Our day in Ljubljana was perfect, as perfect as a travelling day can get, anyway. We stumbled upon a beautiful, inexpensive cafe with fancy yogurt for breakfast (mine had bananas, walnuts and honey in it). It was alongside a quiet part of the river in a suburban-esque part of the city we stayed in, called Trnovo. We then wandered up toward the castle, which was among the oldest we've seen yet and definitely the most beautiful. We also learned a fair bit of Slovenian history and came away even more confused about the exact definition of what is Yugoslovia and are we in it or not. But it didn't bother us for too long, since once we wandered away from the castle we found a cafe in Trg Kongresni (the square with the parliament building, I think), spent an hour eating zucchini and aubergine sandwiches and relaxing. Then we wandered into Tabor, a real artists' colony, which sold stunning original homemade jewelry, buttons, clothing, handbags, and more. In Tabor there is a prison-turned-hostel called Celica. This hostel has a Point of Peace, complete with hammocks, where I spent some time meditating before we returned to the main square and spent 3 and a half hours drinking on a bar that was actually on a dock in the most beautiful part of the river in the middle of the city. All this while, there's a loud 3-on-3 basketball tournament (which, of course, is accompanied by a DJ blasting American pop songs) going on in the middle of the city. Amazing dark chocolate ice cream at every corner. Pumping American pop music everywhere. And so much refreshing greenery and forestry surrounding this tiny but active city. Ljubljana is like some new pinnacle of civilization. If all of life wowed me like Slovenia, things would be pretty good.
Shocking things about Ljubljana: First, nearly everyone speaks English here. I was definitely not expecting that anywhere we've been, but especially not here. Second, the city is the most technologically advanced one we've seen yet. The buses have electronic cards, screens, and exact timers to let you know when the next one is coming. It puts New York transport to shame. Maybe it's because this city is a bit newer and has the chance to think these things through from the start.
We are currently on a very bumpy bus ride to the Julian Alps, where we anticipate having nothing to do except sit near a lake, hike through gorges, and cook. I have never seen any sort of Alps before, and right now they are standing massively on my right hand side. They seem to be partially covered in snow, but mostly covered in forest. They tower into the clouds in a very official way, real permanent fixtures of the world that will never succumb to any pressure to change. They will just be here forever waiting to be hiked, skiied and photographed. This journey is truly remarkable.
It seems we've just traveled into Kranj, a city close to Ljubljana. Street art here is just as weird as it is in Ljubljana. The statues are bizarre, enormous, monstrous images of men and women. Real iron fighters. It's not like they're defending anything as much as they seem to be scaring people off.
Harriet, our beautiful new Australian travel-friend who recently finished her semester abroad in Lyon, has been travelling with us since we left Budapest until now. She is young but independent, like many of the Australians we've met, ready to encounter anything and make the best of it while taking their time. She will probably be joining us tomorrow in Bled. It's fun to continue reminiscing about how ridiculous life in Budapest was with her, since it really was quite ridiculous and girls do enjoy debriefing.
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