From Touch Down > Roll Out

While we wait for our tour companions to arrive and the cycling fun to start. There are a few essentials to deal with:
- Find coffee
- Discover the local food delights
- Explore the town
- Meet our tour guide and sort out the bikes.

The food is terrific. We are loving the ethnic diversity. It probably relates to the number of invasions over millennia. It sat in a sweet spot on the Silk Road, so many peoples have wandered through. Geographically, Slovenia is at the junction of the Alps, Mediterranean, the Dinarides (mountains going southeast along the cost to Bosnia) and Pannonia Basin (plains, surrounded by mountain ranges and covering the NE of Slovenia and all of Hungary) making it a hot spot of plant/soil diversity.

Also on the food - it’s cheaper than France with bigger servings. Ian thinks it’s better than France, except for the crusty white gorgeousness that comes from the Boulangerie. Oops, sorry, I salivated a bit then, didn’t I?

We crammed some Ljubljana history by a visit to the castle on the Mount. Fascinating stuff, going back to prehistory, although the city dates from 1140 and the castle itself from the 15 century.

Did you know that Jason, on his return from the quest for the Golden Fleece and guided by The Oracle, visited town to do the smack down on a fierce dragon who was ravaging the city and its people. Jason moved on, but the image of the dragon has stayed to be forever linked with Ljubljana.

We got our bike bits sorted and scooted off around the town to get our bearings. Part of the cycle network covers the line of a wall that theItalian Army built at the start of the war to limit movement of the Partisan forces into the city ( eat your heart out Donald Trump). It might have also been useful to keep the Partisans inside when the Italians gave the war game up, and needed to run away (this last bit has not been fact checked)

IT’S A BIKE TOWN. it makes the pace so chilled. There is a different vibe.Read more