A Lazy day in Ljubljana, Slovenia

We awoke, clean and refreshed, to a beautiful, sunny, Ljubljana day.  We took another shower (thinking forward to the night, when we would have yet another overnight train) and went downstairs for our complimentary breakfast of cereals, meats, cheeses, and eggs.

A note on our hostel: it was constructed by Austro-Hungarian soldiers in 1882, and used as a military prison until 1991.  Our room had bars on it, and was left as it would have been (but a lot cleaner and brighter) as a prison.  Despite the history, it has a very vibrant community built up around it, and every night there is some activity going on in the hostel amongst its young clientele group.

Our room, or cell, in Hostel Celica.

Earlier in the day, James scared Erin by telling her that the hostel didn't have walls - only steel bars.  To Erin's delight, the room actually did have walls and was very nice.

After packing up, checking out and pac-safing our bags in the luggage room, we walked out into the sunshine.  We first headed to Ljubljana’s Dragon’s Bridge, where Tabitha first met the mother of all scary dragons, and then made friends with someone her own size:

Tabitha, on the Dragon Bridge.

A view from the Dragon Bridge looking up at the Castle in the distance.

From the Dragon’s Bridge we walked through the Flower, Fish and Fruit markets in Vodnikov Square, and stopped in the tourist office for information about the city – as well as a well-marked map:

One of the many food stalls in the Ljubljana open-air market.

How many varieties of cabbage do you need?

Vodnikov Square is very close to the base of the Orlov Mountain, on whose summit sits Ljubljanski Castle.  We could have taken a dedicated train to the top of the Mountain, but we knew that even though it was sunny out, it was still chilly, and that our outdoor time today would be limited.  To maximize our exercise, we decided to climb the hill.  It was well worth the effort – it was an absolutely beautiful climb, filled with as much fall color and views as we would have liked:

The approach to Ljubljana Castle.

Once at the castle, we set out exploring.  We saw an art gallery housed within one of the castle’s subterranean  rooms, comprised of a photo exhibit and an interesting “candle-like” grotto:

One of the art installations - this one in the "grotto."

Tabitha takes up residence in Ljubljana Castle's courtyard.

After the gallery, we found the castle’s viewing tower.  After yet another climb, this one up  a circular staircase, we arrived at the best views of Ljubljana we’ve seen:

James and Erin on the top of the Castle.

A view down from the Castle onto the whole of Ljubljana.

James walking back down from the Castle - we have definitely enjoyed seeing the Fall colors.

We descended the tower, and walked along the Ljubljanica river, where we saw a number of small cafes and lots and lots of people out walking.  We again crossed the river and headed west towards Tivoli park.  We saw the house of the US Ambassador (and were again told not to take photos, this time with a wave across the street) and also glimpsed the cultural center of Ljubljana, its dance and music theatres.

Erin and James steal a kiss on one of the many Ljubljana bridges.

We were in no hurry, as our train this evening would not leave until close to midnight.  We walked through some malls, and escaped the cold for a bit in a very-high-end four-story boutique.  We had heard of a recommendation for a meal from “Romeo Plus.”  Once we were hungry enough, we made our way back to the river to Romeo, which sits close to its sister restaurant, Julia (exactly – Romeo and Juliet).  We both ordered salads, and they were absolutely terrific:

Our sister salads at Romeo Plus.

As the sun began to set, we crossed the "Lock" bridge - there were hundreds of locks left on the bridge from prior crossers.

As it got cold at night, the outdoor cafes each had blankets and heaters at each table.

After dinner, we wandered some more, but as the sun began to set, the cold set in, and we escaped back to our hostel to sit down and finish catching up on our blogging and work.

Zome (some) Rain in Zagreb

As usual on these trips, we arrived in Zagreb, Croatia, very early in the morning (4:40am to be exact).  We had planned on holing up in the railroad station until McDonald’s opened (our now-traditional way to start our very early mornings), and we quickly scanned the station when we arrived.  Several things were quickly apparent.  First, the lockers that we would use to hold our bags were in the station (a plus), but the lockers used change – and that was Croatia-specific change.  Second, we would have to change money – but the ATM in the station was out of service, and the exchange office did not open until 7. 

We hunkered down in a hallway in the railstation, as it was too dark to head outside, and it was nominally warmer inside the hallway.  We figured it was one of the warmest, free places around, since many of the benches were filled with Zagreb’s homeless population.  Erin was particularly frustrated by the situation this morning - due to fatigue (overnight trains do not provide a perfect night's sleep), and lack of clean bathroom and showering facilities.  James did his best to remind her that this was (almost) the last overnight train, and that a shower was just around the corner.  We curled up together on one of the benches and waited for the sun to come up, and for the currency exchange to open.
 

A view from outside the hallway we spent our morning sitting in.  Notice the man scrounging for cans wearing a Michigan jacket...

