Our plan, which we pretty much made up on the fly, was to get to Slovenia today, to see Bled and Ljublijana. We had no idea if this would be possible. If you told me at some point in my life I would be going to Slovenia, I would have asked, 'How did I get kidnapped?' If you told me it was with Luke, I would have said, 'Oh, it was his fault.'
We walked to the train station (I nearly had cartoon slip and falls three times on the slick marble) and took the train to Meste (mainland Venice) where we were going to transfer to a bus into Slovenia. Our train was 40 minutes late so we had to wait two extra hours for our next train. There was a car rental place in the train station so we looked at renting a car for our trip. The problem was they only had manual transmission, which Luke had driven once in his life when he was 17 and dad was supposed to show me last year when we rented it on accident and didn’t. So we were trying to figure out if we could figure it out. Somehow for the first time in our lives ever, logic came into play and we decided it was a bad idea.
So we took off through Italy in our car. Within five minutes we were completely lost. But we soon figured out the airport was by the highway we needed to get to so we sort of headed in that direction and made it work somehow.
At first the drive was pretty much like going through Michigan with just about nothing on the side of the road other than some old Italian homes. As we got going, we started to come to a mountain range. It was some of the most scenic driving I’ve ever been a part of.
We got into Ljubljana and then had to try to find a place to steal wifi from to get the final directions into the hostel. So we ended up pulling off the road about six times while I tried to find wifi, picking places around apartments or restaurnts. Finally we were able to and it was about five minutes away.
We got to the hostel and saw it was down an alley completely covered with graffiti. All the sudden we were a little worried. We parked the car (literally on the sidewalk) and went to see if they had rooms. Not only did they have rooms, but there were tons of people in it and it was one of the nicest looking hostels I’ve ever seen. It’s surrounded by some sort of graffiti art park. Best yet, they even had parking for us. It was unreal.
We got beds on the second floor and a couple people were up there sleeping so we put our beds together and headed out.
It was pretty cold at this point, low 20s at the most. But it was pretty easy to walk into town. We’d been told Ljubljana was sort of boring and not even worth going to, but I couldn’t have been more impressed with the town (other than the fact that there were no people outside at all on a Saturday night). But the town is absolutely gorgeous. It has a castle up on a hill and the rest of the town is full of really beautiful buildings and bridges over the river going through the middle of town. There’s a bunch of plazas and narrow cobblestone streets. It’s a lot like a Budapest or a Prague almost, except I didn’t even know it existed. So far, I really love Slovenia.
We walked to the train station (I nearly had cartoon slip and falls three times on the slick marble) and took the train to Meste (mainland Venice) where we were going to transfer to a bus into Slovenia. Our train was 40 minutes late so we had to wait two extra hours for our next train. There was a car rental place in the train station so we looked at renting a car for our trip. The problem was they only had manual transmission, which Luke had driven once in his life when he was 17 and dad was supposed to show me last year when we rented it on accident and didn’t. So we were trying to figure out if we could figure it out. Somehow for the first time in our lives ever, logic came into play and we decided it was a bad idea.
We went across the street to a café and had cappuccinos and pstries. They were so good we got a second order. The first pastry was like an apple strudel thing, the second was a croissant with fruit filling. And the cappuccinos were some of the best I’ve ever had.
I stole some wifi on my phone and Google Mapped some rental car places. There was one just down the street so we checked it out. Turns out they had a Ford Fiesta (Fiesto in Italy) with automatic. It would be a little expensive for a three day rental (plus the 21 Euros we spent on snow chains, something we joked about the rest of the day since we’re pretty sure we were scammed), but it would make life way easier. And we were super pumped about driving a car in Europe.
At this point we realized we had no maps or really any idea how to get anywhere. So I went back and stood outside the café and stole wifi again and punched in from the train station to Bled in Google Maps and pulled up the directions on the phone and decided that was good enough. We are insane.
So we took off through Italy in our car. Within five minutes we were completely lost. But we soon figured out the airport was by the highway we needed to get to so we sort of headed in that direction and made it work somehow.
