Ljubljana - Jewel of Slovenia

When you travel Europe by train, you get to see people's homes, little towns, and in the country, people's backyards and veggie patches as well. Travelling from Budapest through to Ljubljana, through the poorer areas of the countryside, we reflected on the real definition of "wealth" and "happiness."  It  does not matter if you have a newer home or one that obviously needs renovation. The important thing is that it is your home, and that it will protect you and your family from the bitter winter snows.

It's your summer harvest and your successful crops of cabbages and other vegetables, that will be preserved to feed the family over the long harsh winter. It is the capacity of your woodshed - that is already filled with enough wood to keep everyone cosy and warm, and finally, it is the dozen chooks out the back, and especially the fattening pig that will supply everything you need to take care of your family.  And, having all that, it is sitting out in the sunshine, enjoying your home, and knowing that everyone in it is safe and healthy! What more do we need? We would do well to remember that in the "lucky" countries of the world.

Our hotel here was one of the unusual ones. It was in a shopping mall, and right next to the town's major hospital. We thought we would be up all night with ambulance sirens - but we never heard a one! I must say, they had good taste in beverages, too!

Check out the brand name of this water!

We both loved Ljubljana; it was small, only 200,000 people, and very cute. A bit like a country town really.  Lots of little cobble stoned streets full of quaint shops - and can you believe it - the middle of the town has three bridges! We were wondering why, because they are all next to each other. Then of course, it dawned on us - the centre ones were for the horses and the two side ones were one-way for pedestrians.

The central bridge of the 3 bridges, and there are narrower ones on each side of it.

The bridges all connect to the huge plaza that has, like Zagreb, about 7 streets coming from it and it is certainly the main centre of the town.  As such, there are many shops, restaurants, and a good opportunity for all kinds of buskers to perform their own particular talents to the passing public.  Bob likes to watch the buskers, so I sat on one of the benches nearby. A man came to sit next to me and we started to chat. Nice, local bloke.

This guy was incredible! He played...err...nothing! 

If you can see (picture above), this busker has nothing in his hands. One hand was patting a lever on the left, and with his right hand he was pretending to play a violin out of thin air!  And he was producing music! He even played requests from the public!  It did my head in.  Bob was watching for ages, and he reckons that the device was producing sound waves, and the man's hand going up and down was interfering and bending the sound waves, thus creating the violin type scales creating the music. Amazing!

We found that the market was on, and of course, we had to go and see what they had. The markets were a mixture of fruit & veg under nice umbrellas in the square, but the jewellery and other handcrafts, as well as the cafes and ice cream places, were in these long roman columned corridors that went for about a kilometre.

Handcrafts at the market.

Cafe's, bars, and eateries of all kinds at the Roman Columns...fruit &veg on the other side.

Ljubljana has a wonderful Medieval Castle, but guess what? It's on top of the "mountain" on that side of the river.  I knew I couldn't walk it, and Bob didn't want to walk it - but, like in Zagreb, we wondered how people of...errr... a certain age, or capability level, could see these wonderful sights, when there was no HOHO Bus? There had to be a way. And there was! We stumbled on it by accident; the Tourist Information people didn't tell us. There was a little "train"! The train did a trip up there every hour - and up we went and spent a lovely time exploring the ancient Castle.

Here's the little train that could - and did! The trip took 20 minutes up the hill to the Castle.

On the way down - after exploring the Castle.

The castle was really interesting. Obviously medieval, with some restoration work going on. We spent a good few hours exploring the various areas, and imagining life in those times.

Approaching the Castle

Bob walking across the deep moat, and through the gates.

I was interested in the"Jail." The last cell had a peephole and when you looked inside, there was a face looking back at you. I got such a fright! It was a clever holographic movie of the different people who occupied that cell. Complete with screaming, crying, and pleading. I didn't like it.

Row of old jail cells.

Look in there and see the poor souls who spent their time in this cell.

