Wednesday, 27 July

I didn’t sleep all that well, the mattress was rather thin. Anyway, I got up and showered and put on my runners for a big day of exploring. I had a banana and a nice cup of lemon tea and some toast. I headed straight for the markets for breakfast.

I walked in with a massive smile, realizing how much goodness was packed in the market building. There was fruit, vegetables, meat, pastry, sweets, souvenirs, lovely quilts which mum would like, restaurants, people drinking beer at 10am. It had everything.

I bought a makas retes (a poppy sweet wrapped in cake (pasty)). It was so filling and sweet… But I devoured all of it there and then. I had a nice peach for 20 aud cents that was big and juicy. I had a few slices of a mix of salamis as well.

I left to see more of the city, although I could have been all day in there.

I walked up to a large monument called the Szabadság Statue – The Statue of Liberty that you can see from all over the city at Gellért Hill.

Then I walked down and up to the castle and palace, and Matthias Church.

Close by was Fisherman's Bastion. From here I walked down and had a great view of the parliament.

After I walked to the island in the Danube. It had lovely parks and some very pretty gardens which had blooming flowers.

I was fascinated by the LRT system they have throughout the city. At a glance the transportation network is very efficient, and I enjoyed studying the engineering of the platforms, tracks and even the bends of the trams as it was exactly what I was doing in my vac work. I took a few pictures to send back to the team in Perth of their system.

I continued walked up the main street walking past a number of museums. I couldn’t face going inside the Terror museum, as I wanted to enjoy the rest of the day.

I came to the Heroes’ Square, and then discovered the ancient Széchenyi baths that are heated by the hot rocks below.

After all this I was exhausted and decided to head back to the hostel. I made it home at 5.30pm, a good 8 hours out and about on my feet. I cooked up two eggs on bread and snuck in a quick episode of breaking bad.

Sophie was keep to catch up for dinner again, we were both in search of a good goulash and she suggested a place. We met at 8, and were joined by two Norwegian girls from the hostel.

I ordered a Czech Pilsner and some goulash.

It was nice, but not the best. When I return in a few days time I will have to scope out a better place, as the goulash is famous here. Still, it was a very satisfying meal, and although the Norwegian girls didn’t say much and left as soon as they finished, Sophie and I had some great conversations.

Sophie is a 27 year old from Montreal, and was heading home the next day to study for her bar exam in December. She had just finished 8 months abroad, with 5 months in Spain on exchange, so she had many tips for me!

Back at the hostel people were still up and about. I snuck off and watch an episode of Breaking Bad, before turning out the lights at 12.30am. I had to put earplugs in as the noises from the street were just too loud. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep. I had walked all day and was exhausted.

Tuesday, 26 July

Today marked the end of the first month away from home. I have done so much, but it has gone so quickly. Missing the family a lot too.

I woke up at 5.52am. The alarm was set for 6am. It was reassuring to know my body clock was working again after the dramatic change in time zones a few weeks before. Our bags were packed and I slipped some toast into the oven and a few minutes later we walked out, ready to go, with strawberry jam and nutella on toast. We caught the 6.25 bus from the Bled station to Ljubljana.

Here we had 40 mins to kill, so I got a coffee from maccas (first time for everything) and then brushed my teeth and it was time to go. The boarded the 8.50 train and were both pleasantly impressed with our seating. We had a cabin to ourselves, similar to the one off eurotrip, except to Italian in ours.

We moved the seats together and had a pretty comfy chill zone. The train would take 5 hours, and in hindsight, it would have been smarter to get the night train, but I had booked accommodation for the coming night so I had to catch it during the day. Plus, I had been enjoying getting the most out of a good nights sleep, getting up early and taking advantage for a fresh and energetic body to spend the whole day exploring.

We passed fields of sun flowers and lots of corn crops.

We said our goodbyes, the ease of facebook meant we could keep in touch.

I jumped on the metro for 6 stops and then walked to the hostel 300m away. It was a dark little place; and I was in a mixed 12 bed dorm. A nice girl asked if I wanted to head out and get dinner. I quickly jumped in the shower and changed my clothes as I was running very low on clean gear. (I have been wearing dirty clothes for a while now… the solo traveler doesn’t worry about his appearance that much).

Sophie had been told about a nice restaurant and myself and a Russian/Syrian girl joined her. We struggled to find the place, but along the way walked through the streets and saw a missive synagogue and soaked up the nightlife.

I ordered an eggplant spread with pita (820 Ft) and a beer called Csapolt Sorok – Dreher 0.5L for 470 (Ft).

