Postonja

I woke up early this morning.... 9:00... so I have a few minutes to check in. 

After Bled, the plan was to head south. In addition to the Vingar Gorge, Slovenia has another claim to fame, the Postojna Castle and Caves. The castle and caves are located in a tiny town in Southern Slovenia. The only thing there and the only reason that people go to Postonja, pronounched Post - tone - ya, is to go to castle and caves. 

And off we go!

It was beautiful morning in Bled. Taking a train from Bled to Postojna was not really efficient so we bussed. it. We took the bus from Bled to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, got a bit confused while waiting for the bus, and then took another bus to Postojna. Sitting next to me were these French guys who talked the whole time.

We arrived in Postojna to actually something going on. We checking into our hostel... which creeped me out. It looked exactly like the house from the Shining. Then we headed back to the main square. Apparently, today was the end of this massive bike ride in Slovenia where people bike around the country for 48 non-stop.

I asked, "Really, 48 hours without stopping? They don't sleep?" The woman assured me they stopped to eat, but no sleep. They were also handing out Gatorade which I wanted but I think it was supposed to be for the bikers. And I thought that I was thirsty.

So we talked to the tourist office ladies for a while. Speaking of the tourist office. I used to be so anti-tourist office, but of course I had never been. They are the best thing ever. My total advice is if you are ever in a new place and you see one, go in and chat with the people. They are never trying to sell you anything, they just want to tell you about their place. I have gotten the best hotel, food, and fun recommendation every time I ask! Today was no exception.

We went into the tourist office to ask about the "castle and caves," turns our we got a discount because we were buying our tickets there. Even more, they didn't have enough change to break our bill, so we got it even cheaper. Then we asked about dinner and they recommended a pizza place, because being so close to Italy, people say that the pizza in Slovenia is sometimes better than in Italy. Via Trib still has my heart though.  If you are ever in Seattle, you must go to Via Trib.

The lady said this was her second favorite pizza, with her favorite being 20km away. We'll take it! Then came the real question, where were the "castle an caves," how long would it take to get there, and how exactly do you get there?

Well, and we kind of new this already, the caves were close. About 300 meters from the tourist office, less than a 10 minute walk. The castle on the other hand was a different story.

The castle was 9 km away. You can walk, but it's a long a rode. You can bike, but it's uphill and bikes are 15 euros each, or you can rent a taxi, which is 30 euros for the afternoon.

We choose option 4.

We asked them, "So can we hitchhike?" They thought about it, we talked for a bit, and then they decided, that sure, we should try it. "Maybe you can find someone leaving the caves who is going to the castle.

So we set off. We made it to the caves no problem. We had a voucher from the tourist office to pick us our tickets at will call. We walked into the ticket booth, cut in front of some Americans, and got our tickets.

At this point it's pretty hot and we really haven't eaten. I am constantly concerned about what I have eaten for fear of falling into shaking shock, plus, we may walking a ton this afternoon is no one picks us up. So I order a sandwich. It was delicious.

And then at 1 our tour of the caves began. So I am not sure if I have mentioned this, but everywhere that Brandon and I go, we are by far the youngest people there. I am no kidding and I not really sure why, but it's always us, and then the next person close to our age is 40. Everywhere we go.

So the cave tour begins by... entering the cave.

And then you get on board little train. And little did we know you fear for your life on this ride. Like half of the stuff that we do, we're like, "Um, this would never be okay in America." This little train was great, it winds though the underground caverns, but if you don't duck or lean in half the time, you would look very different by the end of the ride. All I can say is keep your head down and your arms in!

Here we go!

The train runs for about 2km and then you get off and go to your language. There are signs with languages on them and oddly enough, everyone migrates to their proper place. Slovenian was first, then English, then Italian, then German, and last French.

The order didn't really make sense to me. I get it, Slovenians first, we're in Slovenia, English seconds, very useful but to be honest I think German is a more popular second language here. I can deal with the French being last, their chatty and there are no too many of them here. But what confused me was putting the Germans behind the Italians. I can't imagine the problems that could arise from that! :)

Then you get a guide, and they take you on a guided tour of the caverns. Our guide was great. Her name was Ana, I think. She knew a ton of stuff on the cave, and gosh I must say, that girl must be so chill. Because our group was not a swift moving bunch. We were really slow. Which was fine, you got to see more stuff, but ya know.

Additionally, was the couple that we had cut in front of in the ticket line earlier. Boy was the wife rude! She kept asking questions of the guide in the most backhanded and interrupting fashion. Ana answered her but each time it was like, "Lady, really? Manners!

Here they are, lady in black and guy in blue.

You could tell that she was not impressed by anything, the caverns, the size of the salamanders, the reason for no flash photography.

