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Posted On Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at
at
11:16 PM
by Alvin
Arriving from Zagreb after a 3 hours' train ride, we found the laid-back Slovenian capital, Ljubljana was even quieter on the Sunday than we had expected. Although lacking in grandeur and un-forgettable historical monuments compared to the previous capital cities we had visited in central Europe, Ljubljana was nonetheless charming, compact and the River Ljubljanica played a central role to its many attractions. There were many bridges criss-crossing this river and the most interesting and famous being the Three Bridges; yep, where not only the tourists hang out to buy their souvenirs, ice-creams and took their river cruises etc. but also where many university students gathered and lazed around in the sun to discuss homework (?) or may be passing a few joints more like ...
We also took a day-trip out to Lake Bled where we had a picnic lunch right in front of the famous Assumption Church on the central island. It took us 3 hours at snail pace to complete the lake circuit and we took a hike up to the castle for a bird-eyes' view of the surrounding valleys. We managed to join a gathering of 4 other passengers (2 Taiwanese pensioners, one Canadian of Slovenian origins and a local girl) to charter a taxi back to Ljubljana. The middle-age taxi man spoke fluent English and he reminisced on the good old days of the Tito (pre-EU) era and gave us loads of stories of how things "were just better in those days" ... We listened with interest and did think about the country's affinity towards joining the EU. This contemplation about the EU could not have been better (worse) timed as we heard with shock after we arrived back to Ljubljana, that the French Air Traffic Controllers were calling a strike in response to EU's plans to reform the management of the European air-space. Perhaps the taxi man was right afterall ... Luckily at the end we only had a day's delay in getting home - and luckily a sunny day which we spent on a long stroll along the lovely River Ljubljanica, a mega-pleasant way to end our journey in this part of Europe !
Arriving from Zagreb after a 3 hours' train ride, we found the laid-back Slovenian capital, Ljubljana was even quieter on the Sunday than we had expected. Although lacking in grandeur and un-forgettable historical monuments compared to the previous capital cities we had visited in central Europe, Ljubljana was nonetheless charming, compact and the River Ljubljanica played a central role to its many attractions. There were many bridges criss-crossing this river and the most interesting and famous being the Three Bridges; yep, where not only the tourists hang out to buy their souvenirs, ice-creams and took their river cruises etc. but also where many university students gathered and lazed around in the sun to discuss homework (?) or may be passing a few joints more like ...
We also took a day-trip out to Lake Bled where we had a picnic lunch right in front of the famous Assumption Church on the central island. It took us 3 hours at snail pace to complete the lake circuit and we took a hike up to the castle for a bird-eyes' view of the surrounding valleys. We managed to join a gathering of 4 other passengers (2 Taiwanese pensioners, one Canadian of Slovenian origins and a local girl) to charter a taxi back to Ljubljana. The middle-age taxi man spoke fluent English and he reminisced on the good old days of the Tito (pre-EU) era and gave us loads of stories of how things "were just better in those days" ... We listened with interest and did think about the country's affinity towards joining the EU. This contemplation about the EU could not have been better (worse) timed as we heard with shock after we arrived back to Ljubljana, that the French Air Traffic Controllers were calling a strike in response to EU's plans to reform the management of the European air-space. Perhaps the taxi man was right afterall ... Luckily at the end we only had a day's delay in getting home - and luckily a sunny day which we spent on a long stroll along the lovely River Ljubljanica, a mega-pleasant way to end our journey in this part of Europe !