We had a nice “Syrniki” (fried curd cheese dumplings with sour cheery jam) for dessert and the total price for my meal was 10AUD. This was the Eastern Europe food experience I’d been looking for; great food at cheap prices.

We talked and enjoyed the atmosphere before walking back to the hostel around 11.30pm and heading straight to bed. I was exhausted.

Monday, 25 July

I jumped down from my top bunk and headed to the Konzum in the town center. It didn’t take long, and I sucked as much fresh air in as I could. For 7 euros I bought breakfast, lunch and dinner (which would later turn out to give me enough left overs for the following nights dinner!).

I cooked scrambled eggs, with tomatoes and paprika and toast. I also found a berry tea bag, and enjoyed some strawberry jam (nothing like Emmy’s jams) on toast. It was a great fight in the kitchen for space and cooking tops.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKC9rAf5GyA

At 10.15am a group of 4 English boys, who just finished school, and I were picked up and taken to a rafting center. They were a great group, and again got on easily with them. We geared up; wetsuit, booties, helmet (plus goPro) and all, before launching into (what I thought) was extremely chilly water.

400 meters down stream we were asked if we wanted to go body surfing – swimming. Peer pressure forced me into the water as I lay feet first in the current. It was a good way to get the adrenalin pumping as the water was so cold!

While the rapids weren’t anything spectacular, it was a fun time, and being with the English boys made me feel as if I was with a group of my mates. We laughed and joked along the way.

There was a change to jump from a bridge, apparently 7 m high. It wasn’t much of a rush after those cliffs in Croatia.

All up it took just over 3 hours for a good mornings adventure and we were dropped back at the hostel just after lunch. I said goodbye to both the rafting mates, and Elliot and Michael who were leaving at different times throughout the afternoon.

Later on I slipped on my walking shoes (I’d previously been wearing my brooks for walking in) and ventured around the whole lake and up to the castle. It took around 4 hours as I stopped and took some pictures of the lake with my goPro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RVS8hekc_4

I didn’t go inside the castle as it was 8 euros to enter… as much as my breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I enjoyed the view from an adjacent wall.

Later that evening I cooked a great dinner. On the way home I picked a bag of apples form the many apple trees that lined the gardens in the neighborhood. I simply shook a branch and if something fell, I was in luck. I planned to make stewed apples.

First up I peeled and sliced about 6 apples, ranging in size from a boys first to a baby’s. I found that the smaller ones were a better quality. I added 2 generous tablespoons of my strawberry jam and a spoon full of sugar. I added a cup of peach Lipton ice tea to the mix as well. After all, it was dessert.

While that was simmering, I combined a tomato, half a white paprika and half a cup of red wine that was close by. I added a large can of mixed beans (thanks mum for introducing me to these) and the jar of tomatoes paste sauce. I brought it to the boil and let it simmer for 10 mins. The pasta I cooked was a whole meal type (was slightly more expensive (1.80 euro total) than the white pasta (1 euro)) 500grams in total. I cooked all of it, thinking I’d have some leftovers… and oh how I did… next time I would only cook around 350grams as I had a whole bowl to give to the Spanish family as there was simply too much for me.

The pasta was filling, and the stewed apples were sweet. I had a massive amount of leftovers as well.

I stayed up and talked with the Spanish people, met a chap from ice-land who was also heading to Budapest the following day, so we discussed travel plans and chose to go together. And spoke with Randy, who is one of the most respects Theremin musicians in the world. He showed me some clips on YouTube (over 4 million hits) and explained some new approaches that take the Theremin music to a whole, new level. It was very fascinating.

I climbed up into the top bunk around 11 as we planned to leave early the following morning.

Sunday, 24 July

It was still raining when I woke at 7am.
I had a nice hot shower with great pressure; it was like a needle massage all over. I checked out and caught a taxi to the 3 bridges, where I walked eagerly to the food markets for breakfast. The taxi driver said it would be open, on a Sunday. I just assumed there would be people out and about as it was the weekend, regardless of the rain. How wrong I was; it was like a ghost town. There were markets open, no people, no breakfast. I hugged the big buildings as I walked the km to the bus station, trying my best to avoid the rain drops.

Catching a bus was easy enough, it was 6 euros to get to Bled. I ate nuts and a banana for breakfast. Once in bled I enjoyed finding my way to the hostel which took me under under 30 mins – it would turn out to be a 15 min walk with no pack.

The hostel was a super intimate affair, with the social room being the kitchen. Here I met a number of people.