While Bob was more interested in how they crafted their wheels...in one piece!

We were both fascinated by the Chapel. It was small, but had a very reverent feel about it. It also had frescoes of the shields of the rulers of the castle through the ages. The earliest one we could find was 1105. It's amazing that a civilisation was living, creating and inventing in those early years.

These frescoes of the rulers crests and dates, were all around the church, several high.
Hundreds of them.

Otherwise, it was a simple undecorated place of worship, so all the attention was on these crests.  The Castle was huge, as you would expect, and the exhibits, age and structure, fascinating. The only thing that brought us out of our reverie of times gone by, were the souvenir shops and restaurants.

To raise funds for further restoration and maintenance of the Castle, they hire it out for weddings, conferences, etc. and of course, go after every tourist dollar in every way. I know that everyone does it everywhere, but it is a bit of a shame, as it brings you back to reality quite suddenly when you have just climbed ancient steps from the dungeon!

By the time we returned to the main square, there were new buskers on the bridges...and we were both mesmerised by these two dodgy looking blokes that played an 17th century type baby grand piano case,  with strings like a zither,  and played with brass "drumsticks" wound with what looked like dental floss! There you go - see if you can make any sense of that! But, could those boys play that thing! They were just fabulous! They played pieces that were either traditional old pieces, or music of their own - either way, everyone in the crowd around them enjoyed them immensely. 

I asked the boys what their instruments were, and they said "17th Century Plavlgmvdvcg"

No idea! So if any of you musical historians know what these are, we'd love to know.

Being a woman, and able to do two things at once,  I noticed a couple of green golf carts with people aboard go slowly by, and wondered what they were. So we asked at our hotel reception...no idea....asked at Tourist Information...no idea. The next day, when we saw one, I went up to the driver

and said: "What's the go with the green golfy, mate?" (In Serbian, of course).

He proceeds to tell me that they are courtesy transport provided and paid for by the City Council. The drivers provide free transport to senior citizens, or people with a disability, who need a lift home or shopping, or if they live in the steeper parts - that's why they have to be small, to fit in the little old cobble stoned streets. Apparently, it also applies to tourists, so he says "Hop in, where do you want to go?" 

We told him we were looking for breakfast, and he said he knew just the place - and took us through lovely little streets, telling us about the history of the sites we passed, and finally dropped us off at this restaurant. He told us that this was the only restaurant where most of the staff had an intellectual disability, and he liked to bring people here to support them. We thought "what a nice man", and then he told us that when we finished our meal, the staff would ring him and he would come back to pick us up, and give us a 20 minute tour of the town! Definitely a nice man. 

We had a lovely breakfast, with a waiter and waitress who shared the service.  A very inspirational experience. And after that, we got our tour in the "Golf Buggy," and were dropped back at the square. Put a smile on our faces for the rest of our day!

The little green "Golfie," what a great idea!

We spent most of our time in Ljubljana, around the three bridges square. There was so much to explore...and who thought painting a church bright pink was a good idea? But there, it just worked!

The pink church on one of the corners of the square.

This statue is in the square directly in front of the
three bridges. I sat here listening to those boys play!

It was great to see so many people utilising the space - there were lots of eateries and shops, and of course, statues.
We had been getting to the square by walking down cute little streets, with interesting little shops.

They were for pedestrians only..except for push bikes, and we nearly came a cropper several times, when they suddenly whizzed by from behind us.

Bob and I really loved Ljubljana. We decided it was our favourite city, but then there was Innsbruck, Interlaken, Berne etc. They were all wonderful, so really, it's too hard to chose just one!!

It was time to move on...so far on our European journey, I have been able to speak the language in every country - except Hungary - but that ends right here.  
We have decided to go to Trieste, Italy - a little coastal town that's a bit "out of the way" for tourists. Everyone goes to Venice, and we will too, but we thought it would be nice to go a little "off the beaten track" for a few days and check it out.

