Ljubljana - Sat 31st Dec

With work being a virtual ghost town we took the opportunity to have a half day and have lunch at Spitalfield markets and then make our way to Stansted.

After a relatively uneventful flight we landed in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia and home to about 270,000 people. The airport was teeny tiny and against all expectations the airport transfer that Lou organised went off without a hitch and we got to our hotel located in the heart of the city by about 9pm. We dumped our stuff and headed out to the main square which was literally breath-taking. The Christmas markets were in full swing and the lights around the square were so pretty, and then we saw the castle all lit up towering over the city and we were truly impressed. We wandered around for a bit then hunger overtook us and we queued up for the standard hot dog and hamburger that these little stalls sell, in addition to some delicious mulled wine. We returned to our hotel really excited about exploring tomorrow and keen to get a good night's sleep. 

Saturday 31st Dec

We got up reasonably early and sampled the buffet breakfast which wasn't too bad. They had a weird habit of putting all of the leftovers from dinner the night before out for breakfast so along with your eggs and toast you could have cooked vegetables and pasta!

Wrapped in about 7 layers we staggered out the door to begin exploring. We decided to see the square in daylight and it was definitely better at night. We saw Saint Nicholas Cathedral which was originally built in 1262 but was renovated in 1841. From there we wandered into the central market where you could buy such an impressive variety of fruit and veges, I don't know but I had this thought that you wouldn't be able to get things like pineapples and bananas easily in Slovenia but I was wrong. From there we crossed the Dragon Bridge which was built between 1900 and 1901, when the city was part of Austria-Hungary. Some residents nicknamed the bridge "mother-in-law" in reference to the fearsome dragons on its four corners.
 

Next was the Butchers' Bridge which is decorated with the works by the Slovenian sculptor Jakov Brdar. Shortly after the opening of the bridge padlocks of couples in love started appearing on its steel wires, symbolizing declarations of eternal love. 

From there we found a walking track up through the park to the castle on top of the hill. The area surrounding today's castle has been continuously inhabited since 1200 BC. The hill summit probably became a Roman army stronghold after fortifications were built in Illyrian and Celtic times. In the 15th century, the fortress was almost completely demolished and the present castle was built and furnished with towers. Its purpose was to defend the empire against Ottoman invasion as well as peasant revolt. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle became an arsenal and a military hospital. It was damaged during the Napoleonic period and, once back in the Austrian Empire, became a prison, which it remained until 1905, resuming that function during World War II. The castle's Outlook Tower dates to 1848; this was inhabited by a guard whose duty it was to fire cannons warning the city in case of fire or announcing important visitors or events. 

We paid our admission and wandered around, it wasn't much of a castle really, but had some good viewpoints over the city. We fortified ourselves with some coffee and hot chocolate (which was literally melted chocolate), and then we were off again to Tivoli Park, on the other side of the river. The park was laid out during the French imperial administration of Ljubljana in 1813 and named after the Parisian Jardins de Tivoli. The main reason we headed out this way was to go to the Hot Horse café which as the name suggests sells horse burgers. Alas it was closed, which was a bit of a relief really as Lou was still struggling to figure out the ethical dilemma of eating a horse. 

So instead for lunch we came across this amazing little restaurant which was one of the highlights of our trip, the menu was all in Slovenian but the waiter spoke perfect English and basically said that we should have the 3 course set menu…we were hesitant and then Lou asked the price and we both agreed that the 8 Euros each was worth it! Unbelievably cheap, we had onion soup, a gorgeous salad and shared the mains of pork fillet and vegetable pasta and finished up with a fruit platter. Hamish also took the opportunity to sample the local brew, Union, which was extremely good as well. 

Feeling slightly food drunk and sleepy we stumbled out into the daylight and made the call to try and find somewhere to have a special New Year's Eve dinner that night. Unfortunately almost everywhere was booked up and the places that weren't only did set menus starting at 60 euros each which was just too steep. So we gave up and decided we would have Christmas market food for dinner and have a nice meal out the following day.

As it was New Year's eve we thought we should sample some of the local wine so we grabbed a bottle of Slovenian red wine (not just a normal bottle, a litre bottle) for a grand total of about $NZD 4…amazing. We settled in our hotel room and had a few drinks trying to conserve as much heat as possible before heading out again to the minus 4 degree temps. Lou has never worn so many clothes, 4 layers of thermals was the last count.

We repeated last night's dinner but this time splashed out and got some chips and we treated ourselves to a waffle for pudding as well. Lou also got a bit crazy and tried the Radler version of the Union beer, grapefruit flavour which was delicious. We kind of wandered around, unsure of what was going to happen, and then at about 11.50pm when Lou's body was literally aching with cold, we gathered with the rest of the Ljubljana locals outside the big clock and waited. The fireworks were incredible, a lot of people had brought bottles of champagne and at midnight they all popped them open, and everyone was just very jolly (i.e. drunk). No countdown though which was a bit of a shame, but I guess that’s because the town clock doesn't have a second's hand. So midnight had come and gone and we ducked around the corner to our hotel and went straight to sleep. I tell you what, being cold really makes you very tired!

Highlight: The lights, the fireworks, the mulled wine and the waffles. All magical
Lowlight: It was sooooo cold (for old lady Lou)!!!!
Interesting Fact: Slovenia is bordered by 4 countries, Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia.