Saturday in Slovenia

One of the reasons we decided to stay in Zagreb for a while is because of its location and the ease of travelling to other places from Croatia’s capital.

Our first day trip would be to Ljubljana, Slovenia. We opted to take the train as it was super cheap and easy. We wanted to make the most of our day so we took the 7am train from Zagreb with the goal of then catching a bus to the Postojna Caves. The scenery from the train was stunning and consisted of lots of fields of corn, greens, and bushes of berries, as well as the gorgeous Alps. The train took about an hour longer to make the scheduled 2-hour trip to Ljubljana so we nixed the Caves for this trip.

We spent the warm August Saturday wandering the beautiful city. It is very idyllic with a beautiful river flowing through the centre of town. The streets are lined with cobblestones and the architecture is a unique mix of Baroque, Art Nouveau, and more modern styles.

We stumbled upon an amazing market that was bustling with vendors, locals, and tourists.

At the top of a hill in the middle of Ljubljana is the Ljubljana Castle. You can walk or take the cable car up to reach the top. There’s a restaurant and a museum at the top as well as a lot of forest trails. We took the cable car up and then wandered around the trees before walking down. It is a wonderful way to get a different perspective of the town.

On our way down, we encountered a lot of fun animal art that definitely brought us some joy!

To get off of our feet for a bit, we found a lovely place, Slovenska hiša (translated to Slovenian House), on the edge of the river to have lunch. It was a great place for people and bird watching and to have some light lunch and cold drinks. The cute restaurant specialized in Slovenian delicacies and a lot of the items were made in house, including the refreshing iced tea and scrumptious bread. Everything was delicious though the variety of veggies on the veggie plate was lacking.

Our return train experience was a bit trying. When we arrived at the station, we discovered that the train’s engine was broken and the train car was sweltering. The train attendant advised us to deboard while the engine situation was resolved due to the heat. We watched four different engines get attached and then detached from the train. Finally, after the fifth engine, we were set to go. After about an hour, we departed Ljubljana. The train was fairly empty and we didn’t encounter any other hiccups.

Overall, our impressions of Ljubljana were mixed. It is a gorgeous city filled with fun and varied art and architecture. It felt very touristy though we were there on a Saturday in August so that’s probably to be expected. The locals we encountered were not very friendly which stood out as we had grown accustomed to the super friendly nature of the locals in Zagreb. I was bummed we didn’t have a chance to see the caves and hope to return another time, though perhaps not by train.

Tips for Travelling to Ljubljana from Zagreb:

• You cannot buy international train tickets online. This has to be done at the train station. The schedule online is accurate. Do not rely on google for this information as it makes it seems as if there are no trains.
• Count on the trains taking longer than scheduled.
• You will be asked to present your passport twice at the border — Border Agents will enter the train from both countries and will review and stamp your passport. During COVID, they were also reviewing vaccination cards.
• If you’d prefer to rent a car, a good site is Economy Car Rentals.