Ljubljana, Slovenia
I strongly believe that there a few cities in the world that need more than a weekend to 'do them'- to name a few off the top of my head; London, New York & France- pretty sure that's it. LLjubljana we worked out to be about 2 hours. Saying its not a big city is an understatement, in fact I hear on the Slovenian grape vine that you can drive across the whole country in about 2 hours. But all that aside it is pretty.
Christmas eve we set out as a group of 7 to explore the city, get some food and maybe our booze on. After hearing great reviews of the Christmas markets we figured this was the place to get into the Christmas spirit. What we didn't know was that Ljubljana seems to shut about 5pm on Christmas eve and not open again until Boxing day (known as Slovenian Independence day, which doesn't have the same ring to it). With no markets to view we settled for mulled wine and wandering in the freezing cold looking for food. Now it could be that we went the wrong way but there were no restaurants to be found open and we ended up eating in a bar who went and got the food from the kebab shop across the road- oh well it made for a good joke for the rest of the trip.
Once boxing day came along and the city opened again it was time for exploring. It turned out we had seen all the sights on our freezing cold wanderings. While it is pretty if you're one for enjoying ticking sights off a list, this is not the place for you with only a small amount of exaggeration I can say that there are approx 10 sites to see. The castle itself is worth going up to for the views and for the fact that they seem to have sign in books for every doorway up there- to follow in my footsteps flick through the book till you see "team turban was here 2011" which kept me amused for an hour or so.
Travel tip 1: if looking to be 'bang on trend' or in fact ahead of trend pop down to the markets in Ljubljana on Boxing day and grab yourself some winter headwear that they are trialling for the new season. You to can look as glah-morous as I in a nice new turban.
Travel tip 2: For a fun game stand slightly hidden by the dragon bridge watching people walk across and every time the dragon doesn't wave yell slut at them - it is a true fact that the dragon waves to virgins (must be a fact as I read it book and on the internet)
The absolute highlight of the city was heading down to the caves in Postojna- ok technically not the city but well worth doing. You will pay a ridiculous fortune hiring a taxi to drive down & wait but do it. You might get there and think '20 euros to get in some caves that's ridiculous, it was way cheaper in Lebanon', but again just do it. These have got to be the best caves I have seen (yes better than Yallingup and Lebanon) and what makes them even better is the indianna jones style little train that takes you flying through them before you get out and walk around.
Travel tip 3: when joining a tour group for English speakers do a quick pole to check that everyone in the group are in fact English speakers and not just Slovenians practising their English. news flash- it is not practising English when you are speaking with the tour guide in Slovenian the whole time and the real English speakers will inevitably get annoyed with this behaviour an 'accidentally' trip up one of your little fatty boomba kids.
High point: waiting for Santa for over an hour in the freezing cold and then having him look over to you as you scream his name like an insane person over and over again (thoroughly recommended)
Low point: realising you had come all that way for a white Christmas and all you got was rain... and there was snow in England
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