Hi Everyone,

I’m travelling today – a 7 hr train ride across Croatia. I came from Slovenia this morning and we are now heading east, out to the coast from Zagreb (where I changed trains) to Split. Its great to sit here and see new things every second. I have a coach all to myself and my stuff spread all around me. In short – totally content!

I will arrive in Split late afternoon and spend the night and then tomorrow I’ll do a 5 hr bus ride to Dubrovnik, which is where my girlfriend who I’ll spend the next couple of weeks with is currently holidaying. I will travel with her and her girlfriends back to Tirana, Albania – where they have all been teaching for the last couple of years. Then Tracey and I will head down to Greece.

So, I had 4 nights in Slovenia. I went up to Bled for a day. It was a short one hour trip there and so I decided to just leave my stuff in Ljubljana and go lightly. Bled was fantastic. Its truly the gateway to many many wonderful hiking/mountain biking, rafting, kayaking opportunities. The largest mountain in Slovenia Mt. Triglav can be seen there. There are also places called Bovec and Bohinj that are more serious for those things. Bled itself is the gateway to it all.

Anyway – Bled. A beautiful lake is the main attraction. But not only that – it also has an island in the middle with a beautiful church on it that you can row a boat to. As well, there is a castle on a hill right at the lake’s edge. There is a trail all around the lake – about 6 km. I did the trail and hiked up to the castle and then I rented a bike. There are tons of bikes trails leading off all over the place! I was in heaven! I rode out to a Gorge – called Vintner Gorge and hiked the 3km trail along it. So great! It started raining like mad, with thunder and lightening and the whole bit while I rode back. I got back to the town of Bled soaking wet and went into a Pizzeria for beer and a wood fire cooked pizza, while watching the locals watch the World Cup. There was a big TV screen in there and it was Slovenia vs USA! Perfect.

I keep getting distracted typing this!! The scenery is incredible as we work our way down the track. There is the most teal green of rivers and its smooth and serene and then there will be the most fantastic little ledge and a drop and of course there is always a lovely little house at these spots. Its sooooo pretty! The weather is shit. Very cloudy – perfect for pictures though! The houses are really cool, sort of Bavarian looking. We seem to be getting away from the window boxes, but until now they have been everywhere. Ohhhh – wait a minute – we’re not away from them. I see them on a bunch of houses right now. Simply every house and window has them. Even when I rode the bike out into the country there were window boxes with the most pretty of flowers on the side of the barn windows!!

The people in Slovenia were very generous. I think I mentioned last time that they just give stuff to you when they feel like it. And they feel like it a lot! Yesterday I wandered around the Saturday market in Ljubljana. I went to buy and apple and the woman wouldn’t let me pay for it.

Good food too! I had the best Falafel wrap in my life yesterday at a take-out place. The ice cream is to die for and the cream pastries as well! I had the most wonderful salad with tomatoes and bocincini (sp?) cheese and ‘rocket’ greens. Have to check that one out when I get home, because why am I not growing that stuff in my garden? Its amazing!

Just to cap this one off, that train ride I was on while typing this ended up taking 7 hours instead of 5. Pretty standard, everyone told me later. All in all it was a 9 hr train ride day, including the 2 hours between Ljubljana and Zagreb. Fantastic!