Day 14 Trieste🇮🇹 to Lubljana 🇸🇮

An early morning bus saw me say goodbye to Alex and his wonderful hospitality and cycle the quiet streets to the bus station. I packed down my bike into my bike bag with the usual small crowd of onlookers. The bus companies are quite notorious for being difficult to cyclists with (paid for) bike luggage and my Slovakian bus driver delivered on the rumours. He refused my bike and I was not having a bar of it. He said he would only speak to me in Slovakian which Google translate didn't support! Fortunately I got the help of a nearby Polish bus driver who told him to let me on and all was good with 2 mins to spare. Other passengers were ready to take him on for me. Was all rather exciting 😂😂
The 1.5hr bus ride up into the hills from Italy to Slovenia was stunning. It is so very green and untouched with beautiful Churches high on the hills and little villages tucked into the mountains.
I arrived into the capital Ljubljana and unloaded my bike, gave a cheery wave to the bus driver and assembled my bike again. Always happy when it goes back together again!
Well… now there are two. Tim flew in this morning and has hired a bike and will join me in a cycle loop of Slovenia.
We spent the day exploring the capital, taking the funicular to the top of the highest point to the castle. The castle has been beautifully restored and the audio guide gives great info on the history of the castle and city. The views from the tower were of mountains in a 360 degree view. It's slightly daunting as this next 8 days will be the most elevation I've cycled and it certainly looks like it 😂
The vibe of the city was very relaxed with outdoor eateries, music playing and people out and about the old town on a summer's day. We tried local street food for lunch and then afternoon tea we sampled the two famous Slovenian desserts - Kremsnita (Cream cake) and Gibanica (Layer cake) served warm. Both delicious!
Pannier bags are packed for tomorrow and I'll be sharing the load with Tim and so only two panniers. 
We finished with a beautiful meal in the old town.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Europe cycle 2025 begins

Image
It's just over a year since my return from my Gap Year and Europe has beckoned 😊 A cycling & hiking adventure over the next 4 weeks will unfold.  I've yearned for the freedom feeling of riding with all that you need strapped to your bike.  I was fortunate to have a few weeks cycling touring in NZ earlier in the year which kept that dream alive, but now it's time to take on another European challenge.  I will tackle a couple of routes people recommended with the first being Munich to Venice via the Dolomites (Germany, Austria and Italy). The training has been done, and this will stretch me as it's way more elevation and mountains than I have cycled day after day, but, every wonderful view that I earn will spur me on to the next, I'm sure.  I have a few days of big hikes planned enroute too and so lugging hiking boots too. There are easier ways to travel (especially through airports!!) but exploration and slow travel by bike is pure joy for me. ...
Read more

Day 23: Ithaki 🇬🇷 wedding day

Image
Waking up in the Greek Islands and watching the sunrise over the mountains - wonderful 🥰 After brekky in the apartment Tim and I walked down to a local beach for a swim.  Wandering past olive trees with young olives, pomegranate trees full of splitting fruit and so I picked a few and we ate them beside the water.  The water temp was perfect - refreshing and also buoyant and so we floated around for ages and then lay and read for a while.  A wander back up the road to our apartment and Tim's brother in law came past and we got a lift for the last part There’s Something special about eating a Greek salad for lunch in Greece on a balcony with the ocean and yachts below!  We dropped Tim's sister at the hairdresser and then Tim drove me up the mountain to his grandfather's property with incredible views to neighbouring islands. Back via the supermarket and a very relaxing af...
Read more

postodjna - Ljubljana 🇸🇮 66kms

Image
Final day of cycling in Slovenia and we successfully returned to base after completing most of the Western loop.  Today was a brilliant day on the bike. After huge thunderstorms at 3am, the rain cleared this morning and whilst it was overcast for most of the day, the rain stayed away. Just 10kms out of town we visited Predjama castle.  This castle is the largest cave built castle in the world, built in the 1500’s and was a truly spectacular castle for Tim to visit as his first castle. The castle had a hidden escape route through the cave system under and behind the castle. The rest of our ride was through undulating farmland and after lots of climbing we finished with a long sweeping (and somewhat sketchy) 7km descent! And then the last 20kms on a dedicated flat cycle lane all the way to Ljubljana.  We had a relaxing nibbly style dinner and drinks beside the river. ...
Read more