2 May 2024
Well, there’s something to be said for jet lag sleep (I refuse to believe it has anything to do with not sleeping without two four-footed kids on the bed). I fell asleep at about 10:30 last night and slept until 8:24. Welp. I haven’t slept like that in a long time, must have needed it. Needless to say, the bed is comfortable and the hotel is quiet!
I had a quick shower and breakfast at the hotel. It was a nice omelet with avocado and cheese and a bowl of granola with yogurt. The coffee machine here is quite good but I was looking forward to a proper cappuccino somewhere. I headed out in the direction of a coffee shop my guidebook recommended, but it was closed (as are 80% of the stores and restaurants around here due to day 2 of Labor Day holiday). I finally sat down at a riverside tourist trap type place and had a cappuccino.
It is also next to impossible to find bottled water for sale anywhere. I haven’t yet found a convenience shop, drug store or newsagent selling water and soft drinks. I found a gelato shop selling water and picked up a bottle for the walk.
I met the Ljubljana Free Tour folks in front of the Pink Church in Preseren Square. They split our group into two and we were off. It was 2 1/4 hours but really very interesting and it seemed to be over in a flash. This was better for me than trying to follow the guidebook on my own (forgot my readers, and can’t read with my contacts…poor planning!). The tour covered Preseren (national poet) and Plecnic (national architect) and how the city developed into what it is now. Interestingly it was a main thoroughfare for most of its existence before it became the capital of Slovenia, linking Central Europe to the Balkans and on to the east. Napoleon once had it a capital of the Illyrian province (hence the Napoleonic column outside my hotel).
The tour looped around the Old and New towns, pointing out various buildings that were built by Italians after the earthquake (most of the skilled labor came from Italy or Austria…there are Italian Baroque buildings as well as Austrian secessionist style). So much here is a blend of the countries and cultures around it.
Helena, our guide, was wonderful. She took us to a shop that sells local foodstuff and got us sample of pumpkin oil and fig liqueur (both very good) and she gave us suggestions for food we have to try. At the end of the tour, we were to tip her what we thought the tour was worth, so it was free in the sense that you don’t buy a ticket, but I thought she was well worth a good tip.
During the course of the walk, we had hot, full sun, pouring rain, dark cold skies and then bursts of sun again, about 4 times each. It is so incredibly changeable.
I picked up a slice of pizza and a bottle of water for lunch, then popped into a gelateria for a dish of Snickers and salted caramel gelato. I was short on time as my day tour van was to pick me up at 2:15. I had time enough to pop back into the hotel for a few minutes to freshen up.
Luka from To Do Slovenia picked me and two other Americans up just outside the hotel. Today’s destination was Predjama Castle and Postojna Caves. I’d already “been” to the castle running on my treadmill (I showed Luka the iFit app on my phone and he too was fascinated by this!). I’m not sure which I was more excited about.
The drive to the castle was about 45 minutes. Since we were in a van, we were more nimble than in a big bus. There were 3 Canadians and 2 Polish women in addition to us. Luka got us our tickets and audio guides for the castle and we were off on our own, to meet him at the end in 50 minutes.
I was surprised by how big the castle was. Since I’d seen it on iFit, I pretty much knew what to expect but it was so big! It is literally built into a cave, but what I didn’t know until I went inside is that the back walls of the castle are the cave! There is even a tunnel that goes through the mountain and out the other side! I was able to climb the steps up to the very top on the inside and see the tunnel Erasmus used to sneak food in while he was held hostage here (his captors had no idea how he was getting food in for over a year!). It was just really cool. I’m really glad I got to go here.
The Postojna Caves were about 15 minutes from the castle. I had some idea of what to expect, but this was pretty crazy. And cold. We boarded a little train that took us quite quickly deep into the cave. The ride was maybe 10 minutes. From there we walked over a mile of paths through various caverns. All the while stalactites and stalagmites everywhere, all sizes and various colors. These caverns were just massive, one big enough to fit a cathedral in. I would not give in to my claustrophobia and start thinking about how deep in or down we were. At one point we were 360 meters down, I didn’t even try to convert that in my head, it’s too much! The walk was just under an hour, it was a looooot of cave. I was glad to finally reach the end and realize I’d be getting warm again once we were whizzed at warp speed back to the entrance.
Luka says that bookings this year are already 100% what they were last year. They have more work than they can handle. That is good for them for sure. I didn’t find anything today overly crowded, but like Helena said, the 50 or so people we had show up for the free tour this morning is over 200 in July and August! Crazy.
We zipped back to Ljubljana and I walked to dinner. There is a vegan Slovenian restaurant that I’ve read is quite good, so I tried that. It’s Guzjina and it’s right in Old Town. I had goat cheese with pumpkin oil on bread, which was quite good (there is no way anyone could tell that’s vegan cheese!). For my main I had dödöle (baked flour and potato croquette) with onions and cream and buckwheat. This was really hearty and warmed me up well! I had this with a glass of Slovenian sauvignon blanc. I was full, so I took a slice of premurska gibanica (traditional sweet dish from eastern Slovenia with a strudel dough and poppy seeds,walnuts, cottage cheese, apples) to go and had it back at the hotel (It was amazing!!). I also picked up a small bottle of blueberry liqueur (similar to the fig) as my after dinner drink.
All in all, an action packed day. It’s 10:30 now and I’m ready to call it a night. They say rain tomorrow so I’m not sure what’s in store for me…I’d like to do another free city tour but not in the pouring rain. There is also the Open Kitchen street food market on Fridays, but not sure if that will go off in the rain. We’ll see.
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