Slovenia – “a nation of beekeepers“
Day 7 – Saturday 14th May 2022 – Trieste to Ljubljana
I made my way the short distance from my hotel to Trieste Centrale railway station. On my arrival in Trieste the day before I had bought myself a ticket for the 0903 departure to Ljubljana, it not being possible to do so on-line. The train came into the platform not long after I arrived at the station. Not very many people got on and I had a whole carriage to myself.
The train briefly returned along the line by the coast that I had come on when arriving in Trieste, before turning sharply and climbing up the line to Villa Opicina. Just before the train arrived at Villa Opicina the guard came to inform me that I would need to change there. Although the departure board at Trieste and the information panels on the train showed Ljubljana as the destination, with the intermediate stations listed, it was only going one stop before you had to transfer to a Slovenian Railways train.
The change at Villa Opicina was straightforward, as the next train was already waiting further along the platform. A few more passengers got on this continuation train, which departed on time and a few minutes later arrived at the first station in Slovenia, Sežana. It was at this station, on my Interrail trip in September 1983, that I had my belongings thoroughly searched when leaving Jugoslavia – there was no border control activity observable today and Sežana looked like a rather sleepy station.
As the train progressed to Ljubljana it passed through the attractive scenery of the Slovenian Karst, gradually filling up as more people got on at the intermediate stations. It was on time throughout most of its journey, but there were speed restrictions due to track repairs on the final approach to Ljubljana causing it to arrive five minutes late at about 1150.
When arriving in a new city I like to spend a little time just wandering about to familiarise myself with the basic geography. So, on arriving at Ljubljana’s main station, I set off towards the city centre, even though this was in the opposite direction to the attraction I wished to visit first. Approaching the famous triple bridge across the Ljubljanica river in the heart of the city, I could see a large number of emergency vehicles with their lights flashing. A first I thought there had been some terrible accident, but I was relieved to discover that it was just the fire brigade holding a family fun day with lots of children being entertained by people in oversized firemen’s suits, and demonstrations throughout the day of rescues from various situations. From here you could see Ljubljana’s castle perched on its hill looking down on the city. I decided to leave the castle until later and instead went to visit the Museum of Contemporary Slovenian History located in the Tivoli Park to the north west of the city. My direct walk there was blocked by a street closure, because of filming what appeared to be a scene in a film requiring a group of people to walk down the street and enter a building.
The Museum of Slovenian Contemporary History is located in a mansion within the sprawling Tivoli Park, and it covers the period from 1900 to the present day. Included in the €5 entry fee was a detailed guide book. The museum was excellent, describing the various twists and turns of Slovenia’s recent history from being in the Austrian Empire through to incorporation into Yugoslavia and finally independence. In each new room covering a different period there was a map on the floor showing the different national boundaries in force at the time. I spent a couple of hours in the museum and encountered only one other visitor throughout my time there.
On leaving the museum I walked back to the city centre and after further exploration started the ascent of the hill on which the castle is located. From reading my guidebook, I knew that it was made to appear that you needed a ticket to enter the castle, but this was only necessary if you wanted to visit the museum located within (which the guidebook had said was not very good). So I marched confidently past the ticket desk at the entrance to access the castle grounds for free. You can also climb onto the castle ramparts for free with superb views of the city below. After spending some time exploring the castle, I descended on a different path to the one that I had come up.
Ljubljana on a late Saturday afternoon was busy with people who were packing the restaurants and bars. I wandered around the old centre and along both banks of the Ljubljanica river. When I finally made my way to my hotel I went past the remains of the Fire Brigade Family Fun Day, where children were still dancing with some rather tired looking firemen.
I spent about an hour in my hotel before going out to find some dinner. While I was there I thought I heard someone in the next room having a shower, but as I discovered when I went outside, it turned out to have been rain beating down on the hotel’s atrium roof. It had been a hot sunny day when I entered the hotel, so I was surprised at the sudden rain storm – but fortunately it had nearly stopped when I went out again. Having seriously overeaten on the three previous evenings due to unexpectedly generous portion sizes, I was determined to eat more modestly on my evening in Ljubljana. The riverside restaurants were still very busy, not helped by them needing to mop up the water from their outside tables from the sudden downpour. In the end, I chose a burger restaurant a little bit away from the river. I did succeed in eating less, but even so the burger I was served was very substantial.
