Ljubljana

Perhaps it's my choice to visit failed states and fallen empires that has given me a one-way approach to travel but I will certainly be finding time in the future to head back to friendly Slovenia, Europe's best kept secret.

Ljubljana itself is tiny by European standards and given that you walk everywhere in no time at all, my decision to buy a 3 days travel card turned out to be a poor one! The card did allow me between 5 and 10% off at various restaurants as well as free access to the main museums so for most of my time I was trying to find out ways to recoup my €12 investment. My hostel (voted 'hippest' in the world by Lonely Planet) was actually not all that friendly in it's layout. The bar area was very much geared up to existing groups and so for cool, hip, independent travellers (like what I am) it seemed as though we were all destined to bury our heads in our books at our spacious tables for four. Company was not far away as upon return to the dorm I met an Austrian Psychology student who was having similar complaints with the hostel so we decided to moan about it together over dinner, a relatively simple task made almost impossible by Eva's vegitarian status!

Later that evening in the dorm we met an Australian girl who was talking about visiting one of the famous caves in the county, something I had planned to look into as well. After weighing up the pro's and con's of each, the 3 of us opted for the UNESCO world heritage site, Škokjan caves. The bus ride was a little under 90 minutes and before long we were deep inside some of the most beautiful caves I have ever visited. Sadly we were unable to take photos but they wouldn't have done justice to the sheer size of some of the caverns, You can therefore have a look online (oh yes, or at your local library :-) but just to be sure you get the full effect, I definitely recommend a visit!

The slow train home wound it's way past the impressive Julian alps leaving us plenty of time to discuss tomorrow's activites. Eva was to return to Innsbruck that evening and so it was up to Katrina and I to decide on which way to kill ourselves, we settled for a day's canyoning in Bovec which included a quick return visit to Bled (after all, I hadn't been there for literally hours). Joining us would be an Aussie couple who were snaking their way through Europe before getting the Trans-Siberian into China then down to Thailand and back home. I turned my attention to working out what canyoning actually was and before long we were back in Ljubljana, my new favourite place!