Embracing the culture of Ljubljana – Europe’s Green Capital 2016

We are currently parked up on a camper stop in a little village called Sostra, 10 kms outside Ljubljana (N46.03162 E14.60386).  It's 10 Euros a night for everything, or free if you eat in their restaurant.  A 'no brainer'  when you can get a meal from as little as 5 Euros!

We are parked up next to Paul, a fellow Brit who we met a couple of nights ago at Kocevje. He worked as a primary school teacher in Bristol for 17 years, but told us that he was fed up with all of the government changes in education and so gave it all up and has been travelling around Europe and Scandinavia for the last 8 months.  As you can see from the photo above, his van is very tiny.  It has a small bed in the back, a gas cooker and a container that takes just 10 litres of water.  He's mostly been stopping on campsites but is now heading back to the UK via Austria and France, as he's running out of money.
Also, next to the restaurant are a couple of potbelly pigs and some goats.  We better be careful what we pick of the menu to eat!

Yesterday we got the bus from Sostra into Ljublijana, only €2.20 return.  The sun was out but temperatures have now dropped quite a bit so we have swapped our shorts and T-Shirts for trousers and jackets!

Our first stop was Dragon Bridge, where we got off the bus. A piece of Art Nouveau architecture built in 1900 and was Ljubljana's first reinforced concrete structure.

We then walked along the river, passed the market hall, looking up towards the cathedral and castle, that sits high above the city.  There were plenty of boats taking people up and down the river.

The outdoor market was full of fruit and veg and plenty of cabbages, with quite a big queue to buy them!

The Slovenian's love their cabbages!

On to the Butcher's Bridge, known as the bridge of love and countless 'lovers' have padlocked their love on it and dropped the keys into the river.  Mel and I didn't have a padlock and not sure if we had, that we would of done it anyway, ha ha!

Hercules and Narcissus fountain

Street Entertainers

The very steep Funicular railway to the top of the castle.

Ljubljana Castle sits on a 375-metre-high hill and is a bit of a mishmash of architecture.  Most dates back to the early 16^th century when it was largely rebuilt after an earthquake. There were lots of Scottish people in the town and up at the castle, as Scotland are playing Slovenia at football tonight.   They were all wearing kilts and sporrans - you can spot a few in the photo below!

View across the town from the top of  Viewing Tower

Some graphic art in Tivoli Park

The population of Ljubljana is only 279,000 and for a capital city is fairly small.  But it is a lovely city to amble around and wasn't full of coach loads of tourists - just lots of Scottish football fans having a good time!

Sally x