I tag along with two English lads, Michael and Elliott; who were heading to the Vintgarski sum soon after I arrived. There were fit and energetic and we ended up walking for over 6 hours. We took a wrong turn, but it was all an adventure. Finally making it to the gorges was satisfying, but even more so doing it all on foot.

My body was turning into a walking machine. We stopped to get a nice hot chocolate in one of the pubs that was open (it was a Sunday) as we absorbed a fair amount of rain and needed something warm.

One the way back we notice all the apple and plum trees that were shooting fruit. The majority wasn’t ready to be picked but we managed to find a sweet green plum and a nice pear to keep us going.

Later that night I ate my tuna and vita-wheat’s for dinner, and the two had some past left over and were happy to share. We headed into the town to enjoy the last few hours of the festival (Bled Weekend Fair) and enjoyed a Larsko beer.

Some Belgium tourists gave us a voucher for a large sausage and sides (it took some work to understand what they were trying to give us as they didn’t speak any English!)

The live music was too loud and not really our genre so we sat on one of the row boats and finished the beer before heading back to the hostel.

We were entertained by the large Spanish family that were staying in the hostel before I snuck of to bed at 11. I was eagerly looking forward to resting after a long day of traveling and walking.

Saturday, 23 July

I slept pretty badly, the pillow was more of a square cushion and the bed sagged in the middle like a trampoline. Anyway, was eager to travel to Bled, but first had to find some accommodation for the coming night. Probably a lack of realism and maybe a little bad luck, but there were no beds (that I could afford anyway – cheapest was 60 euro/night) so I booked in for another night and was moved to a single private room, which was very spacious, and only a few dollars more.

I had mums muesli with a banana and a small tub of berry yoghurt. It was the best breakfast I’ve had since the Rowes in London.

I skyped the family; harry saw the uwa advert… forgot to ask him if it persuaded him to go to the open day. I would guess not.

The rain cleared up around lunch time so I ventured into the town center. I walked straight to the markets, which thankfully were packed with sellers. I bought 1 apricot and 1 nectarine.

I bit into the side of the warmly coloured apricot and instantly I had juice spraying outwards. I soon felt a trickle of sticky liquid running down my wrist into my jacket sleeve. Was this really happening I asked? I had to check it was an apricot and not an orange or peach. The skin colour was a consistent warm mix of yellow and orange and was about the size of a 10 year olds fist curled up. I devoured every mouthful, it was the finest moment.

The nectarine was also similarly spectacular. I resisted going back for more, reminding myself of the law of diminishing returns. I didn’t want to spoil the memories I had of the fruit in Slovenia.

Next to the fruit and vegetable markets was an underground network of meat and poultry, creams and cheese and fine oil of all kinds. I had to resist the temptation – if I was living here it was be a regular outing on Saturdays to stock up on the finest quality of produce I’d seen in a long time (and cheap too).

After, I found a professional looking bakery, named Kruharna. If these are a chain of bakeries I would suggest popping inside if you pass one. I hiked to the castle, which is a prominent feature of the city and overlooks the surrounds on a great hill. The view from the top walls was worth the steep walk up.

Back in the main city I explored some nearby streets that were out of the center. When traveling solo you can do whatever you want. I enjoyed sitting and taking in the city from the 3 bridges, the castle, and busy side streets. I had seen everything I needed to see to feel like I’d explored the whole city, so spending time sitting seemed ok with me.

I stopped by my favourite ice-cream shop. This time I went inside to look at the menu, to discover its specialty was chocolate. The warm drinks on offer sounded incredible, but pricey, so I added it to the bucket list for when I return another time.

This is the daily newspapers cartoon - something to do with the EU and a president taking money easily... there was also a half naked lady. Shame the West Australian can't adopt a similar approach in their papers.

I had berry and caramel ice-cream. The caramel was the best I’ve had.

I headed back to the hostel to watch the Tour de France. Cadel Evans was 57 seconds behind heading into the time trial (the last racing stage) so I didn’t want to miss the event if he were to win.

It was obvious early on he had it. Cadel was the first Australian to win the tour (the commentators compared it to wining the soccer world cup) and the flow through effects will be super back in Australia. He ended up winning by 1min and 34 sec.

The shops were closed, so I logged onto trip adviser to find a good place to eat. I walked back into town to Pizzeria Trta, where I ordered a primadona with rocket on top. The reviews weren’t wrong – the pizza’s were amazing. And super huge. So big inf act, that on an empty stomach I had to take 1/5 of it home as I couldn’t finish it!

