From Ljubljana to Zagreb

In true traveller style, I am writing this on board a train from Ljubljana to Zagreb with absolutely stunning scenery outside!!
So, to carry on from Budapest... We spent four nights with our couch-surfer in Budapest. He was a really lovely guy, called Gy! He just gave us his flat and he stayed with his girlfriend, when he was there he recommended to us some good restaurants and then when we left he gave us a lift to the station! So yeah, he was really nice. We decided to stay an extra night because we had planned to get a night train to Ljubljana, but in the end, it turned out cheaper to get one in the day. Also we had a disastrous day trying to find an out of town market and then trying to buy bus/train tickets, so that day was kind of wasted. But all the other days in Budapest were fantastic, after I wrote that last entry, the weather became gloriously hot and sunny. We went to one of the oldest and most famous thermal baths and spent the majority of the morning there. They were glorious, we were truly pruney by the time we were finished. Though, I was slightly less impressed with the saunas they had. After Russia, they were just no way near hot enough for me!! But they had one fantastic room which was a steam room, but there must have been mint in the steam or something, so it left you feeling all fresh, it was lovely! We then watched the England Germany match and Tom got very upset! As we were heading back into town we stumbled upon a free classical concert in Independence Square. Everyone was sat on these hard folded cardboard stools, so we grabbed ourselves a couple of stools and sat down with everyone else. It was a Schubert concert, it was quite good, but I think that there is other classical music which I prefer. That evening we went up to Castle Hill to see, surprisingly enough, the castle! It was lovely because we got there at dusk, so the light was just lovely and then by the time we left they had put all the lights on illuminating the castle, so it was magical! The next evening, we had our first goulash experience! It was absolutely delicious and huge as well. We shared one gigantic portion between the two of us, very tasty. It came with huge chunks of bread and extra paprika paste and dried chillies to add in. The next day we went to the central market, where there were more peppers and paprika! We had our breakfast there and bought an obscene amount of cherries which lasted us throughout the day! We then wandered about the town looking for a new pair of shoes for Tom, as his big toe and little toe were protruding out of his trainer from separate holes! (I think he was convinced to get some new shoes when a woman looked at his shoe and pointed in disgust to her son!!) We then went back up to Castle Hill and after a packed lunch (with additional cherries) Tom went to a Futurist exhibition in one of the museums and I sat lazily in the sun. Following Gy’s recommendation, we went to a lovely restaurant, and although I didn’t get what I ordered, it was very good! We went on to a few bars after that, so a lovely evening! The next day was our last day, so we quickly went to the awfully named ‘Terror Museum’. Despite the awful name, it was actually a very good museum. It was based in the building formerly occupied by the Hungarian Nazi Party, where they held and tortured prisoners. It was a very good museum, very well laid out and with a really great modern presentation. Then after stocking up for the train, we got a lift from Gy to the station.
The train journey was STUNNING! I think that it was the best train journey I have ever been on! Those eight hours just whizzed by. The scenery was just so pretty in Hungary with all the little villages and babbling brooks and then when we got into Slovenia, these huge mountains and vast fields of green started appearing. I think it’s nice to get trains in the day so you can just look out the window and feast your eyes on the beautiful landscape. We got to Ljubljana at about 12 and had already booked with our hostel to get a free pick up from the station, which was great as we were both pretty tired. We couldn’t find a couch-surfer in Ljubljana as everyone seemed to be having exams, so couldn’t host us. But the hostel wasn’t much and was only for one night. The next day, despite an awful, hot night sleep, we got an early bus up to Lake Bled. Again, the journey was stunning, Slovenia is just such a lush country, and I love it!! Bled was fantastic, we dropped our stuff at the hostel and then spent a good few hours lying by the lake, tanning, swimming and generally having a lovely time. It was just so beautiful and the lake was the most amazing blue and so clear. We then climbed up to the castle, which was nice, but it was 6 Euros to get into the castle itself, so we didn’t bother and instead climbed round the back to get a better view of the lake and then climbed back down. We then rented a boat and rowed out into the island in the middle of the lake where there is a little church and more excitingly, it has this really tall tree which someone had nailed rungs to so that you could climb to the top and then jump off! So, I clambered up and then after a few nervous knee-shaking seconds, I threw myself off! It was great fun! That evening we went for to really lovely pizza place. Surprisingly enough, pizza is huge in Slovenia, I guess it is quite close to Italy. The next day I had planned on visiting the Vršič Pass, which I had read about and just thought sounded stunning. Though it seemed pretty difficult to reach from where we were and then get back to Ljubljana that night. Though, we were, well I was persistent, and we were planning on getting three busses to be able to do it! We got the first bus to a place called Kranjska Gora, which is a little ski resort place. We found a bus timetable and it all seemed to be feasible, but it did involve a lot of waiting around and uncertainty! But still we planned to go ahead with the plan. We wandered around in search of lunch, because annoyingly enough, we had left our packed lunch on the bus! When walking around, we found the river which was nestled in the valley of these two huge mountains; it was the most incredible ice blue and just stunning. So, we decided that this was pretty good and that we wouldn’t waste time with two more busses, but rather spend the afternoon there instead. We got back to Ljubljana in the evening, bought stuff for dinner and then headed out in the evening, walked around for a couple of hours in the old town with an ice cream, had a beer and then headed home.
And that was yesterday! So we have been busy little bees! We spent today walking around Ljubljana, went up to the castle, went to an outdoor food market and watched some more football with a beer. It is a nice little city, very small, but really pretty. Very very clean with lots of spotless stone everywhere and neat little bars running alongside the river. So now, we are on the train to Zagreb. Again, lovely Slovenian countryside that keeps distracting me from writing! So, yep, BIG fan of Slovenia! Ok, so next stop Zagreb, where we are couch-surfing with a couple for one night and then moving on to see relatives in Lipovljani tomorrow!
Photos to follow!! X x x x x