Not sure if these are the greatest pictures, but we were in a cave with barely any light so I think it turned out alright.

We finished the tour, just in time too because it was 10C inside and we were about frozen. Back in the sun, it was decision time. Should we stock people in the parking lot that would take us to the castle or do we start walking and try to get someone to pick us up.

We started walking. A ton of cars passed us. I have no clue how Sal Paradise picks up rides no problem, but no one wanted us. And I'm not really sure why....haha.

So we walked. And walked along this narrow road. It was probably not the safest idea. At one point Brandon had to jump over a guard rail to escape a crossing car and bus.

And we're walking. I stick out my thumb, a car waves to me and then stops. So we run after it. However that just turned out to be really embarrassing. She had been motioning to me that they were lost and then they had pulled over to ask directions.

So we kept going. It's been almost a half hour at this point.

Somehow now, Predjama, the castle has increased to 10 km. Not really sure how to take that.

We see another car coming and I again stick out my thumb. And this guys stops! Hesitantly, we run up to his car. He rolls down his window and starts a conversation with us in Slovenian. His car is filled with electronic equipment and manuals. Printers, cables, and manuals. Brandon asks if he speaks English to which he stops his Slovenian rant and shakes his head no. "Predjama?" Brandon asks. The guy agrees, moves the stuff around in his car and lets us in.

Turns out this guys wasn't even going to the castle but he took us there anyway! Brandon tried to signal that we could walk, but he waved that idea off and kept driving us.So nice. Here is his car as he pulled away.

So here is the castle. Pretty cool that it comes right out of the rock. But to be honest for all the work that it would have been getting there, it would not have been worth it. Because let me tell you, from where that guy picked us up, it was quite a way to the castle and really, really hilly. Thank God he picked us up.

So we do the castle, it takes about 30 minutes, wasn't great. And we are standing about here, taking in the view, when who do I spot but the Americans from earlier! That woman could barely walk so there was no way that they didn't have a car. Brandon said, "Run after them!" So I take off towards the parking lot.

Me: "Hello!? Hi! Hi!. Do you remember me? I was on your cave tour earlier? This is totally weird but we walked here from Postonja, is there anyway that you can give us a ride back to town?

Wife: "You walked here?" (really annoyed)

Husband: "Of course we can do that!"

Me: "Well actually we walked halfway, but then we hitched a ride."

Wife: "You hitched a ride?" (now even more annoyed)

Husband: "Of course, let me just pull the car out."

So we hop in and what an interesting car ride it was. The guy was super nerdy and super nice. He had a conference in Ljubljana and then they were heading down to Croatia. The lady on the other hand, well nothing impressed her. And Brandon was laying it on thick. Everything we said, she hated. Brandon is a teacher, ugh, we speak french, well we should speak more languages, we wanted to see the castle, she heard it was lame so they went to a mill, we needed a ride back to town, "you walked here." We asked where she was from, nothing. About her kids, she has them. Has she been to europe before, of course what civil human hasn't, did she like the caves, um they were overpriced and not as good as the carlsbad caverns. How was Slovenia for her, it was awful, she is czech and they treat he so well in the Czech Republic when they see her last name is Czech. Can I just say I was not shocked she didn't take her husbands name. I was going to tell her what I do but didn't want to risk it.

Husband: "So where do you guys want to be dropped off, just let me know."

Me: "The stoplight in town is perfect! Great."

Overall, really interesting ride. I win the golden thumb award twice that day and we made it to what we had wanted to see in one piece and we got a really interesting story out of it. Good day indeed!

Well now we had all this extra time because we didn't end up walking for four hours. We were hungry and hit up the grocery store.

Saw this cool coke display.

A sign in town.

It was finally time for dinner so we headed to the pizza place which turned out to be fabulous!!! Fabulous!! The waiter was this really cute old man who spoke like no English, but he did speak Italian so he went with that. It was prego that and prego this. So cute.

If we didn't get a ride, we would still be walking.

We decided to share a pizza so we ordered the large. Waiter man tried to tell us that it was really big but we insisted. Um, that was dumb. Turned out to be the largest pizza that I have ever seen! It was bigger than Bob's or Bostons! It took up the whole table! What were we thinking ordering a large anyway for two people? Would you ever order a large for two?

We tried to finish it. I had about two slices. Brandon did a better job but in the end there were still three huge slices left. Without even asking, our waiter brought us out some aluminum foil. Haha! Then he brought us a box.

This place was so great.

There it is from the outside. It's on the top floor.

Super fun day. To be honest the castle and the caves were kind of a let down, but so worth it all in the end! Whew! That was a bunch of info! Next we head to Croatia where we are supposed to be renting a car so hopefully we can quit this hitchhiker and walking business. (Actually, I am a few days behind on writing this, obviously, so I already know what is going to happen in the story and it is great. Get excited! I hope I can do it justice).

