Express train to Zagreb - and a whole new country

Arriving early at Ljubljana station meant plenty of time to stock up on snacks. A slice of ajobolci zavitek (apple strudel), a large chocolate truffle that I hadn't meant to point at but it seemed rude to ask her to put back, a large fig slice and an enormous kremna rezina - a sort of vanilla slice with whipped cream about 4 inches square by 3 inches high - plus the obligatory bottles of water.

Boarding the Austrian train we found a small lady (Austrian? Slovenian? Croatian?) who spoke no English occupying all three of our reserved seats with her extensive selection of luggage. After many hilarious hand gestures we persuaded her to relocate to another section. 

At the Slovenian / Croatian border we were excited to be offered two passport stamps - one from a jolly Slovenian border guard and the other from a less jolly Croatian lady. A shifty looking man in a hoodie was less lucky and was escorted from the train after extensive radio action by the guard.

The remainder of the journey was to the soundtrack of Katy Perry - played at a level just above annoying by the girls (and their mum) in the next section.

SAGA Saga

'Are we the youngest people on this flight?' I thought as we waited to board the tiny Adrea plane to Ljubljana - a plane so small it was dwarfed by the superfluous air bridge; so small that you had to lean your head to one side to stand up in the toilet; so small that I banged my head on the overhead bin; so small.. you get the picture.

Securing a taxi at the equally pocket sized airport on arrival was easy and we were soon cruising by Lidl, Aldi, Coca Cola ads, McDonalds and other exotic local brands - travel certainly broadens the mind.

Ljubljana's riverside bars thronged with oldies as we pushed away through to Macek Rooms - our base for the next few days. The apartment (on the third floor - no lift) was massive and very convenient for Ljubljana's most lively bar downstairs. This was particularly evident at midnight....

The next day arising bright and very early to the sound of workmen in the adjacent hotel angle-grinding we decided to take a bus to Lake Bled to the sound track of Slovenia's answer to Smooth FM (all 80s, all of the time). More oldies everywhere we looked, we headed off around the lake for a brisk 6km walk. 2km in we stopped for a CocaCola Zero and a plate of chips (for Sarah) before climbing into a rowing boat for a short trip that will be carved on my memory forever. Sat at the prow I was literally inches above the water's surface - closer still when the boat tipped alarmingly.

Back on dry land we continued our circular tour with no further incidents.

Back in Ljubljana and venturing out in the evening prompted two new drink discoveries - Aperol, a sort of low alcohol Campari served as a spritzer, and Union Radler, a grapefruit* and lager shandy mix - also low alcohol (*other fruit flavours available). A clear head needed for the early morning train to Zagreb.