Departing from Croatia and traveling north, Slovenia is the first EU country you enter, which means there is a greater chance of interrogations and searches. As soon as we entered Slovenia, officials boarded the train. My luggage was thoroughly searched, and then I was asked for additional ID, as if a passport is not sufficient identification. Welcome to the EU.
With about 250,000 people, Ljubljana (pronounced "loo-bee-yana"), the capital of Slovenia, is an attractive green little city with the Ljubljanica River running through it, numerous outdoor cafes, museums, bike paths, and a castle up on the hill. Unlike Sarajevo, there is little evidence here of the early 1990s war when Slovenia decided to break away from Yugoslavia. The war lasted for 10 days and left 66 people dead.
While visiting the castle I met a young woman and her aunt from Mexico who are traveling throughout Eastern Europe. They told me they had expected it to be a lot cooler than it is in this part of the world and had brought many warm clothes with them, which is making it much more difficult to travel around. Definitely a major inconvenience, hauling these winter clothes all the way from Mexico City, and now lugging them on and off the trains and buses and ferries of Ljubljana, Prague, Budapest ... But one consolation when traveling heavy rather than lite is that it will whip you into shape. Here in Slovenia I have seen several young travelers that do not seem daunted by traveling heavy. This morning I spotted one of these barefoot itinerant Bohemians walking up a busy street in downtown Ljubljana. In addition to a large pack strapped on her back, she also had attached to her body numerous other items, including a large case for some sort of stringed instrument, a tent, and various other bags and containers.
PS I was wondering what all of the locks were for on the one bridge in downtown Ljubljana (photo above) so I asked a woman hanging around nearby and she answered in one word: Love.
Departing from Croatia and traveling north, Slovenia is the first EU country you enter, which means there is a greater chance of interrogations and searches. As soon as we entered Slovenia, officials boarded the train. My luggage was thoroughly searched, and then I was asked for additional ID, as if a passport is not sufficient identification. Welcome to the EU.
With about 250,000 people, Ljubljana (pronounced "loo-bee-yana"), the capital of Slovenia, is an attractive green little city with the Ljubljanica River running through it, numerous outdoor cafes, museums, bike paths, and a castle up on the hill. Unlike Sarajevo, there is little evidence here of the early 1990s war when Slovenia decided to break away from Yugoslavia. The war lasted for 10 days and left 66 people dead.
While visiting the castle I met a young woman and her aunt from Mexico who are traveling throughout Eastern Europe. They told me they had expected it to be a lot cooler than it is in this part of the world and had brought many warm clothes with them, which is making it much more difficult to travel around. Definitely a major inconvenience, hauling these winter clothes all the way from Mexico City, and now lugging them on and off the trains and buses and ferries of Ljubljana, Prague, Budapest ... But one consolation when traveling heavy rather than lite is that it will whip you into shape. Here in Slovenia I have seen several young travelers that do not seem daunted by traveling heavy. This morning I spotted one of these barefoot itinerant Bohemians walking up a busy street in downtown Ljubljana. In addition to a large pack strapped on her back, she also had attached to her body numerous other items, including a large case for some sort of stringed instrument, a tent, and various other bags and containers.
PS I was wondering what all of the locks were for on the one bridge in downtown Ljubljana (photo above) so I asked a woman hanging around nearby and she answered in one word: Love.
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