Slovenia - Ljubljana and Bled

The next day we were up at 6.30, bags out at 7.00, breakfasted and on the road at 8.00.
Destination Bled in Slovenia.
There was no border control and we drove through. The weather was pretty grim, not just showers today but rain, sometimes it was quite slow going on the roads as the showers became heavy. The scenery changed as we went into Slovenia, you knew that you were no longer in Italy. The small holdings were more productive and the evidence of the old 'regime' was there in that every village, community or small town had some common business of employment,  concrete works, farm, wood working etc.

We had a quick morning tea and pee stop before arriving in Ljubljana around 1.00pm. We donned our shower proofs but soon got quite wet as they were just that - 'shower' proof and not 'rain' proof.

                          this was outside the Ljubjlana puppet theatre, near the funicular station.

We trudged behind our lovely local guide through the streets and then took the funicular railway up to the castle. There was a very good 'virtual tour' presentation and then we explored the castle a little, it was a shame it was raining because there was a great view from up there.

Soon we headed down the hill for a wet walking tour of the old quarter of Lubjiana.

Due to the weather, we had arrived about an hour late to start our tour, and our guide was determined to show us everything, so it was around 2.30pm when we finished. Several people were in real need of food, us included so as soon as the guide said 'that's it' we were off to a nice restaurant that we'd past earlier. We raced along with Ralph and Hanny and found that we were following Jenny and Peter from our group. We got a table for 6, ordered beers and then lunch. Soup is always welcome on a cold wet day. I ordered onion soup in a bread cup. Not only did it look spectacular it tasted great too. I then had venison pate, strong tasting and delicious. Michael loves a fry up so went for the local version - which included a turnip pattie and sauerkraut, it was enormous (he didn't /couldn't eat it all) and although the white pudding was excelllent he was a little disappointed in the black pudding.
 (Have decided to take photos of the more spectacular meals, so you can see what I mean.)

We dragged lunch out until around 3.45 and then went out to have a quick walk along the main street.

 It had stopped raining, and we had a very pleasant stroll long the streets, then down to the river and back to our meeting place.

 Parked outside an hotel was an old Rolls Royce that 2 Dutch guys were driving around the world, I took photos but was miffed to see that his around Australia section did not include Perth.

We left Lubjiana and drove on to Bled. There was white stuff ontop of the mountains (which were getting closer) and I don't think it's icing sugar!

Our tour manager, Antonia, prepared us for the first sight of the lake as we drove into the town of Bled. She was right, it was one of those WOW! moments.
Absolutely breathtaking - the only sound on the bus was of camera shutters.

Our hotel was on the shore of the lake with absolutely splendid views. No one had a lake side room but we weren't going to be spending a lot of time in the room. There was a balcony at the end of the corridor (next to our room), with table and chairs which looked out over the lake to the church on the island, a great place to relax with a glass or two.

We checked in around 5.30pm and were all down in the lobby at 6.30 to walk alongside the lake to our restaurant for dinner.  It was a nice dinner, but not a memorable one, none of the dishes merited a photo.
We had a lovely stroll back to the hotel, enjoying a european evening.

                                                (a pity about the crane up at the castle)



It was Eurovision night but no one we spoke to shared our enthusiasm. We went to our room and found the tv station broadcasting the show and were lucky enough to catch Australia's entry. We also saw the favourite, Sweden - a very good song. We couldn't keep our eyes open to watch the whole show and then the scores so we switched off and were soon asleep.

The next day we were up at 7.20 and then down to a lavish breakfast - they even had champagne!! The dining rrom was on the lake side and it was hard to move away from the table and the views.

We boarded the coach for a very short drive along the lake to the boat moorings, and a trip across to Bled Island, the island in the middle of the lake. As we got off the coach, a local guide met us and we had a short walk passing Tito's summer palace which is now an hotel.

We split into 2 groups and carefully boarded the little boats. These Pletna boats are the traditional boats of this area. Our boatman had made his own boat, and had been paddling / an oarsman for over 30 years. His son was manning the other boat.

Here is the legend about the creation of Bled Island ( copied directly from the Bled Island visitor pass )-
 According to a folk legend Bled Island was formed a long time ago from pastures and meadows where a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary stood on a low hill.The sheep that grazed on the pasture would often wander into the open chapel, but the locals were completely indifferent to the fact that animals were desecrating a place of worship. Despite Divine warnings to build a fence around the chapel, the people did nothing. Finally God flooded the pastures in order to protect the sacred place.

The way up to the church is to climb 99 steps.
Tradition has it that when getting married in the church the groom has to carry the bride up the steps to the church. The girls are keener on maintaining the tradition than the boys.
We all got up there, got our breath back and went into the lovely little church. Here there is another tradition - if you ring the bell 3 times and make a wish, you wish will be granted.
I queued and pulled the bell rope - don't want to risk it not being true.

Most people only get 30 minutes on the island but our tour manager treated the boatman to morning tea and we got an extra 15 minutes on this idyllic little spot.

                                                                      (Swan - Lake)


Then we were up at the castle with all the other tourists, hordes of them and it's only the start of the season.

