Day 1

I started this trip by getting up very early on the day that I was planning to leave. I was up late the night before, as I had been working and hadn’t figured out how I was going to get to the airport or bought any travel insurance. I set the alarm for 4am and was in a taxi at 4.30 am. I got to the airport via a Thameslink train from St. Pancras to Luton train station and then the shuttle bus from there to the airport. As I had built in some extra time in the travel plan, I had to wait around in the departure lounge for a while before we were allowed to board the plane, but the other option was to rush and risk getting there late or not having enough time to do the check-in.

I arrived in Ljubljana and got the bus from the airport to the city centre. From there I walked to the hostel, where I had a lie down, as I was knackered. After building up some energy, I got out of bed and walked to the city centre, where I had a walk around and walked up to the castle, which is on top of a massive hill overlooking the city. From there I could watch the sun going down over Ljubljana and think how I was in London only a few hours earlier.

Day 2

This day I decided to go straight to the next thing, as I didn’t find Ljubljana particularly interesting. This was Bled, which had a big lake and was in the middle of the Triglav National Park, with things like hikes and waterfalls that you could go and see.

I got to Bled via a bus from Ljubljana. This arrived in Bled and I was able to walk around the lake before it got dark.

Day 3

Day 3 was spent climbing up to the Savica Waterfall. I did this with Ben, a Chinese bloke I’d met in the hostel the same day and two other people from Australia who happened to be on the same bus (and in the same hostel). We got to the top and set off for the walk around Bohinj Lake, back to the bus stop, but split up with the Australians half way through. Ben and I made it to the bus stop before it got dark, stopping for tea before the bus arrived.

Day 4

This day Ben and I walked to Vintgar Gorge, which Barbara, the hostel worker, had warned me off going to several days earlier. We had spoken to someone on the bus who had been there the day before, so decided to go anyway. It was great and we ended up walked over the top of it to get back to Bled.

Day 5

This day I concentrated on getting from Bled to Postojna, where I decided I’d be staying for a day whilst visiting the Skocjan Caves, which were meant to be the less touristy of the 2 caves; Skocjan and Postojna. I decided to get the train through the Julian Alps, as this seemed far more interesting than getting the bus back to Ljubljana and out again. As it turned out, the weather on this day was amazing and you could see the whole of Bled Lake for the first time. There was even a hill that I didn’t know was there! I got a photo of the lake before getting on the train at Bled Jezero station for the train to Nova Gorica.

There was a problem with the train route half-way through this journey, as there was a replacement bus service that we had to use for 2 stops. As it had been raining heavily in the days leading up to my trip, the chances are this was down to water damage. Once back on the train, it continued to Nova Gorica.

Once in Nova Gorica, I walked to the bus station that was about 1 Km from the train station. You could see the border with Italy on the other side of the road and I could have easily crossed into Italy if I’d wanted to! The people I was sharing the train with (who were also from the same hostel) got some free WiFi from a cafe and pointed me in the right direction.

Once in Postojna, I found the hostel which was only a short walk from the bus station. I was the only person who got off at Postojna and the bus was full of students and local Slovenes. At the time that I checked into the hostel, I was going to be the only person staying there! Luckily this changed, as there were about 200 rooms there and it would have been a little bit unsettling being the only person staying there.

Day 6

Day 6 was spent getting to and from the Skocjan Caves. Initially I had planned on going to the Skocjan Caves in the morning and the town of Piran in the afternoon, but because of the way the shuttle bus to the caves worked out, this was not possible.

I turned up at Divaca station, which was also via a replcement bus station and waited for the shuttle bus at 10:00am. As this did not turn up, I called the caves’ reception and they said the bus would be at 11:15am, which I waited for. When I arrived at the caves, they said that the tour would not start until 1:00pm, which I was annoyed about as it meant that I would have been waiting for 3 hours to see the caves. I told the person at the ticket office, who gave me a student ticket without asking for ID and went for a walk to the nearest viewpoint. After a while, I got to see the caves, which were great.

Day 7

Day 7 was spent travelling from Postojna to Ljubljana. This was relatively straightforward as I got a bus from the bus station straight to Ljubljana and stayed in the same hostel as before.

During my stay in Ljubljana I went to the Contemporary History Museum, the Modern Art Museum and ate a horse burger. It was a good day! After that though I think I’d exhausted everything that Ljubljana had to offer and was ready to return home. I also went to the AKC Metelkova mesto, which was an alternative arts venue/cultural space and had a quick look at a gallery opening.

Day 8

This was relatively straightforward, as I got the bus from the bus station to the airport and the plane back to London Luton. From there I got the Tube and a bus home. It was a successful trip!

Cost

Flights: £113.98
Insurance: £16.47
Lake Bled emergency money: £67.15
Caxton FX spending money: £259.47

TOTAL: £457.07

Quote of the Trip

“The best sausage is the next sausage” – quote taken from the in-flight magazine on the Wizz Air flight from Luton to Ljubljana. The article was about a German sausage maker who is reported to have eaten over 150,000 sausages. They are very small though.