Slovenia

Ljubljana

21th April: From Vienna via Graz to Ljubljana

At 15:25 a train took me to Ljubljana. During the trip I shared the compartment with a girl from Poland – we had a very nice chat.

When I was arriving in Ljubljana it was raining cats and dogs. My host met me at the train station after I messaged him asking for his help meeting me on the platform. He did and I was very happy about that, because that train station is not an easy one. Fortunately he has a car and we were going to his home quite fast. In his apartment lives, except him, his girl friend and her dog. The dog is a Schaefer mix, but very kind and very big. After something to eat and a chat we were going to bed because the next day will start pretty early. I have got a couch in the living room, the dog was beside me, laying on the floor. The dog was watching and I was safe. 😉

22th April: From Ljubljana to Meloni

Next morning and after breakfast – my host cooked the coffee like I have seen at a Kosova-Albanien home before (luckily I have not got any coffee mire) – when we were ready to go, we first crossed the car park and my host told me that we will go by bus. I asked him how and where to buy a ticket. He explained, that he has a card. Entering the bus I saw how it is working: It is electronically and takes every time you put it at the machine for one ride. He did it twice and so we both could go by bus not afraid of a fine. By the way, this is nearly the same way as it works in Sweden for lots of years already, but in Hamburg (Germany) they started with electronic tickets only some month ago and only in one disctrict for checking if it works :-(.

My host helped me to the train station and showed me the lockers. There were big ones so I could put in nearly all my stuff. The fee was only 3 Euros for 24 hours! That was the cheapest storage during my trip. My host took good bye and I to the city center. He was very nice to me. He even helped me with the contract for my new apartment on Malta. He printed it out and when I had signed it, he scanned it, so I could send it as PDF to my new landlord. However I can not call him talk active at all. He was listening to me, but for the most he only answered “aha”. On the other hand he answered well my questions about the life in Slovenia, especially in Ljubljana.

I was walking again, because Ljubljana is not so big either. It is a nice town, unfortunately with lots of tourists. Anyway in the morning hours there were only a few. Outside Ljubljana there is a hill, too. Therefore there is also a castle. I tried to come there and saw that the best way to go there is by a kind of elevator. It has glass walls and the scarp is very steep. I was not sure I will make it, but after watching the machine for a while, I decided to try. When I was in there with all the other people, it was not scaring at all.

The Elevator for the Castle of Ljubljana

Admittedly we came only to the ground of the castle, but another elevator took us higher up. The last part to the balustrade could only be done by stairs – and there were solely a metal spiral staircase, where you can look through. Nothing for me to enter! I tried to find another way for a good view and I found it, but I hade to pay for it. The castle has a tower, the tower is up for sightseeing. It is possible to use stone stairs up to a platform, where you have to pay the entrance. After that there is one more stoney platform. To get to the roof you have to use a lot of metal spiral stairs, where you can look through again. I made it only to the other platform – anyway I had to pay the full price. The view from here were already a good one. Later on I took a look in the surroundings and I was going by a “tractor train” down to the city. I could have taken a walk, but sometimes I feel a have to do little wired things. The ticket was cheap and I did what I could not leave behind me.

One of the More Unusual Houses

Back in the city of Ljubljana I bought some strawberries at the market place, continued and bought an ice cream at the Colonades. I made some more sightseeing and also was going to a post office sending away my contract for the apartment as a paper. I did not have an envelop when entering the post office, but it was possible to buy one there. Furthermore I had the toy voyager from my friend in Vienna in an envelop with me, hoping that it will not be so expensive to send it from Slovenia as it would be to send it from Austria – and we were right, it was a difference from 10 €! Now I was walking back to the central station and arriving there in good time. So I fetched my luggage and was looking for a train, because they told me before at the station that it will be a rail-bus from the central station to Divaca (Divače). At the notice screen there were no platform named during all the time I was watching it. So I looked around and saw a bus. It was close to the time the rail bus should leave and for to be sure, that I will not miss the bus, I looked at the front of the bus and asked the bus driver, if that bus will be the rail-bus to Divaca (Divače) and it was. I was very happy about my decision to ask, otherwise I would have been located to Ljubljana one more night. The good thing with going by bus is, that you do not need to lift up your luggage, only put it in the luggage space at the side of the bus. The bad thing is, that it takes time to go by bus. They have more stops an the trains and also there can be traffic jams.

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