We arrived in Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia, on the morning of June 5th. We had the first part of the day to enjoy in Ljubljana, before catching an afternoon bus to Bled. We stored our big backpack at the bus ticket counter and walked into town, which is a straight shot, walking distance from the bus station. As we entered the heart of Ljubljana we saw a marching band approaching for some type of ceremony. We stopped and watched a while as lines of people in uniform assembled, but once the speeches began we couldn’t understand what was being said, so we wandered on.
We crossed the Triple Bridge over the Ljubljanica River.
We made our way up to Castle Hill. We looked for the funicular, but realized it was easy enough just to walk up the hill. We were both very tired from the sleepless overnight train ride, so once we reached the top of the hill we sat on a bench outside the Castle and ate a breakfast snack. The nice thing about Ljubljana Castle is that admission into the castle and a few of the exhibits is free. There are also some exhibits that you can pay to go inside, but we skipped those ones.
One of the fee based attractions was the tower where you can get a panoramic view of the city, but we opted to skip that as well since there is also a decent free view area where you can see a good view as well!
After enjoying the free exhibits in Ljubljana Castle we walked back down the hill and found ourselves in a wonderful farmer’s market. There were so many stands full of vibrant flowers and produce.
Then we made our way to the Dragon Bridge and back into town, past many appealing restaurants with tables of friends filling the sidewalks.
There probably was much more to see in Ljublijana, but we were both exhausted, so we made our way back to the bus station, grabbed a cheap bite to eat, and bought tickets for a 3:00pm bus to Bled. We passed the time until the bus departed at a restaurant across the street from the bus station, where we bought a very expensive Coke, but made up for it by using the free WiFi.
We enjoyed our short stay in Ljubljana and probably could have spent a couple of days here meandering through the old town. If you’ve been to Ljubljana, please suggest some additional sights to see in the comments. Thanks!