Monday 15th April
We spent 2 days in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana soaking up the sunshine. What a gorgeous little city it is, definitely my kind of place. It now ranks in our top 5 favourite towns/cities we’ve visited on our amazing trip, along with Stockholm, Istanbul, Tallin and Wroclaw!
The beautiful centre is clean, litter free, pedestrianised and cycle friendly and we absolutely love it.
On Monday we visited the cathedral with its amazing door and paintings.
We did our first walking tour of 2019 which included a river boat ride and some traditional food tasting.
We found a restaurant called Vander (near enough to Vanda lol to make it fun) and ate the best fish & chips we’ve tasted in 10 months at Pops Place!!
We spotted numerous dragons, the symbol of the city
and even found a channel running down a cobbled street full of different brass faces. Intrigued, we asked the tour guide what it was? She had several theories, the best one being the locals version. They’ve come to the conclusion that it represents an open sewer from the olden days. Back then, all the streets sloped towards the river so that the human excrement would drain into the water. The locals think they are piles of poop along with the faces of their owners lol - Hilarious!!
Tuesday we took the funicular up to the castle ...
where we had an audio guide tour, a magnificent view of the city ...
Including one building, which everyone thinks is an eyesore, but is protected as a reminder from the communist era!
and we got free entry into the interactive puppet museum.
We crossed the river several times on the Cobblers bridge, the Butchers bridge (aka the lovers bridge because of the padlocks), the Triple bridge and the Dragon bridge.
We marveled at all the beautiful buildings including the street art on Metelkova Street and bought fresh vegetables from the market.
Wednesday we left the compound in Ljubljana after saying goodbye to the friendly owner.
On our way we passed fields upon fields of hops (or rather the structures they grow on) until we reached Lasko.
The town is famous for thermal spas and a brewery. We stopped to have a look and stretch our legs, but having crossed the bridge over the river to walk around the small town, we decided it was too noisy to stay.
We carried on until we reached Celje where we found a lovely quiet stellplatz (free from 3pm to 6am) hidden among the pine trees and next to a playground.
After tea we went for a stroll in the dark. The town (the 3rd largest in Slovenia) was just across the river with an illuminated castle on the hill above it.
Next morning, (Thursday), after a great nights sleep, we chilled out, and apart from defrosting the fridge, cleaning the carpets, emptying the toilet and filling with water, we did absolutely nothing. Sheer bliss!!
Good Friday the sun was shinning again so we thought we better have a look around the town. It wasn’t very exciting if I’m honest.
There was a couple of museums to explore and some Roman ruins but we decided instead, to sit and people watch whilst drinking coffee. Oh, and we don't like olives lol.
The walk back along the river and through the park was very pleasant listening to the birds singing.
Saturday we left Celje and called in to the supermarket to stock up on supplies, as the main Easter holiday in Slovenia seemed to consist of 2 days, Easter Sunday & Easter Monday.
We headed for Ptuj, Slovenia’s oldest town, driving through some stunning scenery.
With snow covered mountains as a back drop, little villages dotting the hillsides with their fancy church spires and the trees covered in white and pink blossom, it looked like something out of the Sound of Music.
Perusing our trusty Park4night app we found a free Stellplatz just outside Ptuj between Zabovci & Markovci. What a fantastic little place. 7 spaces beautifully tarmacked with free electric hook up, water and waste disposal. With a narrow road running along the river and a cycle path between that and the lake, it was an ideal spot. So we thought!!
Slovenia seemed quite a religious country with fancy churches everywhere and at least 3 smaller shrines in every village.
So we hoped this week, we were in the right place at the right time to see some Easter celebrations. What we didn't bank on was the traditional Slovenian way to celebrate the occasion. They set off home made canons that are so loud, they not only make you jump out of your skin, the sound waves go right through you and shake the van!!! One of the theories we've heard about, is it's to ward off evil spirits. On our walk though, the only spirits we saw, were in bottles lined up on a huge table next to the bonfire they’d made lol. (No photographic evidence unfortunately).
Sunday we had our first BBQ of the year. The weather was absolutely glorious and for the first time on the trip, we really wished we had a wind out awning and a couple of electric bikes.