 We saw a very quick demonstration of printing on hand made paper, on a 1000 year old printing press and then we had a bit of free time to wander before heading back.

An English school choir was touring the area and were performing in the main square of the castle (they had given a little concert at the hotel last night).
They were rather good, we especially enjoyed Alexander's Rag time Band.


We were back at the hotel just after 12 noon, so nice and early for lunch. We walked into town and sat outside at a little cafe, enjoying a Greek Salad and a Chicken Wrap. The local beers are very smooth, and cheap so we had a 'grandee' each.

Then I made Michael do a little window shopping which turned into shopping and my first souvenir purchase. A lovely little ceramic cat - not a specific Bled souvenir, but it will always remind me of this beautiful place.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and dinner was back at the same cafe for a burger, a schnitzel and more beer. Several of the group wandered past and we were soon a group of 8 for dinner.
Then back to watch a bit of telly, if we could find an English programme other than CNN news.

Slovenia is really lovely, clean air and beautiful scenery. We could have spent another couple of days in Bled, especially at the Grand Toplice Hotel, such grand surroundings on the lake side and the amazing back drop of the mountains.
But... time to move on into Croatia.

Venice - it's raining (and the streets are flooded.)

Let the tour commence.....
We were up around 7 am feeling quite well refreshed and ready for the day. The view from the window showed that there were 2 cruise ships in town, and by the time we were ready to go down to breakfast a 3rd ship was arriving.

Breakfasts are one of the things we love about hotels, and the spread at the Anthony Hotel was great. Choice of juices, cereals and yoghurts, breads, cheeses and meats, bacon, eggs, sausage and so many sweet pastries. Michael adopted a European appetite and went for cold meats, cheeses and breads. I had scrambled egg on toast and bacon.

At 8.45 we were all gathered in the hotel lobby and went outside into a drizzly, wet day and boarded a convoy of mini buses to head down to the ferry terminus.  We were met by a local guide who arranged water taxis for us and we were divided into small groups and climbed aboard the little boats. We were off, across the water from Mestre over to Venice. Then we were cruising past magnificent buildings, other boats of varying sizes and watching the industry on the canal banks. It was fascinating to see water Fire Brigades, Ambulances, furniture / food. supplies and even a DHL delivery boat.

 We cruised along the Grand Canal, which was very busy and all too soon reached our destination of St Marks's Square.

We had a short wait until the other boats with the other people arrived and then we were off on our tour of Venice. Our first stop was the Murano Glass Studio.
 Here they showed us a short demonstration on glass blowing and then the expert glass maker made an exquisite little horse, amazing.

                                             


Then we went into the showroom were our eyes got even bigger, such a vast collection of amazing glass ware. Photography was not allowed so I can't share any of it, but I'm sure the Murano has it's own web site with everything showcased, everything from tiny glass bead bracelets and necklaces to huge display pieces.
We were given a short talk about the glass ware and it's strength, it is very strong and it was the first time that I'd actually seen a glass tumbler, tumble.
The guy dropped/rolled a glass tumbler onto a tray and it 'tumbled' over without a crack. To his delight one woman in our group screamed when he did it, so he took every opportunity to try and break the glass.  He really knew how to play to an audience.
Then it was time to head back to St Mark's Square and meet another tour guide for our tour of the Doges' Palace.

All those years of independent travelling and cursing tour groups who jump the queue - well here we are walking straight in, through the 'pre paid' ticket line.

We joined the multitudes and slowly ascended and descended the stairs through the various rooms and then proceded at a snail's pace down through to the prison cells and crossed the Bridge of Sighs.
The bridge is where the prisoners crossed over to the cells, there are no large windows, there is a very restricted view of the city and the tunnels are low and narrow. Lots of reasons to sigh at your isolation from the city.

If we had a 'things we must see and do' list for this trip, the Bridge of Sighs would be on it and now we could cross it off.
It was a long, slow tour but we did see everything and it was amazing.

                                                 Ralph and Michael outside the Cathedral

The tour over, it was our free time and as we were all starving - that huge breakfast was 6 hours ago, we joined up with Ralph and Hanny and wandered the back streets looking for food. I was leading and  seemed to have lead us into a shopping district  but then I spotted a shop window full of sandwiches. The 3 people in front of me also spotted it and stopped right in front of the window, blocking anyone else's view. I couldn't see the food so moved around in front of them to try and see a menu, just then a waiter came out of the doorway and said, "Yes, come in, how many people?" We were wet and hungry so I told him 4, and he took us up stairs to a table. The menu looked great and we all decided on the 'touristica menu' - soup, steak or chicken and coffee for just 18 euro. The waiter persuaded me that I needed a 'grande' beer and I took his advice.
It was warm and dry in the restaurant and we were in Europe so lunch took a nice long time.

Feeling very much better we finally left the restaurant and continued ambling the back streets. We enquired about taking a gondola down the canal for a short way but the gondolier informed us that it's a fixed price and they only do 30 minute round trips - 'start here, finish here'. On a nice sunny day that would be lovely, but it was still raining so we decided not to have a ride in a gondola in Venice. A ride had been on Hanny's list, but she decided to put another visit to Venice on the list. We walked across the Rialto Bridge and then heading towards the bus terminus zig zagged through the narrow back lanes.

