Ljubljana

I was up just after 5:00 am to get ready for my early morning train to Slovenia.  I didn't sleep much since I picked up a cold the previous day.  I took the 15 minute tram ride to the train station & the train was already there since it was the initial stop.  The train was rolling at 6:50 am. Bus travel hasn't been too bad, but the train is more relaxing.  I had a 4 person section of seats to myself.  

As we crossed the border into Slovenia, both the Croatian & Slovenian border agents reviewed & stamped my passport.  I don't think I have any more passport checks until the airport in Berlin since the rest of the countries I am visiting are part of the EU.  The rest of the train ride was uneventful & I arrived at 9:00 am.

 I called the guy that I was supposed to meet to get the keys to my apt in Ljubljana.  Sergei met me at the train station & it was about a 5 minute walk to the apartment.  He mentioned that a lot of people from this area had moved to Cleveland, although I haven't seen anyone wearing a Browns shirt.  According to what I found online there are about 50,000 Slovenians in Cleveland.  Ljubljana is the smallest capital in Europe with only 270,000 people.

I went on a 2 hour walking tour of the city at 11:00 am, it was ok, but I was really tired from being sick & lack of sleep.  I decided to get some rest & go back to see more of the town in the evening.  I went to the fortress/castle that overlooks the town later in the day.  There were nice view of town & some exhibits including one about medieval torture.

After the castle tour I had some dinner & got some photos as the sun was setting.  I got a few of the famous three bridges in old town & the dragon bridge with dragons on both ends of the bridge.  The old town is mainly art nouveau architecture which more Austrian & Germanic versus the buildings in Croatia & Bosnia.  I have not seen green man yet, but was passed on a bike by green spandex woman.  There are lots people commuting around town by bicycle with bike lanes on all of the sidewalks.  Tomorrow I do a day trip to Lake Bled, which is about an 80 minute bus ride from Ljubljana.

The Three Bridges