Once our baggage was squared away, we headed off into the city to find the McDonald’s where we hoped to warm up and plan out the rest of our day.  We had gotten  a tourist map from the exchange office in the train station, and James tried to pair that with the map he had downloaded onto his Kindle.  We set off, and did not see the McDonald’s where the map indicated.  We walked to a Sheraton to momentarily warm up, and then started back towards the rail station.  After that path was fruitless, we tried a third way into the city – with still no success.  At this point, Erin made a case for a breakfast at the Sheraton (and the attendant warmth), but James finally spotted the McDonald’s sign literally above Erin’s shoulder at this point in the road.  Our breakfast was set, and we planned out the rest of our day.

McDonald's in Zagreb - finally - and very welcome indeed.

Zagreb, like may eastern European cities, has an “Old” and “New” town set-up.  The vast majority of the tourist activities are centered on the Old town in these cases, and Zagreb was no exception – except that it calls its Old Town “The Upper Town.”  Our first stop was the Zageb Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was undergoing some renovations.  We took a moment for some pictures outside, including one with Tabitha. Inside, we were also surprised to discover the glass tomb of one of the Cathedral's previous leaders, Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.

The Zagreb Cathedral, the tallest building in Croatia.

Tabitha jumps into a picture of the Zagreb Cathedral.

The Tomb of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.

We left the Cathedral and crossed one block to Zagreb’s central Dolac open-air market, where we viewed the clothing and food options from all over Croatia.  We also bought a postcard to send to the students who are learning about different countries from our trip.  We were pleasantly surprised by how clean and well-maintained the city of Zagreb was.  From the outdoor market, we walked down Tkalciceva street, looking at the “bohemian” section of town, which at this point, is primarily restaurants and little gift shops. 

James takes a "Plazma" biscuit break in the square before heading to the market.  Erin found this particularly entertaining that James was eating "plasma."

Erin was seeking the “Bloody Bridge,” connecting Tkalciceva with Radiceva street, that she had read about in her tourist materials.  We were disappointed to find out that the “bridge” was just a crosswalk; however, we did see this medieval archway.

The medieval arch in Radiceva street.

On our way into the main center of political life in Zagreb, we passed through the Stone Gate, a tunnel under a building that also doubles as a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  One minute we were walking through a street, the next we were in the middle of an actual church service!

The Virgin Mary Chapel - on the street.

From the Stone Gate, we walked to the Square of the Church of St. Mark, a church built in the 13^th century with a very stylized roof.  Erin took one look and dubbed it the “Lego Church” and James agreed. 

The Church of St. Mark - you can see the brightly-colored roof looks a bit like legos. 

It’s easy to see why when you look at the church, especially when there is no one else in the square:

We were a bit surprised that the square was literally empty.

We stopped for a picture in front of the Church of St. Mark.  (If you are especially observant, you will notice that we are, in fact, wearing the same clothing for the third day in a row).

We believe there were three reasons for the empty square.  First, the church was closed to visitors (we know, because we checked all the entrances).  Second, it was raining, and it rained pretty much all day.  Third, there were transportation problems leading up to the square.  This was the next item of contemporary Zagreb we stumbled upon: as we were walking away from St. Mark’s, we found that the streets were clogged with taxis.  Taxi after taxi was parked, filling up all the streets all the way to Zagreb’s city assembly building. We saw some news cameras and a group of men shouting loudly, and James confirmed with a police officer that it was a taxi-cab strike in the city.

The taxi-strike in Zagreb - there were hundreds of taxis lining the streets around the Church of St. Mark.

We headed down from the Upper Town, passing a number of interestingly-named Zagreb museums on our way.  The Museum of Naïve Art simply stands for self-taught or “folk” artists; we think the name of the Museum of Broken Relationships speaks for itself.

Zagreb had some interesting museums: one of which was the Museum of Naive Art.

Another interesting museum we passed: The Museum of Broken Relationships.

The path down led us to Ban Jelacic Square, the center of Zagreb city life, bustling with workers going to and from work, people taking their lunches, and still more taxis heading north to the strike.  We walked down to the Zrinjevac portion of town to take a look at the imposing museums and government buildings, but as we did, we ran into the real difficulty of visiting Zagreb – the rain that day.  We walked to the post office and assessed our day, and even considered going to a movie to wait out the rain.

The Croation National Theater - yellow in color, which seemed to be a common color for buildings in Zagreb.

After the rain let up, we meandered through some Zagreb stores before heading back to the Main Railway Station, which sits across from the statue of King Tomislav.  While we were not ecstatic that we were getting back on a train, we were happy to escape the constant drizzle and thrilled that we would not be on this train overnight.  We met some Americans studying abroad on the train, and arrived safe and sound in Ljubljana, Slovenia, around 9pm.  There was some slight confusion on our walk to the hostel, but we made it to our room to orient ourselves and take our first shower in days!  We also took the opportunity to do some laundry, and before it got too late, we were both soundly asleep.

