After another long flight and not so long drive with a car we have finally made it back to Slovenia. It was a long travel all together, more than 24 hours combined, most of them stuck on the plane. Luckily I was able to sleep quite a lot on the plane and when I was not sleeping I had a chance to watch some movies from last year I didn’t had a chance to catch up to yet.
Anyway I’m home now, preparing to have lunch and then probably going to sleep at noon. I’ll guess I’ll fight it in the following days.
Now that I’m home I’ll be able to go through the total of 4000 photos we’ve accumulated over the duration of our trip and post the interesting ones here. I also have some interesting stories to write about second half of our trip where I was without my computer.
When foreign looks up what to visit in Slovenia there is one destination everyone agrees is a must see, I’m talking about Bled. We saved a nice whole day trip for Friday, where we left Ljubljana, visit Bled, go through Karnsja Gora, over Vršič and back to Nova Gorica.
Lake Bled with an island in the middle.
We rented a rowboat at Bled in order to visit the small island in the middle. Since Jean is the most experienced sailor among us it was only natural that he would be the one rowing for next two hours. 🙂
We soon reached the central island and despite being April it was crowded with tourist. To be fair it was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny, somehow I managed to get sunburned in April.
Island in lake Bled
Island in lake Bled and us in the boat.
Rowing boat
Jean rowing around the lake
The island is small with a small church on it, not much to do really. We took some photos, fed a swan and went rowing around the lake again.
Me trying to pet a swan at lake Bled.
After it we climbed up to the castle above the lake to visit museum and for great vistas.
Veronika, I, Maggie and Jean at Bled castle.
Veronika at lake Bled
Veronika at Bled castle
Before we left Bled we went for a Kremšnita, sadly everyone thought it was better than the monstrosity I made in Luleå. After Bled we went to Kranjska Gora to visit Planica. We climbed on top and wow I forgot how high it is. When you’re at the top you can barely see the cars parked at the bottom. I think you can also do zip lining now that’s why there is a cable in the middle.
Top of a ski jump in Planica. About 250m away from the landing strip.
After Planica we departed toward Nova Gorica over the highest pass in Slovenia – Vršič, where there was still snow around, despite being almost 20 degrees in the valleys below.
Mounting Alpine ibex.
Kranjska Gora
Kranjska Gora
When we arrived in Nova Gorica we got a chance to eat my grandma’s minestrone soup and for desert we had pancakes from Kekec. Next day (saturday) was the last day in Slovenia. We went to visit casino in Perla and go see Miramare Castle near Trieste.
Miramare Castle
Miramare Castle
We were pretty lucky with the weather in general it was much warmer that is usual for April, well until the last day that is. On Sunday we departed early in order to visit Venice before Jean and Maggie left. The visit was not the best one, it was pouring rain as we were walking around Venice and despite bad weather there were still tons of people around. We didn’t spend a lot of time in the city but rather retired to the coffee shop near the airport where we waited for their flight.
It was very nice hosting Jean and Maggie here in Slovenia and I hope they liked it here as well. Don’t know where our next meeting will take place but by now, it has become almost a tradition to see each other every few years. 🙂
Last year toward the end of April, Maggie and Jean finally visited Slovenia. We met with them in the evening at Venice airport and just after an hour and half we were in Slovenia. We went to one of my favourite restaurants OK Corral near Nova Gorica, and Jean and Maggie had a chance to try some Balkan food like čevapčiči and pleskavica.
Next day we went to visit one of the most well known tourist attraction in Slovenia Postojna’s cave and Predjama castle. If I remember correctly driving in a train through a cave was a first time for them :).
Jean, Maggie and me in front of Predjama castle.Stalagmites in Postojna’s cave
After it we took the local roads back to Ljubljana in order to see some of Slovenian landscape. Next day we had a seaside to visit. The weather wasn’t the best possible as Jean and Maggie got a chance to experience burja, despite a bit of chill Jean decided to go for a swim. Since this was April, and it was only about 15 degrees he was the only person Swimming at that time, needles to say passers-by were looking at him quite interestingly.
Slovenian seaside.Jean swimming in April
Next day Jean and Maggie had a chance to explore the Ljubljana on their-own. In the evening we went to Brazilian restaurant near our apartment. We had a chance to try around 13 courses of meat dishes, it was very good experience, despite not being Slovenian. In the evening we walked through the city center and ended up in Nebotičnik bar with a great view of Ljubljana.
Kongresni trg
Dragon’s bridge
Ljubljana castle colored green for the green capital of Europe.
At top of Nebotičnik
On Thursday we went to Ptuj, to see kurent and to eat some gigantic donuts in Trojane.
After about two hours of flight, but not before I managed to spill juice all over Veronika, we landed in Venice, where my parents were already waiting for us.
It was strange seeing them after so long but nice nonetheless. On our way home questions “how was it”, “where do I like it more (here in SLO or SWE)”, etc. were asked. We got home at 2am so there wasn’t much more to do but go to sleep. It was weird sleeping in my bed after so long.
In the following days I seem to have been answering those standard questions “how was it”, quite often. It was a bit weird talking in Slovenian on the street as well. I swear first few times I actually started speaking in English.
Slowly I went back to old habits and sadly I soon felt like I never left Slovenia. At the end of January I still had to do “oral” exam with my multimedia course from Luleå. We did it over Skype, it was quite funny actually. Professor was at his home (not in his office) and firstly he showed me a bit of his house and after I complained we have no snow here, he also showed me frozen lake behind his house where some kids were skating, after that he asked me some questions about course and I was done.
After that the only thing left to-do from Sweden, were arrange for some papers to be shipped here, so I could get my grades transcribed and the rest of Erasmus grant.
This concludes my “reports” for my Life in Luleå.
The only thing left is to gather my expenses data and present them in some nice(r) form to present them, when I’ll do this I don’t know, probably not soon. And hopeful write a better conclusion to everything.
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