We found the bus terminus but were waiting at the wrong stop until one of our fellow tour group, who had been in Venice a few days longer than us, came over and took us to the right one, they also knew when to get off the bus. Without them who knows where we  would have ended up. When we got off the bus, I spotted a sign for a Lidl supermarket, let's get some cold
drinks says I.  Luckily no one hit me, but the supermarket turned out to be much further away than I thought and we were 4 very tired, wet, tetchy individuals when we finally got back to the hotel. No one could walk another step so dinner was in the hotel dining room again - unfortunately rather disappointing after our splendid lunch.

Michael had been to Venice before (in 1974), but I hadn't - it was just like the postcards.
Beautiful. Even the rain couldn't dampen it's beauty,  how lovely it would be without the hordes of tourists! We won't think twice about visiting again, but a small hotel in the centre of Venice itself would be a much nicer option.

Tomorrow we leave Italy and head into Slovenia....

A new kind of adventure - an organised tour

Here we are again, back in Europe.
This time around we're on an organised tour, something of a first for us. We usually just book a flight and then do our own thing, but Michael fancied a river cruise and we decided to combine it with a land trip - touring around the Adriatic.
10 days touring from Venice to Budapest via Lake Bled, Dubrovnik, Mostar and Sarajevo, and Zagreb, then 14 nights cruising from Budapest to Amsterdam.
Our very good friends, Ralph and Hanny are joining us on the tour and at the end of the organised bit we'll have 3 days in Amsterdam together before they head off to do their own thing in Finland and Poland and we head over to see family in UK.

The adventure began at midday on Wednesday May 20th when our great friend and neighbour, Julia, arrived to take us to the airport. We arrived with so much time to spare that we had a few minutes hanging around before the check-in desks opened. Despite Michael's assertions that I was taking too many clothes and the size of our suitcases we were well within our 20 kg limit ( airlines may have a 30 kg limit but the cruise boat and coach are still on 20 kgs). For the record my bag was 18kg and Michael's was 12kg, giving us plenty of space for all those souvenirs!
Ralph and Hanny arrived, checked in and joined us upstairs for a coffee before boarding.
True to form I when we'd gone through security I was selected for an explosives test, swabs taken of my bags and the scanner passed over me. This has happened to me everytime I have flown recently. We all had a good laugh and the girl said that it wasn't anything more than the fact that she was free and I was walking ahead of the others, on my own. So from now on I'm going to walk with a crowd and see what happens.

It was, of course - with Singapore Airlines, a good flight over to Singapore and we had less than an hour transit time. We found the right gate and went through security - I didn't get  swabbed but Michael's carry on bag was scrutinized and we had to open a box of insulin pens to show them what they actually were.
This flight was the long one, the really l-o-n-g one over 12 hours to Frankfurt.
I think we each managed to get a few hours sleep but it  really is getting harder to handle long hauls as we get older. The time was not wasted, we watched a couple of movies. I had Michael intrigued as I kept laughing so much that when he'd finished watching 'American Sniper' he found the one I'd been watching and was soon laughing too. The movie?
Paddington.
We are both great Paddington fans and really did enjoy the movie. lol +++
Maybe we should have watched the movie a second time because the time really went very slowly, but eventually we landed in Frankfurt. Despite it being a very busy airport there aren't that many Lufthansa flights to Venice and we had a 6 hour wait. Some great coffee and lovely bread rolls helped pass the time and soon we were ready to board. We had to go through security again, different rules for different airports, this time the ipads had to come out of the cases. My luck was holding and I passed through without incident, so did Michael, so did Hanny but Ralph was stopped and all his bags inspected.
We had a very short wait at the gate before being called to board - boarding was self service - scan your own boarding pass and proceed through the turnstile when you get a green light. This was explained in German and English but thoroughly confused a couple of Japanese tourists who really held up the line, the attendant had to move 2 steps and help, we couldn't help but think that if they'd done away with the self scanner, got the attendant to scan everyones' pass - you know, the old way, - we would have got through a lot quicker.
It was only a 1 hour flight and our tickets told us that we would be getting a snack.
This 'snack' was handed to us as we boarded - a chocolate bar.
Anyway, thoroughly jaded, jetlagged and grumpy we landed in Venice and quickly collected our bags ( we'd cleared EU customs in Frankfurt) and headed out to find our tour representative. Then we out into traffic and were soon at the hotel lobby where our tour manager met us.
 Our trip has really started.
We were so glad to be in a room and absolutely delighted to see the roof tops of Venice in the distance.

That night we joined the other 'tourists' and enjoyed a 'welcome dinner' at the hotel. (nothing out of the ordinary, 2 courses of pasta and some blancmange/ vanilla creme dessert.)
 At 8.30 I made my apologies to the table and headed up to bed before I fell asleep and collapsed face first onto the dinner plate. Michael put the kettle on to make me a cup of tea but I was asleep before it boiled.
Tomorrow the touring starts - wake up calls, coach seating arrangements, ferries, local guides etc. hopefully there will be some free time to load photos and write some more blog.