It sucked eating dinner alone. There was no conversation, jokes, laughter or banter.

I walked back to the hostel, which is about 3km away (22 mins walk with green walking men at the crossings all the way). I had walked into town 3 times now, so I added up my distance. I would have walked well over 20km in the day and a half I was in Ljubljana plus the sight seeing meandering. This was my excuse for not going for runs or exercising.

The city itself was nice ;I felt safe. But in the contrast with the rain it made me feel sad and depressed. I could only imagine how the bad weather in winter would cast a grey, eerie dullness over the city. I light bright sunshine and warmth, and this city showed little of that. Still, the ice cream was great.

I had an early night, and feel straight asleep. There would be no snoring or other backpackers disturbing me so I slept ‘like a baby’.

Friday, 22 July

I woke at 8am; it was a great sleep out in the fresh air. We decided the night before we would leave as staying 2 days here was too hard. T+L had the same attitude to inside warm swimming pool as dad… it was not for them. They were to drive back home to Wien and I would catch a train into the capital – Ljubljana.

We cleaned up the camping gear and packed it all away and left the campsite at 11am. We went to the station and I enjoyed listening to T+L attempt to park the RV. They’ve only had it for 1 year, and there is no reversing camera on the back so parking is very difficult.

We had a coffee trackside of the Ptuj station. It was a very old, classic styled station. It was a nice way to say good-bye, even though we still had much to talk about. Our conversations over the past days included; war, European history, technology, Australia, and maybe a few screams of laughter down a water slide. I am looking forward to keeping in touch and sharing my videos that I now know how to make as Thomas knows everything about the programs and formats!

The good byes now marked me travelling all alone. I waited for 10 minutes for the train, having to pinch myself I was finally by myself!

The train to Ljubljana took 3 hour and I had to change trains twice. So it was quite an adventure being all by myself. I remember looking out the window and seeing so many small villages, wondering what it must be like to live in this part of the world.

It looked so peaceful, with not much happening.

The toilets on the trains are unreal. So much space and no graffiti... yet I couldn’t see out the window on one of the trains because the sides were covered with paint.

I called the hostel via skype using maccas internet and arranged a taxi. For some reason, if you pre call a taxi its significantly less than flagging one off the street (ride cost me 3 euros, 15 if I didn’t call!). Booked into Hostel Print, a 20 min walk from the city center.

Met some French lads who were staying at the hostel. We planned to head out later in the evening, as it was a Friday!

I walked into town to explore as much as I could. Ljubljana appeared as a small city with a great focus on the center with many squares and shop fronts creating a warm atmosphere. The famous 3-bridges looked silly, but the locals appreciate the significance and input the famous architect Plecnik had on the city.

I found a super ice-cream place on the way home and devoured a blueberry flavoured cone. The best fruit ice-cream I’ve had all trip!

Dinner cost me 5 euro… it included:

1 chicken; body removed so breast fillets good to go. Cooked on a sandwich press to keep the moisture in.

1 large can of mixed beans, drained, then soaked in balsamic vinegar.

3 eggs, 1 tomato, 1 capsicum and a clove of garlic in a pan to create an omelet.

Plate up with salt and herbs and you’re good to go!

It was a super dinner… and filled me right up!

We went to the club Top in the city center. Some how the hostel lined up vip pass and we gladly received a glass of champagne on the way in and sat in the reserved area. We danced; the music was pretty good with a mix of a few classics in there. It started raining at around midnight and didn’t stop until I went to bed at 3.30am!

Thursday, 21 July

I woke up before my alarm went off… way before… I was too excited about the adventure I was about to start heading into Slovenia. It would mark my first solo travelling (without any friends from Perth anyway), which I was very much looking forward to.

Dylan and I met Elizabeth and Thomas and wandered through Sibernik, as they hadn’t been to the town center before. We had a coffee in front of the water and talked. They are a very nice couple and happily share their stories with us.

We looked at the main church before I bought a jam doughnut… it was worth waiting for – this one was soft, fresh and a delight to eat (it didn’t take long).

I said my good byes to Dylan, I won’t be seeing him until I return to Perth in March.

I set off… in the back seat of the camper, looking forward to the ride ahead.

We stopped a few times at rest stops to stretch and have a coffee. Elizabeth did all of the driving as Thomas has only recently got his license (no need to drive in some European cities as the public transport is so efficient).

We passed through Zagreb after 3 hours of driving. We had to pay a toll to use the autobahns, unlike in Australia. I envied their flexibility; at one of the stops we discussed where we would go on a map that covered all of Eastern Europe! A map with 8 different countries compared to half of Western Australia - theirs is far more exciting. We decided to go to Libj, north of Ljubljana, where there are hot springs.

