Interrail Destination 6 - Part one, Ljubljana, Slovenia!

Town Square.

After travelling from Budapest for several hours we finally arrived in my favourite destination, Slovenia! Whilst we were staying in Slovenia our plan was to stay for one night in Ljubljana to explore the city and then for 2 nights in Lake Bled, to explore around there!

When we arrived in Ljubljana train station, finding our hostel was extremely easy. We realised quickly that this place was
very well sign posted - everywhere. We jumped on a bus to the stop nearest to our hostel and arrived within around 15 minutes! If you are planning on using buses in Ljubljana (not sure if its the same in the whole of Slovenia) but you basically have to buy your tickets at the station and they give you a card that you top up each time, kind of similar to an oyster card and you beep it every time you get on/off a bus.

After arriving in our hostel we freshened up and then decided to head to the city to explore. We got the bus back and got off at the stop called " Zmajski Most", walked over the famous dragon bridge and from there walked to the castle. We decided to get the funicular up the castle (I don't actually know if you can walk it, I didn't see any paths or steps or anything) but it was around 4 euro each for a return!

Dragon Bridge.

Performing arts theatre next to the funicular.

When we got up the castle there was some sort of event happening later on in the evening which they were preparing for so there was a dance floor and several tables being put up in preparation! We walked around the castle, looking at what we could for around 45 minutes. There was even a mini library up there which you could just pick books out of and read outside with the view of the castle surrounding you. There was 2 places to eat/drink up there also, we didn't decide to try either of them as we wanted to eat in a more local place, so when we were getting peckish we decided to head back down the funicular and see everything else Ljubljana had to offer!

Library in the castle.

Castle.

Views!

We came off the funicular and turned left at the end of the street which lead us straight into the high street. I never actually knew this before visiting, but the shopping in Ljubljana is quite amazing. This is where I purchased the majority of my gifts for people at home as I found a shop called Zakladi Slovenije (they also have one in Lake Bled) which sold the most beautiful gifts which have been handmade in Slovenia! They also have a departmental store called Ikona, (http://www.ikonaljubljana.si) where they sell lots of different designer brands, clothes, shoes, bags at quite a good price, definitely worth a look in!

Cathedral.

We walked around the shops for a while and past the cathedral, the Robba Fountain and The Town hall and from there on decided to find somewhere to eat! We wanted to eat in a central location and try some traditional dishes so we ate in a place  just off the square, with the view of the fountain and town hall! It was lovely and extremely reasonable for what we both ate!

Fountain.

Will chose octopus salad to start and I chose mushroom soup which came in a bread bowl! For mains I chose one of their traditional meats which came with peppers and vegetables and will had Goulash which also came in a bread bowl!

Octopus salad.

Mushroom soup bread bowl.

After eating we then did a little more shopping as it was a late night shopping night and then stopped for a drink in one of the places near the Town Hall. It was dark and getting late at this point so we decided to head back to the bus stop to get home! I am really bummed we didn't have enough time to see everything that Ljubljana had to offer but this is definitely on my travel list for next summer as well as Lake Bled!

See you next time to speak about the beautiful Lake Bled in Part 2 of this post!

Annie 🌻