A cool shot of us making the transition from our train at the Slovenia border with Mrs. Crabtree and the guy who sold us our tickets.
We awaken to a fantastic breakfast presentation from Alessandro: toast with two different kinds of jam, lox on toast, and bruschetta, plus many juice choices, coffee or tea, Nutella...well honestly I can't remember it all. I took a bite of the ham and cheese panini and he yells "NO-a STOP-a!" ...and he and Sierra stare at me until I un-clamp my teeth and hand him the sandwich he's motioning for, so that he can toast it. Apparently it is of the utmost importance that it's served warm...and mine is toasted with a comical set of teeth marks on one corner. The other houseguests wake up--a nice Irishman and a somewhat cold canadian from Toronto. After some less-than-successful attempts at conversation we hop on our train to Trieste, a smaller Italian town around the bend towards the Balkans.
An italian couple was staring awkwardly at Sierra when we boarded, and when she takes off her sweater and is in a tank top, the girl says "mamma Mia!" The first bit of that train ride was a little awkward while I tried to block the view. While Sierra gets a nap in, I read about Slovenia and look at the instructions on how to get there. It's not an easy switch:
1. Walk to the main piazza in Trieste
2. Ride the cool old tram up the hill
3. Walk 10 min to Villa Opiscina
4. Ride the train 10 min to Sezana, just over the border of Slovenia
5. Wait an hour then take a 2-hr train ride to Ljubljana
We have about an hour and a half till our train leaves so we take our time and have a quick Cappucino. Then it occurs to me that if we miss the second tram (comes every 20 min) it will be hard to catch the train to Sezana. So we rush and actually jump on the tram with 2 minutes to spare.
I'm like a little boy on a cool old train...and Sierra doesn't miss the opportunity to make fun of me for it. The train starts out normally, then connects to a "drogue" which pushes it up the hill at about a 30-40 degree angle. We take some cool pics and I accidentally film my feet instead of the passing tram on the hill, then we jump off at the town atop the hill.
Time to get excited for an old-fashioned train ride!
Villa Opiscina feels like a nice, quaint little suburb and reminds me a little of some London suburbs. We walk through town following the map I downloaded--my Australian friend Jamen taught me that GPS works without an Internet or cellular connection as long as you've downloaded the map in advance--this has served us really well on the trip!
We come across a haggard looking woman who looks like the bus driver from South Park, Mrs. Crabtree, except without a bird perched in her hair. Mrs. Crabtree says "Ljubljana" and we nod, so she waves for us to follow her. We arrive with 5 min to spare, so I'm happy we didn't miss tram #2!
It's a nice train for such a short ride. It's mostly empty and the guy who sells us tickets is really helpful. I didn't understand exactly what he said (something about "bus" "train" and "Ljubljana"), but figured I should do what he says. At the Sezana station he tells us to pay the lady at the window in the station (the only person in the building), and then he walks us out to a bus that appears to be waiting for us. We were supposed to have to wait an hour and take a train, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? It's sunny out and we take off for what we hope is Ljubljana.
Rare footage of Sierra awake on a bus.
The ride is weird because we keep driving well off the major freeway to stop at little stations and drop people off. But it's lovely countryside and we see hundreds of the hay racks that Rick Steves says are a proud item for Slovenians. There is a lot of snow, many hills, and a more Alpine style of house. I check our map for some familiar city names and find we're on the right track.
We arrive in Ljubljana an hour early at about 2:30, and Sierra and I decide to walk the 1.5 miles to the house instead of calling a cab or waiting for Anja (our host) to get off of work. At first we're unimpressed with the area near the train station, until we get to the river: it's the trendy town center, lined with hip cafes and local hangouts, and a complementary mix of classic and modern walking bridges.
Their trash cans consist of 6 big bins spaced evenly, 4 of which are a different type of recycling. There are bike paths everywhere and it's very clean. We're a little rough-looking compared to most here (think fancy Aspen-esque furry ski jackets), but we're hungry. The first thing we try is a wrap--and it may not seem all that exotic but it was delicious. So we're starting to think this place might be alright. I have a beer and Sierra has a coffee, and we ask our waiter how to say thanks. It's "kvala" ...I tell Sierra I think it sounds like "Koala" and she later catches herself almost saying "Panda" to the waiter. It's understandable to confuse such adorable bear types.
We walk onward and pass lots of funky-looking spots. There are things that make Ljubjana feel like the Portland of Europe: artsy, great food, clean, into recycling, bicycling, and beautiful scenery with the river and the Julian Alps in the distance. It's about 200,000 people so it has a nice feel to it.
We roll into the house at 5:30 and our host, Anja, had just arrived home and lets us in. As an awesome train-related sidenote--the house next door has two rusty locomotives that look 100 years old parked in the yard. Anja tells us how her parents moved to the countryside, and they apparently bulldozed the house and put in its place a 4-story, modern but cool (tons of windows facing west) house. Her sister has a unit that is the bottom two floors, and she and her boyfriend Teo have the top two. Anja was sweet and very helpful. She has cool hair and a sporty-yet-European look to her, but she sits and offers us peanut brittle and water and beer, etc. We felt like old friends rather than guests at a hotel. She tells us about her three jobs:
1. She teaches Spanish to kindergartners
2. She works on a program called "books in trees" where they are trying to put bookshelves in parks to encourage kids to read and be in nature (and I suppose away from devices)
3. She has worked with refugees for 4 years, helping them find asylum or jobs or whatever they can do to help. Although she says it is a frustrating job.
She recommends a place 5 blocks away for dinner, and it was definitely the best we have had all trip. Our friendly waitress, "Sylvia" (probably spelled "Silvja" is my guess) brings us some very good house wine and tells us how their menu changes daily based on what is freshest in the market. We start with two awesome soups, and Sierra noted hers was the most delicious split pea she's ever had. Travis had "dumplings with game ragu" and Sierra had salad and risotto with veggies. It was all fantastic and uniquely flavored. The Slovenians really have cold weather down--we'd been longing for a fire and some comfort food and they don't exist in Italy, but it only took one wintry night in Ljubljana. It was a chill, cozy atmosphere with smooth funk playing, and we were happy.
Quote of the night:
Sierra: "I'm surprised I'm not obese yet"
Travis: "Totally"
We roll each other home and hit the sack, ready for our adventure up north tomorrow.
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