Thanks everyone for reading, I am glad that you are enjoying it, it is fun for me to write this all down and remember all the crazy stuff. We try to keep it interesting.

Joni, so bummed that the comment thing didn't work! I am sure what you wrote was hysterical.


Sound of Music person... who are you? Haha, again so glad that you want to watch, still not sure who you are. 

Lake Bled/Where I Died

Ahh! This is one of the posts that didn't save! It was pretty funny the first time around... so sad but here is the do over!

Do you know what it is like finding internet? It is the most random thing, in some countries, there is literally wifi seeping out of the pavement. I believe that was the Czech Republic. That and free bathrooms. In others.... it will say there is internet and really there is nothing! So deceiving those five white bars can be! But that is okay, I press on.

Right now I am standing and blogging at this computer workstation because my laptop won't connect. 

However, besides the standing, the keyboard is American for some reason, which I appreciate more than I can say. Who knew that switching the z and y keys could through me off as much as it did. 

Nope, now currently, I have unplugged the Ethernet cable from the hostel computer and plugged it into mine! Superfast!

Before I get to my picture commentary here's some news. (Because the 20 minute blog posts aren't enough. 

First, who said they wanted to watch The Sound of Music together when I get home? I would love to, I just have no clue who you are. Let me know! :)

Second, I am well fed and my legs are ripped! Ripped I tell you. I think that I have said that already but after all the stairs combined with getting lost while carrying my lb backpack and having to walk around with it for an hour is really doing wonders for my "ready position." Why didn't all my coaches send me to Europe to get in shape rather than making me life weights and jumps stairs! Europe is way more fun.

But onto the story.

The second night in the hostel was a bit better. Snoring dude was there as well as crazy Canadian man, who also snored, but thanks to my new iphone app with sleep sounds, I didn't hear a thing. Thank you oscillating fan. Best idea ever downloading that. It has become my new best friend. 

Our train left for Slovenia pretty early so we got up and made our way to the train station. Our eurail passes are supposed to let us into the train lounges but so far we can't find any. We looked it up and finally Salzburg had a lounge. Our plan was to eat breakfast there. 

However, when we arrived, our plan was soon foiled by a well built Austrian man who spoke no English. He wouldn't let us in and we had no interest in trying to convince him. I think we would have lost quickly although Brandon is a black belt in Karate.

It was getting close to our train leaving and we still hadn't eaten. We ran across the street to a mall and thankfully there was a grocery store inside. I got a banana and a box of granola bars which would prove to be a very wise decision. 

I am so tired of eating apples and bananas! They are like the only two grab and go fruits!

We ran back to train just in time to get on. Lake Bled here we come!

We rode the train from Salzburg to Villach in Southern Austria. It was an absolutely stunning ride through the Austrian countryside. So so pretty. Our train was running a bit late and we had to make our connection! Thankfully we came into Villach with 5 minutes to spare. We jumped off our beautiful Austrian train, which was complete with food menus and magazines.... and hopped onto our, um, Slovenian train. In a word, it was not as nice. But at least we were getting there.

So we have been on this train for a while and Brandon looks at me and says, "So do you know what time we get off" As he says this, I look outside and see the sign for "Lesce/Beld," our stop. So one thing we have learned about Slovenian trains is that they stop for maybe 30 seconds. Well, by the time I see the sign we have already lost about 15 seconds. To top if off, our stuff is scattered everywhere in our cabin!

Literally, we grab everything and fall out of the train... into the middle of nowhere. The train conductor thought it was hysterical. So here we are, in this tiny tiny town, stuff is scattered everywhere on the ground, the train leaves, and we are left to be watched by a few old men in a cafe. I try to keep my cool and gather my stuff. Granola bars are everywhere, jackets are everywhere, backpacks are everywhere.

Brandon easily picks up his two backpacks. I on the other hand am having a bit more trouble. I attach myself to my big backpack, put my purse strap over my head, and try to stand up, only to be pulled off balance by my backpack and then to fall to the ground with my arms and legs flailing like a bug on its back. I can only imagine how funny that must have been for the coffee audience. Brandon who meanwhile was being attacked by a taxi driver who wanted to charge him 30 euro to take us 2 km, came over to free me from my bondage.

Back on my feet, we walked over to the tourism office which just happened to appear out of nowhere. At this point, we entered the "lost zone." This town is small, however for some reason we could not find a thing. We got lost going from the tourism office to the bus stop, which was about 15 meters.

We skipped the 30 euro taxi and opted for the 1.30euro bus.

