Simon Butcher

We left Werfen and headed south on some minor roads for a while, and eventually gave up and joined the motorway. We decided to head into Slovenia, since it was so close, so we started to head towards Ljubljana.

Somewhere around Villach was a huge traffic jam, which we later found out was caused by problems at the toll booths several kilometres ahead. Traffic was at a stand-still for at least two hours, so people were out of their cars playing soccer, drinking coffee, and so forth.

We finally made it to Ljubljana in the early afternoon, and found ourself a typically Eastern European feeling hotel. Actually they were in the process of renovations, so they had some floors that were three stars, some two, some one, and some “no star” which sounded particularly awful. We went for a one star room, which was good enough.

We went for a wander around the city, and it stuck both of us that Ljubljana felt a lot like Melbourne, except that the fountains were very pathetic and there were a lot of really horrible buildings mixed with some nice Baroque style buildings. Otherwise, the ambiance of the place was just like that of Melbourne.

Inspired from our recent castle visit, we were keen to have a look at Ljubljana Castle, but it was late and we didn't want to walk through the park at night, and the Funicular isn't open until December.

Starving, we dived into a McDonald's for lunch and continued exploring around a few parks and around the river. We eventually settled down in the afternoon for some drinks along Petkovškovo Nabrežje.

Around this area, the city is quite alive, with lots of live music, bars, restaurants, and so-on, and really made the city look quite liveable. Ljubljana's a great place and I hope to head back there some day.

At night, we were presented with a rather sudden and violent electrical storm, with thunder so loud it managed to break the glass doors at the entrance of the hotel!