Slovenia

Prunes Stuffed With Walnut And Served With Whipped Cream, Traditional Moldavian Dessert

Ljubljana

Downtown Ljubljana as seen from the Dragon Bridge

Ljubljana

Ljubljana is a large city in Slovania which about the size of the state New Jersey. This capital city has a wonderful old town and a castle over looking the city. There is a “funicular” which will take you up to the castle or you can walk. The Ljubljana Funicular Railway is a very modern version which looks like a glass elevator which glides up the mountain on an angle. Therefore, it is not like most of the funiculars in Europe.

Ptuj

Ptuj is nice little city with a castle over looking it. There is a bus which will take you from near the train station to old town which is where you can walk up to the castle from. The woman who was working at the information office was wonderful!.

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Ptuj

Skyline with tower view toward the river

Celje

We took off the next morning for Celje which is pronounced a bit like “See Ya.” We planned on spending the next night in Ptuj (which is pronounced like “Pitoohy”). We looked for hosts in Ptuj but we couldn’t find one on our way to Celje I sent out a few more requests. Luckily, a host got back to us and was able to host us last minute. We ended up staying 2 nights!

We enjoyed visiting the Castle of Celje. It is a partially restored ruin. There was supposed to be a medieval demonstration including knights. What we found was one adult and 2 boys dressed as knights play fighting with their swords and a few others dressed in medieval garb. They were cooking a type of bread over a fire and serving up samples as well as some locally brewed wine. They also had some other actives for kids.

Entrance of Gorizia Castle with statue on the gate

castle entrance gate with statue on the gate

Love lock butcher's footbridge crossing the river

May 8, 2019, was our first night here in Slovania. We are stayed in Ljubjana with a CouchSurfing (CS) host! ? We had a wonderful time with our host. We wandered around old town in the pouring rain but at least we didn’t have our luggage. We walked to dinner at a Slovenian restaurant.

What’s for Dinner?

I ordered the deer steak. What I got was lots of small strips of meat on a plate. When I tasted it I tasted exactly like liver! I don’t mind liver but I wasn’t expecting venison to taste like liver. My CS host agreed it tasted like liver. When I saw the waiter I inquired why my meal tasted like liver and not deer. He quickly apologized as he realized he had place the wrong order for me. He said he would not charge for the liver and bring out the correct order. My mother and our host had almost finished eating by the time my meal arrived. It was good but it didn’t taste like deer or “gamey” at all I was a bit disappointed. When I order an “exotic” meat I like it to taste a bit exotic. 🙂

Lipica

Lipica was the whole goal of our big EU adventure. Lipica is where the Lipizzaner Stallion got it’s name and the oldest stud farm still in existence is there. Lipizzaners are a breed of horse which were breed to be war horses. They are trained to perform many interesting stunts. They are also very interesting as they are born black and as they mature they turn white! They are a stunning site indeed!