Here it is! There was no one on it! We rode the bus from Lesce, the train station, to Lake Bled, where we were staying. It was about 5 minutes

Then we proceeded to get lost again. We were supposed to walk two hundred meters from the bus stop to the hostel, but even that was trouble! I don't know what the issue was but ha! Maybe it was us! After a good 20 minutes, we found it.

At this point, as the title says, I died. I was so tired. Not just tired from the day, but from everything. I had absolutely no idea that being on vacation could be so exhausting. I have no clue how the Australians do this for months or years at a time. Brandon wanted to go on a bike ride, I decided to visit my new bed. It was a glorious 5 hours with my computer. I read, I emailed, I ate granola bars, it was amazing.

Later, Brandon came back and we headed down to the lake. So there is really no much to do in Bled, it's a Slovenian resort town that became popular when people couldn't leave Slovenia during some war or something. Actually this whole area is really outdoorsy... so if you are into the outdoors, you would love sLOVEnia.

However, the lake is stunning. It looks fake! It is so bizarre. You feel like you are watching a movie or that you are in Disney world or something. So pretty.

A sign in Slovenian if you have an interest.

So apparently this is the rowing capital of Slovenia. This is where all the Olympic athletes practice.

In the middle of the lake is an island with a castle. You can take a boat out there if you like, we didn't but it would have been fun.

After that we headed back and I made some terrible couscous for dinner. Honestly, I have no idea how it tasted so bland with all the stuff I put in it! Anyway, that was okay. We talked to the one other girl that was staying at the hostel, Nicole from Singapore. She was travelling around Eastern Europe by herself, this is the second trip she had done alone. I have no clue how people do it! I could never that, I would get so lonely.

End Day 1 in Bled.

Day 2 in Bled.

On the reasons we wanted to come to Bled was for the Vingar Gorge. The hostel lady, Andreja was really nice and helpful, but she was nuts. She kept saying things like, "Oh yeah! You can walk there, it's about 1.5 hours. Or, Oh yeah, walk there, it's about three hours." Um, no thanks. I am totally into walking but three hours seems a bit excessive.

We decided to ride bikes to the gorge. It was good weather, finally!

So after going the wrong way several times, riding up steep hills and then back down them, we found the right road. Which was under construction. Up and over!

This led us to the steepest hill! Oh my gosh it was so steep!!! I had to get off my bike and walk. Brandon did too but he was way ahead.

Almost there...

Made it!

I'm dying it's so hot!

But the view was amazing. For those of you who are discouraged by getting here, please know you can drive. Haha, but we have no car.

We went to go lock our bikes and who did we see but a woman who rode up the same hill as we did, but with a child in a carriage attached. Okay, she is amazing! Apparently she does this everyday. Can you say, in shape?

We locked our bikes and we were off to the gorge!

You had to hike down through the forest to get to the gorge entrance.

After meeting some lost Germans, we made it!

Here's where we went!

My amazing shoes. Everyone, go buy yourself a pair of Nike Free's. They are the best shoes ever! They kick Adidas, Asics, and Mizuno out of the water.

Milds! I saw this cute old house and thought you would like it!

To get back you have a choice or walking back through the gorge, or you can finish out the trail loop. We decided to finish out the loop. However, soon we came to a fork in the path with only this sign to help us decide which way to go. Hmmm....

Left into the woods or right up the hill? We went right.

Can you see the slope we were walking against! I kept saying it reminded me of that scene in The Princess Bride where they roll down the hill.

Beautiful view.

So we are walking and then in the distance I see cows. Hmm...

Yep, there are cows. We are in a cow pasture. Great! I begin to freak out and the only way out of here is through the cows.

Now I am not sure if you can tell, but these things are huge! Massive! I was freaking out!

Made it out alive!

After narrowly escaping death, we headed back to town. Grabbed lunch at the grocery store and then Brandon wanted to go on a hike. I hit my bed. It again was awesome. I am telling you, I just needed a break. I had reached the point of nothing that I was going to see, or that I was going to miss, would be better than doing nothing. So I did nothing. It was great.

Lake Bled is famous for this cake they make. Which of course we had to try! Around 5 we headed down to the lake for some cake. Nice rhyme!

It was really good!

After that, shocking, we were hungry.

And so we found this restaurant. Let me just say, this was one of the best meals yet on this trip! Ahhhh it was so good. We caved and ordered wine for the first time in days... um, yum!

I had trout with these spinach potatoes! It was out of this world.

And then we headed back to the hostel.

So that was Bled. To be honest, I didn't see too much of it, the lake and the gorge, which I think are actually what I really needed to see. But it was a great time to recharge and gear up! We still have two weeks to go! I can't be tired yet! Tomorrow we are headed to another part of Slovenia... get pumped!