Reaching the Adriatic Sea

The day seems to bright up much earlier these days, partly also because I am very much south than before. Got up at 7am, washed up and headed for breakfast, which was literally bread, butter, jam and coffee! Walked back to the station only to find out that my plans were screwed again - there is an 1103hr train to Koper, with the next one only at 1723hrs; the earliest tour for Skocjan caves only start at 1000hrs!

Felt really disappointed but decided to hike 5km to the caves regardless hoping that the schedules might have changed from what the guidebook has written. If you prefer taking a bus, there is a service that runs from the train station to the caves at certain hours but check the timetables as it is very infrequent during the low season. But I really encourage you to do the hike through little pockets of small towns and forest to be rewarded with an amazing view of the waterfall at the entrance of the caves. Do keep a lookout of the signs to the caves on your right after you exit Divača town, and ensure that you are on the right track by the little sign postings on the trees and street lighting as you head into the forest.

As expected, the earliest tour starts at 1000hrs and will last for an hour and half for the 3km walk inside the caves. As the bus was also nowhere to be seen, I hiked back to Divača, feeling very disappointed that I did not get a chance admire this natural UNESCO heritage site, which some say is like a walk into Jules Verne's "A journey to the Centre of the Earth". However, I have to say I really like the feeling of been back to the nature after so many days wondering around in cities.

Back in the town, was told by the train station master that the train to Koper was not running today, and I should take the replacement bus behind the station. An hour and half later, I was quite fortunate to get on the next bus to Piran at Koper after paying €4 (€1.20 was for my backpack in the luggage compartment). The bus left Koper along the Adriatic coast and made stops along the towns of Izola and Portoroz, which tries to be like the French Rivera, with rows of hotels and casinos by the promenade. On reaching Piran (or Pirano to the Italians across the borders) at 1230hrs, the bus driver pointed me to the adjacent bus to Trieste, which was leaving at 1325hrs, leaving me with less than an hour in this town. It is no wonder that this town remains the locals' favourite seaside town along the Slovenian coast with its pretty Venetian architecture, tiny winding streets and harbour of little boats lines up in the glistering water. Ended up with a whirlwind tour of the town due to the limited time before paying €5.40 to cross the border into the Italian city of Trieste.

An hour and half later, I arrived at the Autobus station in Trieste before paying €9.20 for a train to Venice, that was leaving in 5min! There are no buses from Trieste to Venice as the trains are not expensive and this is probably why no bus companies want to do this route. Even though the travel timings today seem crazy, I find that it was quite ideal for me to cover the various towns, transiting through the various places without wasting too much waiting time. The train left on the dot of 1444hrs and sped up the hills behind the city, perched on the cliffs clinging by the Adriatic coastline, occasionally tunneling through the mountains.

The journey took about 2 hours before Venezia comes into view - has to be ranked as one of the key "oooh...ahhhhh..." feeling as I finally see Venice in getting closer with every passing second that the train inches towards the islands. However, the moment I got off the train station, I was slightly overwhelmed by the "crowds" of people, besides Prague, wasn't really expecting anywhere to be filled with so many people again. First to admit that I already made up my mind at the time to move on to my next destination, as I didn't want to stay on in the crowd. The information counter wasn't very helpful and I ended up finding a internet cafe to check for hostel at my next place, which was Bologna or Firenze. Did take the opportunity to walk through the narrow walkways and bridges connecting the islands before I finally found a toy shop cum mini supermarket cum internet cafe, with the most eloborate dressed shop keeper, who won't feel out of place in the movie "Eyes Wide Shut". Ended up paying €2 + €2 after I just exceeded the initial 20 min limit when I was keying in my card details on hostelworld. The repercusions of this resulted in me missing my train to Florence as I got slightly lost (is an understatement in the labyrith of streets in Venice) on my way back to the train station, without a map and next to zero of Italiano.

Decided to take the next train to Bologna instead as I have missed the last Florence bound train from Venice, hoping to catch another onward train from there. If you want to save money like me, go for the "Regional" trains listed on the excellent Trenitalia website. They might take longer to reach your destinations but the savings (I paid €8.20) are usually half of what you might pay for the Eurostar or Intercity trains. Of course, you need to have the time like me! :)

3 hours later, the train rolled into Bologna Central and I was quite glad to pick up a regional train heading to Firenza in an hour's time. Paid €7.50 for the ticket and just have enough time to pop by the adjacent restuarant owned by Mr Ronald for a quick bite, only to find out that the train was delayed by 40 min when I got back to the station. By the time I got into Firenza Campo de Marte, it was almost midnight and since it was not the main train station of Firenza Santa Maria Novella, my instructions to the hostel was completely useless. Called up the hostel in the end and was advised to either take a train to Firenza SMN or wait 50 min for the last bus to the hostel. Chose the latter as there was no more trains till 1am but was quite glad that the bus driver understood me and drove me all the way in front of the hostel!