At first the drive was pretty much like going through Michigan with just about nothing on the side of the road other than some old Italian homes. As we got going, we started to come to a mountain range. It was some of the most scenic driving I’ve ever been a part of.
Naturally it was snowing the whole time and the windshield wipers on the car were pretty terrible. So we had a super dirt windshield the whole time. And the wind was really strong, swaying the car at times. And on top of that we went through a ton of tunnels through the mountains, including one that was four miles long. We eventually figured out how to turn the lights on. A seagull was flying really low and came right at the car. We both actually ducked as we thought for sure we were going to smash it with out windshield. Somehow it got out of the way, no idea how.
We drove through Austria in the mountains and then finally made it into Slovenia. It took just under three hours for us to get to Bled. We got to a hostel we saw online but there wasn’t anyone in it at all, so we drove the car until we could find the lake. We were really hungry and stopped in a place on the road. Turns out they only served alcohol but we asked if there was another place we could go to. The lady working there not only spoke perfect English, but went outside with us (without a coat, it’s still freezing here) and pointed out where we needed to go.
We made our way down to the actual restaurant and, after figuring out how to open the door on the third attempt, were greeted by the waiter in a suit and mustache. The place was not that fancy otherwise, but I was impressed. The menu had English for all the items which was great, they even had a vegetarian page. I asked the waiter which of two dishes he liked more and he said neither really and then told me to go with the mushroom grouda, which I had no idea what it was and really still don’t. It kind of looks like gruel but was basically ground up mushrooms and I think a rice of some sort. It was good and filling. We also got really delicious hot coco with it.
From there we went over to the lake. So Lake Bled is a really amazing place, a big lake with a medieval church on an island in the middle of it with a castle above the lake up on a cliff. The lake now was completely frozen over and pretty much all of Bled had to be out on it, including a bunch of kids ice skating and others playing hockey. It was the type of scene you want to believe NHL players experienced growing up in Europe.
I was insanely jealous they were ice skating and we looked all over for a place to rent stakes but couldn’t find one. So we ended up walking over the ice to the island with the church, running and sliding a bunch. We had a ton of fun doing it, although I developed a semi-irrational fear of falling in a Slovenian ice-covered lake and drowning. Luke convinced me there was no chance of survival if that were to happen. So that was a great thought.
The church was closed but it was fun to walk around on the island to look at it. It looked old and how you would expect a Slovenian church to look. We walked down 99 steps that traditionally when people get married in the church the groom carried the bridge up while the bride can’t make any sounds. Hopefully no one gets married this time of year there.
After sliding back to the shore we went over to the car (where we probably parked illegally, but we decided early on we weren’t going to pay any tickets and risk we’d ever get pulled over in Slovenia again) and I noticed a little tent by a hockey rink. So we went in and they had skates to rent. None of the sizes really fit and were in the strange European numbering system so Luke got a pair of huge 46s and I got a tight pair of 41s. But we were going ice skating on frozen Lake Bled.
At first I didn’t think it was going to be that great. The ice was really choppy and the snow on it made it difficult. But we ended up skating out past the church and the ice turned absolutely perfect and was pretty much endless. We could go as fast as we wanted in any direction and there would be no one to stop us. It was not only the best ice skating I’ve ever had in my life, but one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. We had so much fun. And we could look up and see the castle and look the other way and see the church. It was completely surreal.
A Slovenian stopped and asked us if we wanted a picture, asked where we were from, and said she hoped we enjoyed it in Slovenia. The people here are the nicest Europeans I’ve ever met.
We skated for over an hour and it started getting dark so we headed back in. We drove around the lake through the town (which wasn’t all that old and was mostly hotels and strip malls, most of the older looking stuff was up in the hills) and went up to the castles.
I’ve been to many castles in Europe. This was probably my favorite. It wasn’t huge or anything but it was in such an amazing location over the lake and even better it looked and felt like you want a castle to. It even had those arrow holes for the knights or whatever to shoot out of. And better yet, we somehow didn’t pay since we sort of got there right when it was supposed to be closing and just walked in with the ticket booth closed. You could feel living there during the Middle Ages, something I’ve felt very few times in any of the castles. I thought of my mom’s students and I hope they’ll think it’s cool I went to a castle.
