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  Lbliajana, Slovenia
Wednesday, July 27, 2005

I spent the last two nights in jail in Slovenia.

Ok so I paid to do it, and it was actually my hostel. It used to be an old military prison but artists transformed it into a hostel. Its pretty neat, although the dorm room is a little crowded - www.souhostel.si. Its about a ten minute walk into the city, and five minutes to the train/bus station. (Believe me, to travlers, this is very very important information. How long do you want to walk through a city you dont know with a 20-30 pound backpack on your back trying to find a place to sleep?).


Slovenia is an amazing place. Im staying in the main city, Ljubljana (Loo-ble-ana), which I think is a great city. Its quite small but it has tons of character and such charm. Every night during the summer there are all these concerts so walking around at night you can hear so many different kinds of music. Even the travel book says crime is so rare here, and I feel completely safe walking everywhere. Theres a river that runs through the city so there are bridges and lots of restaurants by the river. Things are relatively inexpensive and so ive been checking out the restaurants. One night I called what was called the "game plate" and all I know is that it came and had 6 different kinds of meat on it, none of which I recognized. I read it in english, but really still had no idea what i was eating - it was delicious though. Last night I had one of the best pizzas, with vegetables and cottage cheese and i think some kind of onion that was delicious. But if you look around the city, people seem to hardly ever eat. They are always just sitting in the cafes drinking, either coffee or beer, or they are eating ice cream. EVERYONE eats ice cream- all the time. And at less than a dollar for a big cone, its not hard to see why. I was wondering how everyone stays fit on a diet of ice cream and beer, but i found out today. I went on a hike to smorga gora and its straight up this hill outside of the city. But everyone, old people, little people (i swear i saw a 3 year old walking) hikes it. My friend, Beth, who had studied here told me Slovians love to hike, and she wasn't kidding (Beth thanks for all your suggestions, they have been great! )

I also took a day trip to a town on the Istira coast called Piran. It was a gorgeous town by the Adriatic sea with small winding streets, and of course the view from the hill above the town was great. The bus ride out to Piran was beautiful. The houses reminded me of houses I saw in Austria, specificly Salzburg.

Most people here do speak english Im finding, but of course that could be the people geared towards tourists. I seem to judge cities by how well they are prepared to host the Olympics in terms of handling tourists (i must have gotten this idea from greece) and Slovenia has great tourist information (signs, maps, noted bus stations, english translations, etc.). Its amazing to think that a little over 10 years ago, this was part of Yugloslavia. A lot of the people living here now actually lived through the 10 day war for independence. (If you visit here, I highly recommend taking a walking tour - very informative).

The people at the hostel here are also on the "eastern europe" route so ive been getting some information from them. I seem to be running into more people that have quit their jobs, or college, and are just going until the money runs out. I hit the two month mark yesterday and am still going strong, if not stronger, than the day I started out. I am still in the mode of waking up at 6:30am so excited to start the day i cant go back to sleep. I thought it would wear off but each day just brings so much and I experience so many things that I cant wait to see what the day will bring. This IS the life (at least for me:) )!!!!

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