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’.