Till next time...

Zagreb, Croatia

On our way to Zagreb, we were pleasantly surprised at the general improvement and uplift of spirit from Beograd. Of course Zagreb is a member of the European Union, so they would have more advantages in lifestyle and infrastructure, and it shows.  The city is laid out very conveniently as well. When travellers arrive by train, the station faces a lovely park that extends all the way to the main city square, about a 20 minute walk (or 3 tram stops).

This is the view from the front of the station. this park goes all the way to the centre plaza in the middle of the town.  It has many pretty buildings and statues along the way.

The Centre Plaza is huge and has lots of streets coming from it - I counted 8 - all interesting to explore.

The old city however, is high above this, and the amount of steps, let alone the steepness of them, gave me the horrors. We found this wonderful street with lots of restaurants - similar to the one in Beograd that we liked - and I declared that I would be happy sitting at one of these, catching up on my blog, while Bob explored the old town. But Bob saw the steps too, and wasn't going up them either.

This is the lovely little street, full of restaurants and interesting shops just perfect for browsing.

We found a nice  little art gallery that had a water tap out the front - with no connection, but water pouring out! There were lots of people around it, discussing it. After a while, Bob stepped up and promptly put his hand in it! Everyone gasped, and then they knew how it was done. Trust Bob to spoil the illusion!

We found the markets - a smaller version of our Vic Market - but amongst the wares, fruit & veg. etc. they were actually making fresh cheese curd to order while you wait! It looked delicious - and you can't get fresher than that!

These are cheese stalls, where the farmers turn their own
milk into cheese curd for you to buy.

There was a wonderful old church, up one of the streets, just outside of the main square, and of course lots of shops. You may not be able to see it, but the entrance was exquisitely carved out of marble. Such detail! I doubt that we have craftsmen today that could do such stunning work - especially with primitive tools. It was good to see the locals in the church, lighting candles etc. it's usually only the tourists and walking buses. 

This is just one corner of the church, it was relatively simple 
inside, but had huge tall marble trusses and columns, and statues 
and religious artefacts dripping in gold decorations. 

Bob enjoys the buskers and we spent quite a time listening and watching the creativity and talents of the different buskers whenever we see them.  While he was watching, I spied a small 30 seater bus on the corner.  I went up and asked about it, and it turned out to be a courtesy bus for the locals to the old town above. Bonus! So Bob and I rode up the mountain in style, with the locals who can't carry their groceries and shopping up there.

It was great up there, several Museums, lovely original streets and houses, and the people who got off the bus have obviously lived here for years and generations, because there were no places for sale here for many years - they just get passed down the family line.

One of the "Museums" was intriguing. It was the "Museum of Broken Relationships."  This challenged my idea of a "Museum" as I thought things in a museum had to be old, if not ancient.  This was modern - began in 1970's - and I would have thought should have been an exhibition, along the lines of contemporary art. But what do I know?

However the contents were very interesting in documenting human nature - and an unusual idea.

The exhibition displayed an item, and then the story behind it. There were gifts given by lovers, items purchased together, or sentimental clothing like a wedding dress or ball gown. There were funny ones, silly ones, and sad ones. People separated because of breaking up, getting divorced, moving away, or one partner dying. They were the saddest and most poignant. It was an unexpectedly large exhibition, very well laid out. We both found it unusual and interesting. Here are a couple of examples.

The Axe in the  "Rage" section.

This was an axe that a woman used to destroy all her boyfriends furniture after he broke up with her over the phone.  Apparently she made a pile of kindling out of all the furniture, and left it in a pile for him to find when he got home.

The love letter in the "Rage" Section. 

This woman wrote a letter to her boyfriend about how much she loved him, and was going to give it to him when they next went to dinner. But he broke up with her instead. Apparently, she cried for three days - and then glued the letter to a mirror, and smashed it into all those pieces! It was quite a large jar and looked pretty. She said it was very cathartic!

