sLOVEnia Part 2

Someone was excited to see Trieste, Italy.

One thing that amazes both us island children is just how close all the countries and borders are in central Europe. When we began to plan the trip, I was insistent we should visit either Italy, or Croatia, or both, while we were so close. My wife sensibly said, "we'll see". Thankfully that afternoon, we got our chance to see another country on our trip, Italy.

Before we knew it we had temporarily left Slovenia behind as we crossed into Italy and enjoyed a nice gelato by the main square in Trieste. Trieste seemed a lot bigger and more hectic than what we experienced in Slovenia. We weren't there for long, but it was nice to visit some churches and to see some Italians in their natural habitat. We didn't delay too long as we continued onto our next destination by the Adriatic coast, the charming harbour town of Piran.

Piran

Piran is located on Slovenia's 47 kilometres of Adriatic coast. The medieval town is a beautiful mixture of architectural and cultural influences, in this case, Venitian and Italian. We spent a relaxing night and morning there, in truth, we could've spent a good few days there. Before leaving the coastal region, we also visited Portorož, which was decidedly too Costa Del Sol for our likings, after another tea we were on the road again.

Slovenia's karst region has many cave systems with two particular standouts - Postojna and Skocjan. We opted for the less touristy Skojcan (on recommendation). In hindsight, we probably would've enjoyed Postojna that bit more. The caves themselves were quite impressive however, our underground tour guide was the opposite. She wore the expression of someone that was over their day job, which is a pity. She wasn't very explanatory while rushing us through our tour. Thankfully, or other attraction for the day made up for the caves. Not far from Skocjan is the mightly impressive Renaincesse era Predjama Castle. A castle that is hewn into the very rock face and cave behind it. The lack of crowds, impressive and factual layouts, informative audio guides, plus the attraction favoured unplanned touristy picture as you enter were particular highlights. Easily one of the best castles we have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Ptuj town 

Next stop and our destination for the night was Ptuj, a small town in the west of the country by the banks of the river Drava. My wife was particularly happy with our accommodation for the night, the excellent Muzikafe B&B, it's funky rooms and retro layout plus resident cats Ziggy (friendly) and Zaggy (not so friendly). As is almost a tradition now on or trips we had a Chinese meal that night (which was quite tasty). On our last day, we woke up to a beautiful spring day as we walked up to Ptuj Castle which had an excellent view of the town and surrounding countryside. Again we had some tea while unexpectedly witnessing a woman slamming into a parked car, bought some souvenirs and were quickly on the road again. Our final destination was Ljubljana, but before we got there, we had one more place to visit, Celje.

Lured in by some excellent brochure work lined with vivid retellings of Celje's glorious Roman and Celtic past we arrived in Celje just on lunchtime. Celje, in a word, was disappointing. The town had a modern plastic high-street vibe with scant regard for its history and various 'architectural wonders'. Most of which were covered in graffiti with rubbish bags piled outside. Even the supposedly ornate and historic old Christian baptistery was smack bang in a mini shop outlet surround by wedding dresses and bridal paraphernalia. Thankfully, Celje Castle actually lived up to its billing. Not as impressive as Predjama (which would be hard), it again offered some splendid views but this time no audio guides but we did get some discounted drinks in the castle cafe.

The view from Celje castle.

After the castle visit, with the clock tipping 4:00 pm we made our way back to Ljubljana where we would attempt to find our accommodation and get in some last minute shopping. After some missed turns and entrances we finally found our accommodation the (in)famous Hostel Celcia art hostel. Unique to most hostels worldwide it used to be a prison, and who could turn down the offer of sleeping in an old prison cell (with iron bar doors still intact), we for one couldn't. Each cell was reimagined by an international artist. We managed to get a less than impressive sparse cell 'designed' by some Finnish 'architect', who going by his design, might or might not hate his very life.

No matter what way they tried to sell the place, it was still a hostel for better or for worse. This one had the unfortunate (in my eyes) distinction of being part of a wider alternative safe haven, full of artsy types, amateur musicians, possible poets and those folk who are distinctly anti "The Man". I saw it as a shithole in need of knocking down, a place full of ne'er-do-wells...sorry artists, whacked out of the heads and drinking cans in the middle of the day. One gent who looked like an extra from Mad Max seemed to take great delight in muttering to himself and dancing on the spot while pushing a former shopping trolley now adorned with toy baby parts around the carpark. In hindsight, he could have been a physic because he managed to blabber something about Melbourne at my wife as she passed by him...how did he know she was from Melbourne?? Hmmm...

We booked in as quickly as we could, moved the car from its original park..as I feared it could be on bricks by the time we got back from the city, and we briskly set a course into Ljubljana centre. We spent our final evening eating, shopping, drinking and eating some more, while all the time soaking up the sense of joy and life in the air. We heavy hearts we called it a night around 10:00 pm our first flight back to Frankfurt was at 6 in the morning. Our last night in the country was spent in a prison in both the physical and metaphorical sense. As we were lulled to sleep by the manic music, howls and occasional screams of the 'alternative' locals outside, all the while trying to find a comfortable spot on our slabbed designed by a Finnish sadist...sorry 'architect'.

The beautiful Soca valley.

In finishing, Slovenia was easily one of the best trips we've ever been on. The country in our eyes is faultless, its food, its culture, its history, its people, its pride, its scenery, its hospitality etc. We just wish we had more time there.