Before dinner cocktail on deck

Biking…….where is everyone?

Dinner at Manna – House of Cuisine

View from the clocktower, L. Castle

Spiral staircase to the L. Castle clocktower….”oh my poor thighs”

Made it! Everyone was tired but were able to pull it together after our sleepless night and walk around this beautiful city of Ljubljana for the afternoon as well as pick up some food and wine for our first evening here.   Igor’s air bnb, 4bMirje, is not only fabulous but is over-looking an archaeological dig and on occasion there are students from the University of Ljubljana digging up interesting artifacts.   The apartment is very  well equipped and conveniently located so eating at home was a no-brainier as we all knew we were in for an early night.  Surprisingly it wasn’t as early as we thought, 9pm, which was great given we were up and on the go for over 24 hours!

By 10 am the next morning we were on the move, by foot, as this is a super city to walk in so no need to move the car.   We decided our first stop was Ljubljana Castle which was only a 20 min walk from our flat and then an extremely steep hike up as no one thought we should take the funicular…….I quote “we’re not sissies”!    I didn’t add but thought to myself that today I wouldn’t mind being a sissy but I dare not say that out loud so up we go and it was quite the climb, “good for the  heart” they continued!   Guess that explains why  my heart was jumping out of my chest, why my face was so red and why I was so quiet and why there are no pictures……but worth every minute!   The castle is known as the crown above the city and gives you an unbelievable panoramic view of the city even on this cloudy and misty day.  It dates back to the 11th century when the Spannheims used it as their feudal power base, then it became the property of the Habsburg family in 1355 when Austria took over.  Later it became a barracks, then a refuge for the  poor and a prison before the mayor of Ljubljana bought it early in the 20th century for the city.  Since then it has been redone by a couple of architects and stands today as a major tourist attraction and a cultural center -we all agreed it was so worth the visit……and the climb!   While in the castle we also took the winding staircase that I thought would never end up to the clocktower and the picture I took half way up will give you, I hope, an idea of why I was so dizzy when I got to the top.

Once we walked down, which was so much easier than climbing up, we found our way to a wonderful little coffee and pastry shop,which quickly undid all that climbing, but who cares?   From there we wandered around to Tivoli Park and once we realized how big it was Jim suggested we come back the next day on bikes and tour around…..Everyone agreed.   Jim and Gerry had it in them to go to the Natural History museum of Slovenia whereas us girls thought “not for us” and we wandered around the  city window shopping and decided to eat in again tonight since we had been on our feet for almost 7 hours and we weren’t going out again……..unless we ran out of wine of course so we made sure we didn’t by visiting the wine shop as well.  And did I mention our air bnb has a pool table and although we are not pool players, we did play pool, and it was fun, even though I did not win(can’t say I lost as it was too close!)  Marilyn, on the other hand, had no trouble telling me I did in fact lose……ready for a rematch!

Playing pool

We all woke up reasonably early the next day as the plan was to rent bikes and bike out to Tivoli Park which is Ljubljana’s main center for basketball, ice hockey, pop and rock concerts and is used by many of its citizens on a daily basis – very user friendly.    Now it’s important to note that other than Jim the rest of us are not bikers but like the old saying goes “it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget” ……well that is almost true as it took us a little while to get our ‘bike legs under us’ and once we did, watch out as we were a little out of control, at times, but laughter always helps and we had a lot of fun with no serious incidents but a few strange looks!   But who cares!………we thought we were great because everyone was upright.   After an hour or so driving in the park we thought we can now handle the city driving and you know what?, we could because this is an extremely bike friendly and well laid out city………lots Nova Scotia can learn from Ljubljana.    Bike lanes galore and many grey haired folks taking their time driving around just like us and then the younger folks speeding along rushing to work or university but everyone is so responsible and respectful……..great experience and now interested in biking again!!

Once we  returned the bikes it was definitely time for a cappuccino and pastry followed by a long walk around the city and along the canal and then home for a ciesta which was very much needed and well deserved.  After showers and a cocktail we headed to a wonderful Slovenian restaurant, Manna – House of cuisine and it was absolutely perfect!   Food presentation was great, food was extremely tasty and the service was second to none!   Our waiter was only on the job 2 1/2 weeks and was trying so hard to please us, which he did!  And of course as we were leaving the six foot, beautiful and young blond hostess stopped to chat and suggest other places for us to go in Slovenia and most of them were on our list.   Once she and the others heard we were from Canada the conversation became more about our wonderful country than theirs and the owner insisted we have a ‘digestive’ (not the biscuit, the drink!) which we did and it was a glorious ending to a great few days in Ljubljana.