This Prosthesis was in the "Short Term Love" Section.

Apparently, this man met his love while he was recovering from an accident, and they fell in love while she was nursing him. They moved in together, and had a wonderful romance for a while, but he gave no reason for their breaking up. All he said was "The prosthesis lasted longer than the relationship"!

A gentleman to the end - but it made us laugh!

The old town had lots of interesting buildings, and we were surprised that quite a few of them had armed guards out the front.  Apparently, they were government buildings and the members were sitting at that time. We had been wondering about the expensive cars parked in the top square.

This is a small church in the square at the top of the old town. How's that for creative roof tiles!

They were shiny and looked like the ceramic tiles we have in our kitchens and bathrooms. Surely not!

The colours were very bright and vibrant with designs on both sides of the roof!

Of course, we saw other things in the old town, but these are just a few. After wandering around the different exhibitions into the late afternoon, we took a taxi to one of the nicest restaurants in town that serve traditional food, and enjoyed a lovely early dinner!  We finally found a place that served "Sarma", a traditional dish of mince meat, wrapped in sauerkraut leaves. (The Greeks do a similar dish using grape vine leaves).  Anyway, my father used to cook this for us,  and we thought we would find it in Serbia, but no matter how hard we tried no one was serving it. It was great to find it here and I am happy to report that it tasted just like my Dad used to make. It made us quite nostalgic.

We enjoyed our time here, and met some lovely people - especially three of them who were very special, and who we will always remember when we think of Zagreb.

But all too soon it was time to move on, so it was time to get back on the train. 

Next stop - Ljubliana, Slovenia.

Till next time...

The Eastern End...

On our way to Belgrade in Serbia...and it is the first time we have come across anything a bit worrying.

From Budapest to Beograd is a 7 hour train journey, and as we have not had a night journey so far, we thought this would be a good experience.  Not so. I heard from travellers, and on the net, that the train is not safe.  Because the border crossing takes so long - each traveller's passport has to be checked, and you don't get to the border until about 2 am - the night guard takes your passports so you don't have to be woken up. But apparently this is when unsavoury thieves board the train and creep quietly into your cabin and relieve you of your money, backpacks, handbags etc. while you are sleeping, and while your cabin door is locked from the inside!! 

When I went to reserve our tickets, I asked the rail authorities if that was true, (helps to know the language) and they confirmed that the night train was not safe, and advised against it. 

Bob volunteered to do another night shift, and barricade the door and kick any unauthorised hand that appeared, but in the end we decided we did not need that kind of worry and hassle and booked the day train. It was amazing to us that the authorities are aware of the "criminals that wait for the train" and do nothing about it! Apparently, the tourists report it to the guard, and they make a report of all the stolen goods when they arrive at the destination, but nobody does anything about it and nobody gets their belongings back!

We purchased a 1st class Eurail ticket for our holiday - and would heartily recommend it - but Serbia is one of the few (only 3) countries in Europe that does not recognise it.  As a previously staunch Eastern Block country, they clearly still have some issues: "First Class? There is no First Class in Serbia, we are all equal here!"

Well that may be, but for 7 hours we were literally rattling along in an old grotty rattler that shook every bone in our body.  Luckily, we brought food and drinks with us for the journey, as there was no carriage service here.  We had the carriage to ourselves for the first 4 hours, but once we were over the border, it was "stopping all stations" and locals came on board.  Bob called it "the chicken train" because of the age of it, and he expected some of the locals to bring on all manner of "luggage" but apart from bags of food items in all manner of interesting carry bags, there was no livestock, much to Bob's disappointment. He watches too much TV.