Day 8 – Sunday 15th May 2022 – Ljubljana to Bled
A couple of weeks before I departed on this trip, I checked again the train times within Slovenia. Unfortunately, since my original planning of the trip there were now engineering works on the line I wished to take next. Rather than relying on the railway replacement bus service, I decided to catch a service bus direct to Bled as this would be cheaper and quicker, but took the precaution of booking a bus ticket on-line in advance.
After breakfast in my hotel I went to Ljubljana’s main bus station, which is close to the railway station. I was glad I had booked in advance, as the driver made all those wanting to buy tickets on the bus wait until ticketed passengers had boarded, after which the bus filled up. It departed at 0930 and made a few stops as it left Ljubljana, but after the first of these there was no room for anyone else to get on. It deposited a few people at Ljubljana airport, before then going non-stop to Bled, where it arrived at 1036.
When I got off the bus the bells from the church by the lake were tolling loudly and continued to do so as I made the steep climb up to the castle. The castle is built on a rocky outcrop high above the lake, and has been there since at least the 11th Century. Unlike in Ljubljana, there was no way to avoid the entrance fee. The views across the lake were spectacular and there was a reasonable museum telling the history of the castle and the surrounding area. Bled from 1004 to 1803 had belonged to the Prince Bishopric of Brixen, before becoming part of the Austrian Empire. Bled was rather remote from Brixen in the Southern Tyrol (now part of of the Alto Adige in Italy, that I had travelled through a few days previously).
I had booked my accommodation at the same time as my train tickets, but when I changed to travel by bus, I looked again at the place I had booked in Bled and decided to change that as well. The only accommodation that I could find at a reasonable cost when I originally booked was a B&B which didn’t let you check in until after 5pm – however, shortly before I departed I discovered that could get a much better deal at a rather more upmarket hotel nearer to the lake. Given it was a hot day, I was glad of the opportunity to drop off my bag and jacket.
I considered taking a boat to the island in the middle of Lake Bled, but instead decided to get some Sunday afternoon exercise and walk right round the lake. The views were stunning – no wonder Tito had a holiday home here, which is now a hotel. There were people sunbathing and participating in various watersports at points all round the lake. Lake Bled has hosted the world rowing championships on four occasions. (Bled also hosted the 2002 Chess Olympiad, the biennial competition between national teams, as well as a famous tournament in 1961 in which a young Bobby Fischer finished second against the leading Soviet players of the day.) As there was no rush, I took nearly three hours for my circumnavigation. Just as I was beginning to worry about running out of water on a hot day I found a drinking fountain by the lake shore.
I eventually returned to the hotel and got ready to go out to dinner. I chose a restaurant not very far away with a large covered outdoor eating area. I ordered a mixed grill of chicken and two types of sausage, together with a glass of Slovenian Laško beer. While I was eating my dinner a group of four youths at the next table which was adjacent to the road, who had ordered pizzas, literally did a runner and disappeared without paying. When my very friendly and helpful waitress returned, she seemed rather phlegmatic about the incident, saying that she thought she knew who one of the culprits was. Bled is famous for the kremšnita, a rather sickly cream and vanilla pastry, which is sold all over the town. I though that I could not leave without trying one, so I ordered a kremšnita for dessert together with a glass of Slovenian white wine.
While I was in Bled, I carefully checked the details of local buses, as the train line I was due to leave by the next day was still going to be shut for engineering work and I wanted to catch a local bus early the next morning to Jesenice where the train would be starting. I eventually returned to my hotel and sat out on the balcony as the light slowly faded reflecting on my all too brief stay in Slovenia. There was a notice in my hotel room proudly announcing that they provided pillows filled with buckwheat to help you relax and have a deep sleep. However, when I went to bed I found the buckwheat pillows lumpy and uncomfortable, so I retrieved a pair of conventional pillows from a cupboard, which I found much more satisfactory.
[To be continued. Coming next – Germany and home.]
Europe Explored 