Ljubljana, Slovenia

We had organised a car to drive us to Ljubljana and our driver Csaba picked us up at 8 am.

It was a very nice way to travel.

It was about a 4 hour drive to Ljubljana but we had a few stops along the way.

It was very cool to drive across the border into another country and it was very easy with no border control!

One of our stops was Maribor. It was a typical Slovenia town with an old town mixing with the new.

Csaba dropped us off near the old town and we had a quick walk around the town and had lunch. We had a traditional beef and pork Zemljica which was a long roll with meat, salad, onions and mustard. We had a beef and a pork roll to share. The beef was like corned beef. They were very nice but too much mustard for me!

The Maribor region is known for its good wines and has the oldest grape vine in all of Europe – 400 years old! We found out later that Ljubljana Castle has a graft of this vine and also a museum in Paris. We tried some of the wine and it was very nice.

After Maribor we continued to Celje. We went to tour the Celje Castle. The first of many castles.

We finally arrived in Ljubljana. It was only a 4-5 hour drive but with our detours it took 7 hours.

We found our hotel which was a very old building. It dated back to the 1600’s. It had very interesting decor.

The hotel was located in the old town so we went out to sample the lovely Slovenian wine and check out the town.

Ljubljana old town was another pretty town located on the Ljubljanica River. It was lined with restaurants and was really buzzing.

The following day we did a day tour.

First went to Lake Bled. It was a beautiful and serene lake with a small island with a church on it.

To get to the island we were taken in a small row boat. Motorised boats are not allowed on the lake. So it’s just row boats and electric boats to keep the lake pristine.

We walked around the island which didn’t take long. The views out to the mountains were beautiful. You could also see Bled Castle.

Next stop was Bled Castle.

Our next stop was Predjama Castle. This castle was amazing because it was built into the side of a mountain cave. The cave went through to the other side which was used as an escape route and to bring in supplies when the castle was under siege.

There’s a funny story about one of the inhabitants who was being hunted down due to crimes he had committed. They couldn’t break through the castle walls so they bribed one of the servants in the castle. The toilet was on the outermost point of the castle at the front. When he went to the toilet the servant placed a candle in there and he was blown to smithereens by cannons.

Our final stop of the day was the Postojna caves. There are over 1000 caves in Slovenia.

Postojna cave was huge and discovered in the late 1800’s. It had electricity in it before any of the towns in Slovenia.

We were taken 2 kms in by a train and then taken on a guided tour 100m underground.

We arrived back in Ljubljana around 7pm. It was a long day but worth every minute.

The next day was a last day so we went and visited our third castle in Slovenia- Ljubljana Castle. Another beautiful castle with a tall clock tower that gave stunning views over Ljubljana.

A view from the clock tower.

It was raining so we took the funicular down.

It was raining by the time we had finished touring the castle so we went in search of a place to get warm and dry. We found a Japanese place with heaters and had dumplings for lunch.

The weather cleared up so we were able to head out again to explore some more of Ljubljana.

We had to try the other Slovenian national cake.

In the afternoon there was a Yellow Vest demonstration going on in the square. The workers were protesting about living standards. Yellow Vest demonstrations have been happening in others places around the world. This one was a very peaceful protest.

Ljubljana was another beautiful town to visit and we can confirm that the Slovenian wine was as good as everyone kept telling us!