The train was an hour late getting in to Belgrade, so it was a very tired couple that went looking for our hotel in the dark, dragging our suitcases. Finally, we came upon the street our Hotel was on...and my oh my!  To say it was steep, is an understatement! It was vertical! My heart sank as I looked up the hill, and couldn't see the hotel that was "just 5 minutes" walk. Over a narrow potholed footpath. In the dark. In the end Bob dragged both cases the last few metres, while I struggled behind praying that the wheels didn't fall off.  Literally! We've never been so glad to get to a hotel!

We went up and down that hill several times over the next few days, while we travelled around.

We went on the HoHo Bus, and learned the history of the town and country. They have had many wars over the centuries, and in more recent times.

This is the city where my father grew up, so I have heard stories of the battles and injustices of wars that happened here for many years. The rulers, good and bad (mostly bad), the enemies, the attacks, the politics, were all debated in our house for years by my father and his friends, or anyone else who would listen - while I hoped it didn't have to be me, and made myself scarce at every opportunity.

Being here, however, makes me appreciate how lucky we are in Australia, where we feel safe in our own homes.  The people, however, are a happy and friendly bunch, who recognise that their politicians are crooks (?), complain about it, but have learned to live with it. Cost of living is high, earnings are low, and old age pensions lower still, so old people can not manage on their own, and have to be supported by their children. But everyone we spoke to had a cheerful and hopeful disposition that things will gradually improve. And in the meantime, they were continuing to enjoy their lives, meeting their friends for dinner or drinks, movies, shopping and all the things we all do. 

They had their MCG's as well, of course, and some impressive old forts to guard their town from enemies.

This is one of the ancient look out towers in
the walled section protecting the city.

This is Parliament House in Beograd. 

It is across a busy road from the park and a palace.

All their important buildings and monuments were in excellent order, and very pretty. Their city was more contemporary than others, simply because they have been bombed many times and have had to rebuild. They have preserved what they could, and these buildings are much appreciated by the locals as a reminder of their own history.

This is the Palace that Serbian leaders lived in during their office.
It is in a lovely park with lots of fountains and statues.

We had one of our most enjoyable nights here, in the "Bohemian Quarter". This was a long, narrow cobblestoned street that was lined both sides with restaurants!  This was where people came to enjoy themselves - and we helped them!  Each restaurant had the outdoor tables, several had musicians who serenaded the diners - and those that couldn't afford to eat there, could still sit and enjoy the music from the street. It had such a happy and vibrant atmosphere, you can't help getting caught up with it. The hardest part was choosing a restaurant - they were all serving traditional food - but, unfortunately the one dish we were looking for, was not available because the ingredients were out of season!

We walked the street several times, just for fun, and finally picked a restaurant and had a wonderful meal.  All the restaurants had candles or fairy lights, so it was quite dark, so I don't think you will be able to see our photos - but I'll put in a couple anyway.  It was such a great night, we wandered the street after our dinner and sat in various places listening to the music.

A restaurants in the Bohemian Quarter, they surrounded their 
restaurant with fresh flowers and then sold them to their customers.

If you can see us, here we are enjoying a traditional Serbian meal, with drinks of course!

One of the things that first amazed us and then made us laugh every time, was the way in which people park their cars here. Hilarious! If the space is not big enough for your car - get creative, and just jam it in any which way! I would love to try this back home. We only ever saw one parking attendant give tickets out, but we saw them parking all over the city, and worse, as we drove around. 

These are a few I caught around our street.

Yep, that's the footpath, where people have to go around it. 

Can't fit it in ? How about this way?

And you're not the only one! !  There were worse ones than these, but I didn't have my camera handy.

We got a lot of laughs out of them! :-)

We had a great time here in Beograd, but now it was time to get back down our street to the Station and get on the train again. I don't know if you can see how steep this street was, but I know we won't forget it in a hurry!

Our street - the good side, only a few bad potholes - and everyone parking nicely.

Holding onto the cases so they don't roll down the steep hill

And here I am trying to stop our cases from running down the street, while Bob takes a photo.  It was much easier coming down, that's for sure!

We made it safely to the station, and are off to Zagreb, Croatia next. 