We arrived mid afternoon at the camping ground called Terme Ptuj. (Ptuj was the small town). There were many other RV’s and a few tents. The attraction here is the swimming pools that are heated by the hot rocks deep underground. The plan was the spend 2 nights here, but 1 was plenty…

We tried the water slides – it was like a child’s slide – if only they could experience the ucfk’s annual sliding competition on the camps… So the pools weren’t all that enjoyable, we headed out for an early dinner at a pizza restaurant down the road. I was lucky to get a Larsko beer again (my favourite).

I slept outside the camper, was glad to be using my sleeping bag as up until now it’d been a dead weight. I was nice and warm.

I couldn’t have been luckier with the company of Elizabeth and Thomas.

Thomas is a very generous teacher who spends his time programming and teaching disabled children in Vienna. He uses his skills with computers to make movies and applications that improve the learning of the pupils. He was one of the first to start programming when computers came out! Elizabeth is a graphic designer and her caring character reminded me very much of my mum. So it was a very nice few days I spent with them. I would be sad when the time came to say good-bye.

Wednesday, 20 July

The alarm went off at 7.30am, which was far too early considering the bed was so comfy. We had a prearranged tour booked to explore the Krka National Park. We were picked up at 8.10 and taken to a camping ground, where the driver swapped with his father (at a guess a 75-year-old) and we were joined by a couple, Elizabeth and Thomas from Vienna.

We were driven into the park, expecting to be combined with a large tour group of 20 people… but, it was just the four of us in the car for the whole day! We couldn’t believe our luck. It was like we weren’t students on a budget as were being chauffeured around; we were very excited.

The first stop was the main attraction of the park – Skradinski Buk. A boardwalk guided us through the magical forest with winding streams and creeks full of fish and wildlife. The water was like a recently cleaned window; completely transparent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6fHyGZRR_0

(make sure you watch in 1080HD on youtube!)

Pop’s (I couldn’t pronounce his name) showed us the techniques which the village people many centuries ago used to grind the wheat seeds, dry the clothes and make bread (same way as we make damper). They took advantage of the energy from the flow of the water to engineer some impressive contraptions to assist them.

After a good 45 mins of venturing through the lush bush we came across the falls.

Very hard to describe the magnificence of the falls and in no way did the camera capture the expansive flow and sound of the cascading waterfalls. We all swam and enjoyed the pure, fresh water while taking in the natural beauty of the place.

Pop’s then drove us to a lookout where we saw the island of Visovac. The island is one of the most important monuments in Croatia. It serves as a holiday house for the Popes.

After, we raced to Roski slap where we walked through the expansive riverbed. There were many wild fig trees growing in and around the water and it brought me back to Emmy and Papas back yard!

There was another mill here, which also served food. We ate a cheese, meat and a fresh vegetable platter and savored some great prosciutto. Close by were some ‘Jacuzzi’s’ that Pop’s challenged us to swim in after our lunch. We couldn’t resist.

We all had a great laugh here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFX5CsziFL8 (watch in HD!)

After we were taken to further upstream to the Orthodox Krka Monastery. Underground we witnessed a tomb of the Romans from when they ruled the province many centuries ago. There were a dozen or so skulls and bones lying around.

We saw another notable site with expansive 20m falls.

Elizabeth and Thomas just so happened to be heading north to Slovenia the following day… they very kindly said yes to me hitching a ride with them in their camper van. We organized a meeting place for the follow morning before we were driven back into Sibernik town center at 6pm.

The total cost of the day was 350 kunas each – 75AUD for entrance (100 kuna), lunch and a private tour of the national park. We won!

On the way back to the hostel we visited the ice-cream place again…

Again we went out for dinner with our roommates. I ordered a turkey steak with roasted vegetables as a side. We enjoyed the bread with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt (maybe had a few baskets…)

I had a 0.5l local beer, and the roommates ordered 1l of red wine… It was the nicest wine I’ve had! We enjoyed great conversation with Pierre and Pascal about many important issues…

As tradition, we wandered around before stopping off at our favourite ice-cream place… The girl serving us recommended kiwi flavour which was a change from my last few (tiramisu, biscuits, caramel – more creams than fruit) and she loaded us up with a great mound of ice cream. Was a super way to complete a very exciting day.

The national park really impressed me, and reminded me not to spend too much time partying and drinking, but also to explore the countryside and the natural landmarks the earth has to offer.