Slovenia

At the end of September, I got to go with the school on a trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia.  We did a weekend bus trip there with a group of students, and it was great! I loved Ljubljana, and would definitely consider moving there, if they ever needed student affairs personnel.

A square in downtown Ljubljana

We stayed in a really nice hotel, close to the center of town, and because we were the staff for the group, our rooms had balconies, which was awesome! We arrived pretty late on Thursday evening, so we checked everyone in, and then called it a night.

View of Ljubljana from the Castle

Friday morning we did a walking tour of Ljubljana, which is the capital of Slovenia. Our guide was lovely and knowledgeable, and we walked all through the town, ending up at a castle on a hill. The major made the decision to make the center of town pedestrian only, which really makes it seem open and accessible. I met up with Shelley and Linda after the tour (we had separated into different groups with the students), and we had a little light lunch and then wandered around the center some more.

In the afternoon we met up with some students who chose to participate in the optional tour to the City Museum of Ljubljana. It takes you through the complete history of Slovenia and Ljubljana, and it was really interesting. Especially the last century or so. During World War II, the republic of Lljubljana was under Italian rule and they literally put up a barbed wire fence surrounding the entire city and cutting it off from everything else. Pieces of that fence are on display in the museum.

Tiny car that used to have a huge waitlist during the Communist Era.

Inside the tiny car!

After the tour, I did some shopping, as there were bookstores and pharmacy/drug store places that had things I can't get in Italy. That night Shelley, Linda, and I went to this amazing restaurant that they had found on a previous trip to Ljubljana. We all had this incredible dish with a honey truffle sauce that was just spectacular. Mmmm. My mouth is watering right now just remembering it.

The pletna boats on their way to the island of Bled

On Saturday we did a day trip to Bled, which is a much smaller town in the north of Slovenia. We started the day with a boat trip to the island of Bled, on these special boats called Pletnas. We were rowed over to the island, which has a church at the top of a steep flight of stairs. We all got a chance to ring the church bells, which was fun!

The Bell Tower

We then did a hike through Vintgar Gorge, which was beautiful. And following that we had lunch in Bled before getting back on the bus to head back to Ljubljana. It was really nice to be able to spend a day outside of a city, surrounded by green.

That night Shelley, Linda, and I tried a new restaurant, and the food was as good, if not better, than the night before!! We all tried different things, and no one was disappointed. However, the service was not that great. Our waiter was really strange. I think he was trying to be funny/charming because we were three ladies, but it did not come across that way at all, and was instead patronizing and irritating. Pity.

Sunday morning we stopped to tour the Postojna Caves, which were HUGE and incredible. We took a mining cart-type train quite far down, and then walked around for about an hour, and we only saw a tiny part of the caves. It was awesome!! Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed.

Slovenia was a really awesome trip, all in all. I would most likely never have gone there on my own, and I am so, so happy that I got to go through the school. Man, I love my job :)