Even got told off by the hostel staff that I should have called them to tell them of my delay in future when I am so tired from the day of travelling and running around missing trains. It did remind me again that I should avoid arriving in a new city late in the night as it usually spells more trouble than anything else.

Link to all photos in Slovenia and fresh album of Italy.

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.

From Croatia to the biggest hideout in Europe - Slovenia

An early start for me. Strolled down the Lower Zagreb in the direction of the train station, trying to grab some breakfast along the way, only to find out that Croatians don't tend to have breakfast outside! A quick detour to the train station and managed to get a 1pm train to Ljubljana for 90.20 KN. On my way back to Trg Jelacica Square, bought some bread from a local pastry shop and a coffee at the trusty Mcdonalds when I feel that I am in a risk-adverse mode for my caffeine fix.

Headed straight for the Dolac vegetable market in Upper Zagreb and was not disappointed by the hustle and bustle of a local market. Scores of stalls hawking their freshest produce, from apples to cauliflower to reddish. It was an explosion of colors with a infuse of bargaining everywhere, and goods exchanging hands. Very interesting to see that all the stalls were still using traditional weighing scales. I bought couple of pears and bananas before continuing my journey.

Think I am getting stale with the Old towns and cathedrals as I did not spend much time after before whisking back to the hostel, took my bag and headed towards the train station. Exchanged remaining 100 KN back to Euros (with a terrible rate) before probing a few locals if the train on platform 1 was to Ljubljana.

Got 2 other stamps at the border crossing in Dobova - Yay! I will really recommend anyone to take the train from Zagreb to the Slovenian capital - it twist and turn with the river and along with it, magnificent views of snow capped mountains and deep ravines across tiny pots of villages. Some of them are quite nice although I won't day that they are magical, but definitely a good change from the cityscape that I have been getting used to.

Hostel Celica is quite famous in Ljubljana (so much so that there is road signs directing drivers to the hostel!) as it was converted from a prison building and the rooms in the first level are constructed in such a way that they retain the prison cell feel - with the steel bar gates still intact. I booked the cheaper option of a 5 bed dorm which is on the 2nd level and has its own ensuite toilet/bathroom, although it feels quite claustrophobic as 3 single beds and 1 double deck bed was squeezed into it with a sloping roof on one end. 3 other German guys were my dorm mates and they seem happy to be just drinking around all day. Paid €15 for a night which included breakfast but I felt some of its other services could definitely been better, i.e. Wifi or internet is only free for 30 min, after which it is chargeable, the lady-in-charge at the reception refused to give me the keys to the room until I gave €10 as deposit even though I assured to pass her the amount later when I come back from tonight as I have run out of Euros. Ended up I had to walk out to the main road, withdraw more cash and come back again for the deposit!

As usual, headed to the Old Town, pass the dragon bridge where it was rumored that Jason and the Argonauts were rowing up the river trying to escape from enemies before he met and killed a dragon at that very spot! There were quite a lot of cafes lined at along the banks of the river and cafes seem to be part of the local culture. The town is quite small and the highlight has to be the climb up the castle which overlook the entire city, right across to the not-too-distant snow capped mountains. Bumped into Nicholle along the way, a Malaysian who is also working in London (we met at the reception in the hostel) and strolled around her Italian dorm buddy who has been staying in the city for 1 week, which meant he literally knew the place by the back of his head. Even chanced upon a Slovenian wedding that was taking pictures in and around the castle.

It turned out that we got along very well as she was also the same dialect group as I and was chatting about the food that we miss from home. She even related a past travel experience which turned out to be one of the one of the stories with the most wonderful ending that I have ever heard; long story short - she was in Bratislava, accidentally left her bag with money, cards, passport and everything important in the tram just before she was leaving for Wien, met a guy who offered to host her for the night, and happened to have a sister who has a policeman boyfriend, did his internal connections thing and voila, got her handbag back the next day with everything intact while the brother was showing her around in the city! Frankly I find it hard to believe but goes to show that there are really nice people in this world! :)

We went to a Slovenian restaurant, Sokol for dinner and almost ordered their specialty dish - Deep fried bull testicles with tartar sauce, but both of us chickened out in the end and ordered some other more subtle Slovenian dish. The restaurant is quite famous as they have waiters dressed in the traditional Slovenian costumes coming around to take your orders and serve the food. Nicholle's Italian mate did not join us as he wanted to have a romantic dinner with her, which she got me as an excuse to avoid! We headed back to the hostel to rest for an early morning bus ride to Bled the next morning.

Link to all photos in Zagreb and Slovenia.