Lovely Ljubjlana

It is my morning of departure from Slovenia and I am sad to be leaving. As with most places that you travel to, you think that of course you will be back again but often that is not the case...there are so many places to see and explore in the world.
Since my last blog we had some more amazing days in Bled and its surroundings. Lake Bohinj is gorgeous, and the hiking around the area was beautiful. We had planned to do a big walk for the day but unfortunately I was the weakest link. It happens to me at the end of every cycling season, I attempt to do some other form of exercise and end up hobbling around for days after pushing those muscles I haven't used for more than 6 months a little too far. On this holiday, I am not sure what I did but I woke up on Wednesday morning and my right quad was not happy with me at all. Walking on the flat or uphill was fine but going down was terrible, I had to do a funky kind of hop just to get down to breakfast. Due to this we had to settle for hiking up to a waterfall and then around one side of the lake...it was a lovely day again and the 10km or so that we did was satisfying enough.
The next day in Bled we headed out to Vintgar Gorge, the walk from Bled out throught the little villages, surrounded by the mountains was a great way to start the morning and the gorge was all that is cracked up to be. We finished the day off with hiring mountain bikes and riding around the lake....all in all another happy day in Slovenia.
On Friday we caught the bus here to Ljubjlana...we had booked to stay at Hostel Celica, which is the place to stay here. It was previously a prison and has been renovated, with the help of 18 top Slovenian artists to become the coolest hostel I have ever stayed in. Some of the rooms are the more traditional dorms but the first level is the converted 'cells'...quite an experience. We explored Ljubjlana in the late afternoon and followed the masses by pulling up a stool at one of the many bars next to the river and drank some of the local beer, 'Union' while people watching. Saturday we awoke to the sound of heavy rain...for Michelle it was a bit of a godsend, she has been travelling for more than 7 weeks and was in need to an enforced down day. We have been so lucky with the weather, at this time of year you have to be grateful for every day of sunshine you get, so we weren't too worried. We did venture out into the rain to check out the fruit and vege markets...very worthwhile but we were soaked and spent the rest of the morning drying out, reading on the couches in the cafe in the hostel.
So now I head to Rome...I'm very much looking forward to this week as well. I am so glad that I decided to come to Slovenia, I would be back here in a heartbeat...it feels like much more than a week since I left Stuttgart which for me is the sign of a good holiday :)
Photos still to come....