It's not you, it's the night train

On Thursday evening I met Katherine again. Predictably this meant the start of an adventure. It all began in Münich Hbf, having spent the previous six hours whizzing backwards through Germany at 250 km/h on the ICE train from Bad Salzdetfurth. I had a couple of hours to explore Munich before Katherine arrived, and then we had another couple of hours to wait until our train departed. The train in question was the Lisinski, a night train from Munich to Ljubljana. Armed with 1,5 litres of ice tea and a blanket we hopped on the train and discovered that there were no other reservations in our cabin so we could both lie down and actually sleep. Well, sleep as well as you can on a night train. The trains stop and start intermittently, pull into the sidings for a break and are very noisy. Combined with a constant awareness of who is moving around while you sleep, the nights don't tend to be particularly refreshing.

We arrived in Ljubljana at 6:55am, and in standard Lucy and Katherine fashion headed straight to the bus station to buy a return ticket to Lake Bled. Because 13 hours of travel is clearly not enough.

Lake Bled

The colour of the water doesn't show up in the photos but it was a stunning emerald green. Snow capped mountains, emerald lake, castle, historic church on the island in the middle. A fairytale.

Lake Bled

Fortunately there were very few people around, so we ambled from bench to bench for a couple of hours before getting the bus back to Ljubljana.

After a brief stop to grab lunch we walked into downtown Ljubljana: Prešernov trg square, with the Franciscan Church and Tromostovje (Triple Bridge). We had a wander round the city centre, not just because it was actually a nice temperature to wander!

Stritarjeva ulica // Franciscan church // Ljubljanica // Market

Ljubljanski grad [Ljubljana Castle] is the place to go for stunning views of the city and is pretty impressive itself. We got the funicular to the top which was brilliant, aside from us pushing the buttons to try and make it work ourselves...oops. The castle is home to a museum of Slovenian history, a short film detailing the history of the castle and of course a good tower to climb. The view over the city and to the mountains beyond is certainly impressive.

Ljubljanski grad

The Ljubljana exploration continued with a visit to the town hall, assorted churches, the market and various other bridges. A sit down was required so we had ice cream and sat by the River Ljubljanica... how civilised!

I usually don't bother to write about our accommodation but I'm making an exception here. We stayed in the Celica hostel (celica translates as cell, which makes considering that the hostel is a former military prison). Built in Austro-Hungarian times, and in use until 1991 (when Slovenia gained independence) the building was due to be destroyed. It was protected by a group of artists and after years of struggling with the authorities the building was developed into a hostel. Twenty of the cells were converted into rooms, and it was one of these we stayed in.

Each cell was designed by a different artist. Our room, 119, was by Anthony Gormley. We found our room (or should that be cell) slightly disconcerting, firstly because there were dozens of screaming clay figures under a glass panel in the floor and secondly because to get into bed you had to climb up a vertical ladder and then across a second glass panel. Eeek. It was a hostel like no other, and a fascinating place to stay.

Room 119

The following day (yes that was really all Friday!) we went on another excursion, this time to the Škocjan Caves. What should have been an okay train journey descended into a replacement bus service spectacular. The villages were far too small for our bus and it became like a TopGear challenge: "you will now drive your bus along this narrow unfinished road, avoiding the tractors. Backwards". There were even spectators. And to make matters worse, we didn't seem to be getting anywhere; all the stations were all called Postaja. Somehow we made it to Divača, and looked confused enough that someone pointed us in the direction of the shuttle bus to the caves.

The Škocjan Caves were incredible. The system includes various caves, passages, natural bridges and sinkholes; all formed by the Reka River. The river still flows through the caves, so visitors walk along a path cut into the side. This path is lit at floor level, and snakes away into darkness, giving an idea of how vast the cave is. In fact the caves are the biggest in Europe: up to 150 metres high. Photography is not allowed so you'll all just have to visit for yourselves!

Škocjan Caves

Then came the unenviable task of getting back to Ljubljana. Miraculously the shuttle bus arrived, as did the replacement bus service and we got back without any problems (and much faster than the outward journey). This obviously called for a celebratory vanilla milkshake by the river. The main street has such a lovely atmosphere from late afternoon into evening.We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering because the weather was sunny and lovely. At tea time we ordered identical meals once again because it is just easier that way. Our Slovenian experience finished sitting by the river with a cocktail... not bad for March!  It was soon time to walk back to the station for our train back to Munich, our second night train in three nights. It was typically bizarre, being a night train and all, but uneventful.

Another adventure over... aside from the six hours back to Badse!