There was actually grafitti on our train from Croatia to Slovenia!

The Beograde Drizzle

Today began as a cold, bleak morning in Beograd (or Belgrade - the two are used interchangeably).  We stepped off the train around 4:45 am (yikes!), and quickly surveyed the landscape.  The train station was empty and cold (nothing like the amazing train stations in England, France, and Germany that we have seen).  It took a bit of doing, but for the second day in a row, we found storage for our packs in a nearby bus terminal.  James first had to change money, and Erin took the opportunity to reorganize her pack and bag. 

We had downloaded and saved directions to the closest McDonald's, but the street names were all in Cyrillic, and we saw an advertisement for McDonald's (not the nearest one) immediately outside the railroad station, indicating a location 1,000 meters away.  This was true, and the walk was interesting, as we passed by at least one survivor of some of the political in-fighting Serbia has suffered in recent years:

A down-town building still shows the scars of war.

We found the McDonald's - and also found that it was closed.  There was literally no place open with any kind of seats or heat until 7am - which was disapointing and also scary.  We stayed huddled on a park bench until we could make it into McDonald's.  Finally, it opened and we were the first people inside!  We ordered food, freshened up to the best of our abilities, and then waited for the city of Beograd to lighten and (hopefully) warm up.  (You may notice that we are starting to look a bit more "grungy" than normal...That is what happens when you take two overnight trains in a row, without access to showers or clean bathrooms).

It never got too warm, because the sky stayed overcast and somewhat rainy all day.  The rain was a disappointment, but it never rained hard enough to circumvent our plans.  James had picked up a tourist map when converting money, and we used the map to walk from the McDonald's into the main "shopping" center of Beograd, where we found the tourist office.  We received a list of sights around the city, and we were off!

The first "sight" was an impromptu shopping center right outside McDonald's on cars parked in the street!

We began with a tour of Belgrade's Fortress, in Belgrade's Kalemegdan Park.  The Fortress was very impressive at a brute-force level, but it is clear that Serbia is further behind than, say, the UK in converting their history into tourist-profits.  We saw what buildings have already been restored, as well as the in-process work happening in the Fortress's outbuildings:

Tabitha took up residence as one of the castle guards.

Tabitha made friends with one of the castle's real lion guardians.

Erin and James risking life and limb to take the perfect photo high atop the castle's grounds.

We ponder where well be traveling next...

Tabitha joins the pantheon of past Castle greats.

One of the art installations on the castle grounds.  That watermelon's for sitting!

Erin and James before the tower's drum gate.

There was a reason the maps are so difficult to follow...

It started to rain as we finished our long exploration of the Fortress, so we took a quick break and went to the Knez Milhailova shopping district - specifically to sit down in the one of Beograde's dry malls.  On the way, we searched out a post office to send a postcard, and also wandered through part of the University of Belgrade in search of bathrooms (as they often cost money to use, we have become savvy free-bathroom-seekers).



One of the mall stores - so close to the "perfect" name for a store!  (That's "Bomba," btw)



Our bird's eye view of the mall.

At the mall, we reviewed our train itinerary and mapped out the rest of the day, and when our break was done, we were off to the Skadarlija district, or Belgrade's true "tourist" destination.  Serbia has done extensive work in building up the cobblestone streets of Skadarlija, and it is now home to many tourist-oriented cafes, stores, and no cars.  We carefully walked up and down the length of the street, enjoying the sights and sounds of those tourists brave enough to weather the light drizzle coating the city:

James and Erin pose with a permanent resident of Skadarlija.

After Skadarlija, Erin took the reigns over completely and ran us through the remainder of Belgrade's tourist "hot-spots" before dinner, ending with a look to where we are:

Not only where we are - but where we've been, and where we have yet to go...

We ended our tour of Beograd by being "bad American" tourists - and bookending our culinary experience with a visit to Pizza Hut.  In our defense, they were one of the few places that advertised free internet access, and Erin's job (as well as the blog postings) depends on that access.  James was not sure how to tip on the bill, as it came to 1,200 Dinar (or about $15.60) - the waiter suggested re-doing a credit card charge, and James used his suggestion to the penny.  The waiter was then embarrassed that he had asked for too much (his $2.65 tip) and despite James's entreaty, brought back some change.

Outside the Pizza Hut, another impromptu shopping center - this was books sold from cars.

While it may not look pretty (and it wasn't), this was considered a "class" that we paid for - and even got a "goody-bag" of a bottle of water, a bar of soap, and a wet-wipe.  Also, the light in our cabin stopped working shortly after we boarded, and we had to unpack in the dark until the conductor fixed it.  Traveling in Eastern Europe is certainly an adventure...

After dinner, we made our traditional grocery-store run, picked up our bags, and boarded our (third-in-a-row!) overnight train to Ljlubjana.

Our "class" included water on the cabin floor.

What our cabin looked like when the light was working.