From there we decided to head into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Unfortunately I had earlier put the directions into my phone when we had wifi, but managed to lose them. So we really had no idea how to get there so we did it like they did way back in the 1900s and followed the signs on the highway, which was surprisingly easy. It was about 40 minutes away.
We stopped for gas and couldn’t figure out how to pretty much do anything. First they had no credit card place. And then the options were for gas was either 95 or diesel. We had no idea what our car took. So we went in and asked the girl behind the counter which we should do. She came outside with us and showed us where in the gas lid to look for the gas type it took, which was 95. The tank of gas ended up costing 42 Euros, which is sort of ridiculous. I picked out two candy bars to try, a Corny Bar (similar to a rice crispy with chocolate on the bottom) and a Duplo (which is chocolate filled with hazelnut and incredibly delicious). Luke got boring American candy and I made fun of him.
We drove through Austria in the mountains and then finally made it into Slovenia. It took just under three hours for us to get to Bled. We got to a hostel we saw online but there wasn’t anyone in it at all, so we drove the car until we could find the lake. We were really hungry and stopped in a place on the road. Turns out they only served alcohol but we asked if there was another place we could go to. The lady working there not only spoke perfect English, but went outside with us (without a coat, it’s still freezing here) and pointed out where we needed to go.
We made our way down to the actual restaurant and, after figuring out how to open the door on the third attempt, were greeted by the waiter in a suit and mustache. The place was not that fancy otherwise, but I was impressed. The menu had English for all the items which was great, they even had a vegetarian page. I asked the waiter which of two dishes he liked more and he said neither really and then told me to go with the mushroom grouda, which I had no idea what it was and really still don’t. It kind of looks like gruel but was basically ground up mushrooms and I think a rice of some sort. It was good and filling. We also got really delicious hot coco with it.
From there we went over to the lake. So Lake Bled is a really amazing place, a big lake with a medieval church on an island in the middle of it with a castle above the lake up on a cliff. The lake now was completely frozen over and pretty much all of Bled had to be out on it, including a bunch of kids ice skating and others playing hockey. It was the type of scene you want to believe NHL players experienced growing up in Europe.
I was insanely jealous they were ice skating and we looked all over for a place to rent stakes but couldn’t find one. So we ended up walking over the ice to the island with the church, running and sliding a bunch. We had a ton of fun doing it, although I developed a semi-irrational fear of falling in a Slovenian ice-covered lake and drowning. Luke convinced me there was no chance of survival if that were to happen. So that was a great thought.
The church was closed but it was fun to walk around on the island to look at it. It looked old and how you would expect a Slovenian church to look. We walked down 99 steps that traditionally when people get married in the church the groom carried the bridge up while the bride can’t make any sounds. Hopefully no one gets married this time of year there.
After sliding back to the shore we went over to the car (where we probably parked illegally, but we decided early on we weren’t going to pay any tickets and risk we’d ever get pulled over in Slovenia again) and I noticed a little tent by a hockey rink. So we went in and they had skates to rent. None of the sizes really fit and were in the strange European numbering system so Luke got a pair of huge 46s and I got a tight pair of 41s. But we were going ice skating on frozen Lake Bled.
At first I didn’t think it was going to be that great. The ice was really choppy and the snow on it made it difficult. But we ended up skating out past the church and the ice turned absolutely perfect and was pretty much endless. We could go as fast as we wanted in any direction and there would be no one to stop us. It was not only the best ice skating I’ve ever had in my life, but one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. We had so much fun. And we could look up and see the castle and look the other way and see the church. It was completely surreal.
A Slovenian stopped and asked us if we wanted a picture, asked where we were from, and said she hoped we enjoyed it in Slovenia. The people here are the nicest Europeans I’ve ever met.
We skated for over an hour and it started getting dark so we headed back in. We drove around the lake through the town (which wasn’t all that old and was mostly hotels and strip malls, most of the older looking stuff was up in the hills) and went up to the castles.
