Ljubljana

i couldnt wait to put Italy behind me, the guy at the bus station in Venice told me i had to catch a train to Mestre if i wanted to catch a bus, which is no big deal it was only the next stop over. anyway, i caught it there and the bus station was closed for lunch so it looked like putting it all behind me had to wait a little while, i was a little bit worried that it wouldnt open in time, becuase my bus was coming at 4pm. when it finally did the guy at the bus station was so unhelpful, i think he wanted to go for a smoke so he just told me there were no buses today and walked off. knowing full well that there was a bus i asked the girl at the train desk and she found out that there was a bus at 4.50pm down the road and i could buy my ticket on the bus. why the guy couldn-t have waited 5 minutes to tell me that, i dont know? what a lazy sod!
so i waited around down this really dodgy alley for about half an hour and finally the bus shows up. buses arent that great at the best of times, but i had a feeling this one was going to be interesting. i've never read this book but i've been meaning to for years its called 'the guide to Molvanîa' its written by the guys that created the panel, the late show and thank god your here. the book is a guide to a fictional eastern european city called Molvanîa, i remember the tag line for the book being something like 'a land untouched by modern dentisty' and as soon as i got on the bus, i thought 'this bus must be going to Molvanîa' lets just say there were a lot of gummy smiles. the more i had a look around the more i noticed other things, people with sausages cutting off bits to eat, there was two guys sitting next to each other head to toe in leather, then about half way they put on a DVD to watch, it was the strangest B-grade movie (not good B-grade) it was a slap stick comedy and there were UFOs, it was bizarre, but it was a huge hit with everyone on the bus. The movie got about half way and died, it must have been a pirated copy becuase it didnt have scene selection so they couldn't get it back to the point it stopped so they started it from the start again.
the girl at the station told me it was 20EUROs to get this bus, so when i got on i handed them a 20EURO note and got on, the guy came up to me later handed me 6EURO back and in broken english tried to explain to me that is was 74EURO, i didn't hand over anymore money because he said something like 'pay later' so when i got into Ljubljana, i casually got off the bus, got my bag and wandered off into the night. there way no way on earth i was going to pay that much for that bus ride.

the hostel was really easy to find and pretty awesome. friendly staff, free internet, the rooms were great and more importantly, clean! i met a guy here that knew my friend Erin who i used to go to uni with, small world huh? anyway, enough with all the boring stuff, more about Ljubljana.

after the bus ride i wasnt sure what to expect from Ljubljana i think thats the great thing about eastern europe, its like a lucky dip in a lot of ways. anyway, Ljubljana is a really small little place but full on character. its got a big castle on the top of a hill which was originally built somewhere around the 1100s, and the town is pretty much built around. i dont think its the greatest of castles, bits and pieces of it are built in different periods but geez, if these walls could talk, throughout time its been used as a number of things, one example is during WWII it was used as a prison, these days its more or less a tourist attraction, the view from up the top is pretty good.

the old town is quite beautiful and kind of kooky. its got all these really old beautiful buildings, some of them really well restored others a little worst for wear. on a couple of them i noticed they had mutrals but they werent that well preserved, it looked like the sun had bleached them, but they were still quite pretty, well, what was left of them. the part i found kooky was i found this derelict building that looked like it was falling apart down stairs, but when i looked up top and in the window they had all this kitch furniture and lights on up the top, i thought it may have been a shop or something, it didnt look very inviting from downstairs but i thought, nothing ventured, nothing gained so walked up the dodgy stair case up the top and found nothing was in there and the stuff i had seen from the street was like a set of a movie to make you think something was there. i figure it must be some art piece, becuase there are a couple of strange things like that around, like a heap of crazy bird feeders all bunched together. i liked it, mainly because i didnt expect it.
there is a river that runs through the middle of the town and along there are quite a number of great little bars, everyone of them with there own individual flavour. the town centre at night is still quite viberant considering how cold it is here, it snowed a little bit while i was here, it wasnt too heavy which was nice, i could still walk around in it.
not far from the town centre is the Tivoli which is a big garden, its not really much to rave about but behind it is a forest which is quite beautiful i went for a wander around, but the paths werent that good and i had to turn around becuase i couldnt get any further, supposedly on the other side is a zoo but i didnt make it, im sure ive seen most of the animals before so no big loss.
they have an area here similar to Christiana in Copenhagen (click here to see my Copenhagen post) its not far from the main train station, it was pretty cool, plenty of street art and strange stuff but since ive been to Christiana it wasnt that exciting, it felt like i was just doing it again. apart from that and the Tivoli there isnt really much worth seeing outside of the town centre.

not far from my hostel is a market place, i always like to wander around market places whenever i get the chance, i dont know why, i think i just like the vibe of them. anyway, i got some food from one of the venders, just some bread, she must have realised i wasnt from her, i went to hand over the money for it, but she wouldnt take it, she just smiled and gentlely pushed my hand holding the money back to me. i think i was a little in shock, even though it wasnt that expensive, coming from Venice where everything is expensive and you dont get anything for free, i just didnt expect it. come to think of it, all the locals i have met have been very friendly.

while i was here I did a day trip out to Bled. its about an hour by bus and it was really beautiful. so much nature to take in the mountains are amazing and are snow capped at the moment which, i think, makes them look even better. Bled is a cute little place, its got a huge lake in the middle of the town, theres an island in the middle of the lake with, what i was told, was a monestry. but probably the main attraction is the castle perched on the top of a cliff, it beats the pants off the one in Ljubljana, mainly becuase it looks like its going to fall off the edge at any moment. to get up there is a bit of a hike but the view from up the top is amazing. something ive noticed about both Ljubljana and Bled was how clean they both were, (i think ive been taking more notice since ive been to Naples.)

during the bus ride to Ljubljana i was thinking to myself 'have i had enough? i'm not enjoying this that much anymore, should i just throw in the towel?' luckily Ljubljana has snapped me out of that, well, at least for the time being. even though there wasnt a lot to do here, it was very pretty and worth the look. i have no idea where im going next so i guess youll find out when i do.