Ljubljana

Trieste is a port city in the very top right corner of Italy; the border with Slovenia is only around 10km away. We boarded our bus after breakfast – not without drama, as one of our assembly had failed to heed their alarm clock – and set out about half an hour late. This had a knock-on effect throughout the day. The drive to the capital, Ljubljana, took about an hour, ascending into alpine country with snow on the mountains alongside us.

Alps from the road

Our guide, Carmen, met us and took us on a walking tour of the city, giving us history and facts a-plenty. She referred to Trieste as Trst, and told us it shouldn’t really be part of Italy at all – it’s inclusion or exclusion has been contested over the years, much like the Debatable Lands in England. Modern Slovenia was formed when Yugoslavia broke up in the early nineties following the collapse of Communist rule in the Eastern bloc – very much to the relief of the Slovenians, as the country was the powerhouse of the former Yugoslavia, providing 25% of the GDP despite comprising less than 10% of the population. Independence and membership of the EU has been a boon to the country – evidenced not least by the road by which we approached Ljubljana, which looked suspiciously EU-financed.

 

The big church

The big shop

View from a bridge

We learnt about the bridges of Ljubljana, saw the university library, and various churches. We then went for a typical Slovenian lunch of fried polenta, goulash in a bread bowl, and a kind of apple strudel cake. All very Mitteleuropean. The goulash could have benefited from some actual spiciness.

We made our way back to the bus, and found that we were one short. Bonnie and Kelly set out on a search, and found that one of our party had had an accident. Dealing with that took another half hour, so we took off for Lake Bled somewhat behind schedule.

Lake Bled is what you get when you ask an AI to create a picturesque scene in the Balkans. It has a castle on a bluff. It has an island, with a church on it – the only island in Slovenia (there are none on its 46km of coastline). The backdrop is snow-covered Alps. It also has the summer residence of former president of Yugoslavia, Marshal Tito, now – surprise surprise! – a boutique hotel. We took a traditional oar-powered boat to the island, then climbed 99 steps up to the church at the top. View from the top were spectacular. We walked around the island, admired the view, then took the boat back again.

 

Castle on a cliff

Church, being picturesque

Church on an island

Back on the shore, we then went to Park Café, known as the original inventor of the kremsnita, or Bled cream cake. This is, effectively, a custard slice. With cream on top. We consumed those, with coffee, then left Bled and drove back to Trieste. Despite being enjoined to bring our passports, we weren’t stopped either leaving or entering Italy, and finally made it back around 8pm, somewhat later than advertised.  

Kremsnita

In the evening we were left to our own devices. What do cool young things (by which I mean, us) do of a Friday night in an Italian city? Restaurant, party, clubs? Laundry. We did laundry.