine a city of 270,000 people that can support a specialist doggie bakery and you have an idea of the level of canine devotion.
Every bike basket may potentially contain a cute canine...
Doggie bakery selling lamb muffins, chewy pretzels and dog cake
Touring Slovenia
I think our only "tour" on this trip so far has been the hiking tour we took in Sofia, which barely counted as a real tour. I'm generally not a huge tour person - taking them pretty much never! But I read about a foodie walking tour in Ljubljana before we arrived and it sounded great, so I signed us up on our first evening!
And I'm really glad we did. Slovenian food is influenced by bordering Italy and Austria (apparently gelato has been in Slovenia as long as it's been in Italy) but has its own cuisine. Our guide, Iva, did an amazing job in making us feel like we'd sampled some great Slovenian food and wine for €35 a head (which included all the food, wine, beer and coffee).
Our first stop was a tiny cafe serving super fresh veggie soup, ratatouille on bulgar wheat and a glass of zelen... a delicious Slovenian white wine. We also tried some local sausage and an amazing spread made out of cottage cheese and pumpkin oil (Phil is already searching for some pumpkin oil to recreate it).
Zelen wine...
Veggie soup
Next stop was for craft beer - a new but growing industry in Slovenia and some bar snacks. Next up was dessert - ice cream AND cake and coffee.
Slovenian cake made with roasted pumpkin seeds, honey and plenty of chocolate
Definitely worth joining Iva's food tour if you're ever passing through Ljubljana. Plus, we met some awesome people on the tour from the Netherlands and Paris and ALL of them had travelled to Oz. Amazing, no?
Hiking
Okay hiking/ nature walking isn't a new activity on this trip. We headed to the forests in Bratislava and Sofia, and went on an overnight hike in the Alps. But in Ljubljana, we walked to nearby Tivoli Park on Sunday and found ourselves walking in a forest about 15 minutes after walking out of our apartment door!!
Gorgeous forest virtually in the centre of town
Perfect weather for a Sunday stroll
The walking trails were filled with people making the most of nature in their backyard. I could have a wander through anytime! Plus, there are a couple of restaurants dotted around, so you're never too far from a beer!
What else?
For some reason, I've been a bit cursed with my stuff in Slovenia. Since we hit Ljubljana, I've lost a beanie, an umbrella and developed a hole in my fairly-new shoes!! All of which felt like a bit of a conspiracy when we got caught in 4 HOURS of rain this afternoon.
We are now the proud owners of a new umbrella, which I hope will be fairly useless in the face of the next week's anticipated clear blue skies!
We've got a few things (loosely) planned for the coming days, including more local walking and cycling and a day trip to picturesque Lake Bled.
I'll keep you posted...
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