Europe

Sorry for the little delay in posting this but whilst we are now in Austria, we arrived here from a stay in Lovely Ljubljana.

The Slovenian capital is wonderful and there was so much going on.

We had an idea of a couple of things that we wanted to see but had no idea that there would be so much else on offer else we would likely have stayed for more time. Also we only really saw two other places in Slovenia other than Ljubljana but I get the impression that there is so much more to experience. Our host and his friends told us of so much more.. definitely one to add to the future holiday list!

We arrived on the Thursday and spent most of the day chatting to our new Slovenian friends. Later in the evening we did pop into town to try some Slovenian food - more of that in a separate post as I must elaborate on the food we had whilst here as it was so fantastic!

Friday we knew that the Tour of Slovenia was taking place so we headed to the HUGE Tivoli Park to watch the start. Got up close to Mark Cavendish was definitely a highlight. Not such a grand scale as the Giro in Italy but great atmosphere. Once the race started we toured the park on the bikes that were included with the place we rented. Things were going well until Stuart snapped the pedal and the pedal arm clear off his bike with his brute strength.. so we were walking after that..! heading back in to the centre of the city we found the weekly Friday food market, and aren't we glad we did, amazing food.. again. After lunch the heavens opened and we waited - luckily undercover - for the end of the race. There was a nasty crash just before the finish but an exciting finish nonetheless.

Taking the broken bike back to the flat our host was very understanding as I suspect the bike was not brand new. We then wandered back into the city for a bit of sightseeing on foot and another lovely meal.

Saturday Stuart had discovered a board games cafe so we headed there. Great place, lots of games and good coffee. After this we had read of a burger and beer festival - right up our street :) in the centre. We then visited Ljubljana Castle where we finally got to ride in a Funicular. Having missed out on a couple of previous chances to go in one. We then had an amazing tour where they get actors to reenact stories detailing the Castles past as a penitentiary in different parts of the castle. The attached picture is taken from the viewing tower for which we had to climb the spiral stairs.. my height fright returned but it was worth battling through it for the incredible view. Apparently you can see a third of Slovenia from up there.

From the castle we headed to an area called Metelkova. It is covered with Graffiti and is like the 'alternate' area in Ljubljana, It was a "former barracks complex of the Yugoslav Army" according to our guide. We were here specifically as it was the start of Ljubljana Pride. As proud allies to the LGBTQ community we enjoyed the parade through the city streets to loud music and surrounded by lots of colour as you will see! Incredibly that was not all as we stumbled upon an open air concert set up. Turns out we had arrived in time to get seats to a free concert by the Slovenian Philarmonic Orchestra. Accompanied by a mezzo-soprano they covered various famous opera and show tunes.. amazing music and luck for us!

To say that we had to choose to miss a wine festival shows you how much there was to do! Definitely top of my "will come again" list so far..

But the food, oh the food, it really does deserve a separate post...Les mer