POSTCARD FROM CROATIA AND SLOVENIA 11-20 MAY 2018

I left Heathrow for Zagreb on the morning of Friday 11 May with my friend Sue Sheridan, and we arrived almost spot on time.  We took a while to find our driver but were then driven to the rather down-market Best Western Astoria.  We spent a lovely afternoon walking around Zagreb.  In the evening we had a delightful dinner in a local restaurant.

On Saturday morning we made a late start to the station and caught the 12.36 to Ljubljana. It was a wonderful journey through some delightful countryside, most of it meandering alongside the Sava River. However, we arrived in Ljubljana in an horrendous thunderstorm and it took us forever to find a taxi [who ripped us off] to the hotel, where we arrived in a sodden mess, but we were soon cheered by a fantastic welcome from the Hotel Slon.  The GM is known to a friend of mine and not only did he give us beautiful rooms but we also had in our rooms champagne, chocolate, fruit and a lovely cuddly elephant, the hotel’s mascot!  That evening we had an excellent dinner in Slon 1552, the hotel’s lovely restaurant, where we were given a free bottle of wine!

On Sunday we set off on a lovely morning to explore the delightful little city of Ljubluana.  We walked miles, took a lovely boat ride on the river [had the boat to ourselves!], and took a rather strange [and not very good] electric train journey around the town. We had a few spots of rain towards the end of the day but nothing to worry us.  In the evening we had a very good Mexican meal.

 

As we were not leaving for Bled until midday, we took a quiet stroll around some of Ljubljana’s churches on Monday morning, and then set off on our three-quarter hour journey to Bled.  Sadly it was quite a cloudy and damp morning.  After settling into the Hotel Lovec, we went for a walk by the lake and up to St Martin’s Church, but the rain soon got very heavy so we went into the Creamy Cake café so Sue could have one of their famous creamy cakes and coffee and I could have a hot chocolate made with chocolate drops! As it was so miserable we ate in the hotel that evening.

We woke up to another very wet day on Tuesday, but not to be beaten we took off for a walk all the way around the Lake in the pouring rain – it was almost five miles!  In the afternoon, we made our way up to the Castle in very wet conditions – it was two miles up [and back].  Between slippery paths there were well over 200 steps!   In the evening we had a lovely meal at a restaurant almost next to the hotel.

The following day I woke up to sunshine and quickly got the camera out to take photos of Bled Island and Castle!  Thankfully the sun stayed around for the morning so we managed a boat trip to Bled Island, where we rang the famous Wishing Bell!  After that we walked around the Lake the other way.    There were a few rain showers on the way but it was mostly a dry five-mile walk!  In the evening we returned to our favourite restaurant.

At 10am on Thursday 17^thMay we set off for Piran via Caves and a Castle! First stop was amazing Postojnska Caves. An incredible experience, although we had a rather large group which sometimes rather spoilt the experience. We then moved on to Predjama Castle – another amazing place built into the rocks.  We walked up many stairs and into some quite extraordinary rooms, seeing how they lived 100s of years ago.  After that we were driven on to Piran where we checked into the Hotel Piran. I had a good if basic room overlooking the Adriatic but I can’t say I was that impressed with the hotel itself. After doing some unpacking we had a walk around and an Aperol Spritz beside the sea.  Later we dined at a nearby restaurant.  

On Friday, we walked the beautiful town of Piran on the deep blue Adriatic – a delightful place with churches, ramparts and seaside walks – we managed another five miles!  We did stop for ice creams and Aperol Spritz along the way!  In the evening we had a quiet dinner in a nearby restaurant.  

On our final day, we had a stroll around Piran, before meeting up with our driver who took us back to Ljubljana, where we boarded our train to Zagreb.  The trains and stations in that part of the world are a complete nightmare, something out of the Communist regime! After a night at an airport hotel in Zagreb we flew back to London at lunchtime on Sunday.