Till next time...

Eastward Ho...!!!

Our first taste of the former Eastern Block counties was Budapest - and immediately across the Austrian/Hungarian border and the difference is obvious! It is obviously a poorer country. The houses are not as well kept, the rail lines not as efficient, the views wilder and less manicured than the ones in Austria.  In the towns the houses and roads badly need maintenance. I guess the people are too busy making a living,  rather than worrying about prettying up the place, and the governments probably don't have enough money to spend on infrastructure. (Does that sound familiar? Think of the potholes we battle each day).  However, for tourists, those are minor inconveniences.

On arrival in Budapest, we were immediately accosted by dodgy taxi drivers. They come onto the platforms, and offer their services to you as soon as they spot a suitcase. Bob got rid of them.  The station was having extensive renovations done, so half the exits were closed.  Our Hotel was supposedly close to the station - but we have learned to ignore this as quite a few hotels boast this to entice the tourists, and when you get there, it's actually quite far away.

We had the name of our street, but walked quite a distance with our cases, through potholed and missing footpaths - in the wrong direction! So we had to go all the way back to the station and start again!  We finally found it, and it was a nice hotel. 

It was in a dodgy looking street however, which fascinated Bob, as he was sure the blokes over the tiny cobbled street were doing drug deals - and he was keeping a close eye on things.  This entailed sitting in the hotel cafe, drinking coffee and staring out of the window at the comings and goings of the "drug den". Who knows what they were really up to?

Buda, the hilly side of the river, and Pest, the flat side, were fascinating. Buda has The Citadella that dominates both sides of the city, in the same way as the statue of Jesus does in Rio, Brazil.

The Citadella is a very old fort, used to defend the city centuries ago. It has a colourful history, but today it is one of the prime tourists attractions.   Our Hop on-Hop off Bus provided us with a few freebies, and one of them was a free authentic lunch of Hungarian Gulash soup at the Citadella. Not only was the soup very tasty, but the surroundings, in the old arched rooms of the castle was fabulous. The rooms were obviously original - dug out from a central access corridor. Now it is a fine dining restaurant - but I wonder what they were originally used for?

Going through the Citadella passageways

Bob admiring the room while waiting for his lunch

The hill of the Citadella is also the "lungs" of both cities, as it has acres and acres of beautiful gardens and trees, which were in their autumn glory - very pretty, and had a lot of lovely statues depicting famous people in the history of Budapest.

Can you tell which side is Buda and which is Pest?

This is the first bridge, the chain bridge, that links Buda and Pest.  It is the iconic view of Budapest that we all recognize. Everyone has their photo taken here..

Bridge linking Buda and Pest

On a rainy night we decided to go to the theatre to see the Hungarian National Folk Ensemble singing and dancing their national songs.  What could go wrong? Catch a taxi to the theatre, have the concierge tell the driver where to go, no worries!

Except...they perform in two venues in the city, and the driver dropped us off at the wrong one.

"Here!" He said when we questioned why the theatre looked dark with no one around. "Just up there.

So we get out and walk there, and all around, in the rain, and finally found a cafe whose owner said, "no, not tonight. tonight in Pest" so they kindly called a taxi for the foolish tourists and we made the concert only 5 minutes late.

Hungarian National Folk Ensemble

We also visited the biggest Catholic Church in Budapest...just gorgeous...perhaps my friend Ruth could translate the inscription: Ego Sum Via Veritas Et Vita.

So, while we were here, we met a nice girl who was trying to get me to buy some local souvenirs...(but sadly did not succeed)

First $2 shop

Checked out some fast food possibilities

And learned how to make (and eat) a "Chimney Cake" - a Hungarian delicacy. They wrap a "string" of pastry around a wooden log with a handle, then shove it in the oven.

When it comes out they roll it in whatever topping you want.

It then unravels as you tear bits off. Tastes like doughnuts...yum!

Till next time...