Lake Bled, cakes and more last minute travel changes

Woken up by the sounds of someone opening the door to the dorm. Checked my phone - it's 3am. Turned around and saw a gal carrying a huge backpack pushing the door open. Figured she probably just got in from somewhere, I continued to go back to slumber land.

The Germans woke me up at 7am with their chatting first thing in the morning, slightly annoying me after one of the guys was snoring so loudly before I managed to get to bed. Continued to lie in bed till my alarm sounded after 30min since there was only 1 toilet shared amongst all of us. After a quick freshening up, packed everything and brought it down to the reception to check out. Tried to access the internet which prompted me for a user name and password only to remember that I only have 30min of free access. Got the connection through after I managed to find the information handed to me in a piece of paper yesterday which I crumbled inside my pocket full of paper rubbish. Connection was painfully slow - meaning I was unable to check for an available hostel in Piran, and also impossible to upload post 2 days back! :(

By this time, Nicolle has arrived with her mini day pack with everything that she would have need for a weekend trip. Breakfast was included and consisted of simple cereal, bread, some juice and coffee/tea. In the meantime, the hostel staff managed to book me to a hostel in Piran for €20 a night in a dorm which was good news. Hurried off to the station shortly after to catch the 9am bus to Lake Bled. The ticket for the 1h 20min journey cost €6.30 per person each way which I thought was quite expensive, although the ride was quite refreshing as it snaked around more hills and small towns towards the snow cap mountains. It's quite strange all of a sudden that I have a companion with me whom I can chat and joke about after more than 2 weeks, but a very welcoming change as I had to resort to talking to myself at times during the past weeks to keep my sanity in check.

Located in the center of the town is Lake Bled, a picture postcard setting of the snow capped Julian Alps in the background, a church in the middle of an islet in the lake and a medieval castle clinging dangerously off the cliff by the edge. The first sign of spring already meant that there are plenty of rowing activities in the lake and locals bringing their kids and dogs out for a walk around the 6km lake. If this wasn't magical enough, the sun and blue sky was almost trying to complete the puzzle to been a perfect day out. We took a short hike up to Bled castle for a view of the entire lake but stop short of paying €5 for entry. Nicholle thought we should definitely have a feel of the water after going all the way here and there were a few moments where either of us could have easily fell into the chilly waters! We had wanted to take the 1230hrs bus back into Ljubljana but since it was a Sunday, the next available one was an hour later. Decided to chill out in one of the cafes whilst Nicholle went into a postcard writing frenzy.

Found out later that it is a very short distance to the ski resorts from Bled, and apparently today as the finals of the world ski jump championships or something like that...

By the time we got back into the capital, I had just missed the 1500hrs bus to Piran. Got myself a 1810hr train ticket to Koper instead, whilst Nicholle decided on the 1710hr bus to the airport to catch her 2050hr Easyjet flight back to Standsted. As there was still 2 hours to spare, we went back to the hostel to collect our bags and headed into the town center to grab some food. Ended up in Kavarna Zvezda, an excellent cafe with their own cakes and pastries. Try the Rafaello cake, something of a mix between cheese cake and some almond stuff. We also had a slice of blackforest which were really excellent.

After the "refuel", we hurried back to the train station, passing by the colourful Art Nouveau Co-operative bank, just in time for Nicholle to get on the bus! I have to admit that I felt a sudden loneliness sitting at the train station after Nicholle left as she has been a terrific travel companion in the last 24hrs and a fantastic subject in my photos as well. Did make me realise how human I am even though I love to freedom and fun of a solo traveller.

Changed my plans in the last minute to go to Divaca instead as it was 5km away from the Skocjan caves that I had planned to go, rather than having to travel to and fro from Koper. Sat in a cabin with a Slovenian guy who was doing his MBA in the university in Koper - learnt that there are only 3 universities in the whole of Slovenia! We had such a good chat along the way as he was telling me about his travels around the world, his Trans-Siberian trip, the Balkans, and even gave me tips on how to get a free train ride to Koper tomorrow (I need to get to Koper, before taking a 30min bus to Piran) by telling the train station attendant that I have a Koper ticket and that I will make the remaining journey tomorrow (Divača was an hour before Koper). He also gave me tips on the best way to get into Italy through Trieste and the dos/donts when in Italy. The hour and half journey just flew by with the chat and laughter and before long, the train has arrived at Divaca. We did agree to go for a beer if we happen to bump into each other when I get into Koper tomorrow!

The town of Divača was almost pitch black when I got off the train. As I had to find somewhere to stay for the night, I asked the station attendant after she stamped and signed my train ticket to allow me to continue my journey to Koper tomorrow, and she directed me to a nearby hotel 100 metres down a road in complete darkness before I came upon Gostilna Malovec, a restaurant cum hotel, the former seem very popular with the locals. Was quoted €25 for the night for a room to myself and breakfast included. Stepping into the room, it felt like a luxury compared to the dorms that I have been staying - a room all to myself although it was fairly basic, no tv, no internet, just a bed and en-suite bathroom. I was even able catch up on the BBC iPlayer without annoying anyone! I have probably made the most impromptu travel decision in the past 2 weeks, guess that is some of the advantages of solo travelling - you just make decisions as you go along, to the best of your plans!

Link to all photos in Slovenia.