I’ve been to many castles in Europe. This was probably my favorite. It wasn’t huge or anything but it was in such an amazing location over the lake and even better it looked and felt like you want a castle to. It even had those arrow holes for the knights or whatever to shoot out of. And better yet, we somehow didn’t pay since we sort of got there right when it was supposed to be closing and just walked in with the ticket booth closed. You could feel living there during the Middle Ages, something I’ve felt very few times in any of the castles. I thought of my mom’s students and I hope they’ll think it’s cool I went to a castle.
From there we decided to head into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Unfortunately I had earlier put the directions into my phone when we had wifi, but managed to lose them. So we really had no idea how to get there so we did it like they did way back in the 1900s and followed the signs on the highway, which was surprisingly easy. It was about 40 minutes away.
We stopped for gas and couldn’t figure out how to pretty much do anything. First they had no credit card place. And then the options were for gas was either 95 or diesel. We had no idea what our car took. So we went in and asked the girl behind the counter which we should do. She came outside with us and showed us where in the gas lid to look for the gas type it took, which was 95. The tank of gas ended up costing 42 Euros, which is sort of ridiculous. I picked out two candy bars to try, a Corny Bar (similar to a rice crispy with chocolate on the bottom) and a Duplo (which is chocolate filled with hazelnut and incredibly delicious). Luke got boring American candy and I made fun of him.
We got into Ljubljana and then had to try to find a place to steal wifi from to get the final directions into the hostel. So we ended up pulling off the road about six times while I tried to find wifi, picking places around apartments or restaurnts. Finally we were able to and it was about five minutes away.
We got to the hostel and saw it was down an alley completely covered with graffiti. All the sudden we were a little worried. We parked the car (literally on the sidewalk) and went to see if they had rooms. Not only did they have rooms, but there were tons of people in it and it was one of the nicest looking hostels I’ve ever seen. It’s surrounded by some sort of graffiti art park. Best yet, they even had parking for us. It was unreal.
We got beds on the second floor and a couple people were up there sleeping so we put our beds together and headed out.
It was pretty cold at this point, low 20s at the most. But it was pretty easy to walk into town. We’d been told Ljubljana was sort of boring and not even worth going to, but I couldn’t have been more impressed with the town (other than the fact that there were no people outside at all on a Saturday night). But the town is absolutely gorgeous. It has a castle up on a hill and the rest of the town is full of really beautiful buildings and bridges over the river going through the middle of town. There’s a bunch of plazas and narrow cobblestone streets. It’s a lot like a Budapest or a Prague almost, except I didn’t even know it existed. So far, I really love Slovenia.
We were freezing and a little hungry so we went into a restaurant and were the only people in there. We just got soup. I got cream of potato with truffles and butter, which was maybe the best soup I’ve ever had. And the free bread they had was amazing as well. I tried to order carbonated water and somehow ordered just bottled still water while Luke got tap water. The waiter had to think I was the most pretentious person alive.
We ended up chatting with the waiter, who I really loved. We asked where everyone was and he said the cold kept everyone in. It was the first real cold they had this year so most people just stayed in. But on Sundays across the river they have a big market with all sorts of old stuff sold there, so we thought we might try to do that tomorrow.
We headed back to the hostel over the Dragon Bridge and spent some time online (not only does this place have free parking and breakfast, but wifi too. Maybe the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in).
Today could have gone terribly wrong so, so many times. But somehow the disaster of having our train 40 minutes late turned into an incredible thing. We couldn’t have done nearly as much without the car and it would have been way less fun.
We saw a sign in Bled that said, ‘This is living.’ Today we lived.
We ended up chatting with the waiter, who I really loved. We asked where everyone was and he said the cold kept everyone in. It was the first real cold they had this year so most people just stayed in. But on Sundays across the river they have a big market with all sorts of old stuff sold there, so we thought we might try to do that tomorrow.
We headed back to the hostel over the Dragon Bridge and spent some time online (not only does this place have free parking and breakfast, but wifi too. Maybe the best hostel I’ve ever stayed in).
Today could have gone terribly wrong so, so many times. But somehow the disaster of having our train 40 minutes late turned into an incredible thing. We couldn’t have done nearly as much without the car and it would have been way less fun.
We saw a sign in Bled that said, ‘This is living.’ Today we lived.
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