I {heart} Slovenia

Well folks, things have DEFINITELY looked up since I reached Slovenia. Cool mountain breezes, friendly people, and charming surroundings.

Our train from Hungary rolled in around 10:30 last night, and we quickly found our Hostel. It is a university dorm that is a hostel in the summer, so the facilities are so-so, but its a pretty nice place.

Once we dumped our bags, we high-tailed it out to find something to eat. It turns out that there was no dining car on our train (for a 9 hour trip, good planning!) so we were pretty much starving. We walked down the street, and saw a sandwich board with "Pizza" written on it. Sounded just about perfect, so we walked into the tiny restaurant. We intially stopped, because it kind of looked like they were closed. Some kids who looked ready for bed were sitting at the front watching the Olympics on TV, and there wasnt anyone else in the place. But one of the men eagerly waved us in, enthusiastically welcomed us, and sat us down.

He quickly ordered us a beer, barely asking us if we wanted one (dont worry, we did!). We couldnt figure out if he actually worked at the bar...I think he was more a friend of the owner, or maybe a random drunk brother-in-law or something. Soon another man came over, this time looking more like he worked there, and asked us if we wanted food. Hell yes! He recommended "Burek", and I asked him what exactly what that was.

"You dont know Burek? You dont have Burek in Canada?" and he gave me the most disbelieving look. Then he took me back towards the kitchen and showed me what it was.

It turned out to be my new favourite food. It was basically a long flaky pastry filled with meat or cheese (or pizza toppings in our case) and then rolled around in a spiral. Absolutely delicious.

After eating, we were dead tired, and went back to the hostel and crashed.

This morning, we went down to get our breakfast, which was included in the price of the room. It was heaven! Normally when breakfast is included at a hostel they leave out a few bags of bread and a jar of jam. This was much nicer, with tons of bread, toppings, juice, yogurt, cereal. Very nice.

Then we set out for some sightseeing. I am SO glad that we came to Ljubljana, because it is the most charming city in the world. Its not huge, about 200 000 people, but its very beautiful, and the people are amazingly friendly. We wandered around by the river and the wonderful open air market (I did way too much shopping and bought some really cool locally made crafts, and a small bottle of honey schnapps which is to DIE for). Then we walked up the hill to the castle, which was recently renovated, and paid the fee to go up the tower for a breathtaking view of Ljubljana and the surrounding mountains. Also included in that price was a "virtual movie" about the history of Ljubljana, with 3D glasses and everything.

By that point we were getting hungry again, and went to check out a Slovenian restaurant called Sokol that was recommended to us by some Italian guys at breakfast. It turned out to be an excellent recommendation, and we stuffed outselves with wild game, sausages, dumplings, cabbage, and turnips. Topped off, of course, with some of their home-brewed beer. We havent even been in Slovenia for a whole day and we have already had 2 authentically Slovenian meals. Yes, if you havent figured it out already, Slovenia has Hungary beat by a mile!

Todaz we also sorted out today how to get to Bled, a mountain town not far from here, and I also booked a hostel there for 2 nights. I would like to spend some more time in Ljubljana, but I get the feeling that there isnt a HECK of a lot to see here that we havent seen. And Im really looking forward to some country air!

I am going to head back to the hostel for a nap, hopefully stopping by a drug store to get some throat lozenges. Getting a bit of a sore throat that I seriously hope wont turn into a real cold.

Danielle: Slovenia is just east of Italy on the Adriatic...it's the most westerly state of former Yugoslavia.

Mel: Dance lots, keep warm!