We left Zagreb early in the morning to catch the train to Ljubljana, a mere two hour ride which passed without a hitch, allowing Gill the perfect opportunity to perfect her travelling past-time – knitting purple wrist-bands for us.  Others find it odd, we find it charming.  Anyway, the unattractive Ljubljana station was flanked by a McDonald’s, conveniently enabling us to eat both breakfast and brunch, before walking to our hostel.  Turning the corner, we found the most attractive city we’d been to, yet.  Yes, even better than Prague.  There were few people milling around, and the hostel was just in front of the quaint Dragon Bridge, with a view of the impressive castle.

We found out that we could not check in until about four, which left us with three hours to kill, so we went to the castle and had a wander up and down the river.  The array of bridges, fountains and statues added to the charm of the city, as well as the imposing Catholic churches dotted around the squares.

Returning to Most Hostel and settling in, we relaxed in our massive dorm (with its own sofa), freshened up and went to the double-recommended Sokol restaurant.  It means ‘eagle’ and was in both the guidebook and the hostelier’s recommended list of places.  The fantastically atmospheric inn-style place served up some traditional Slovenian cuisine for us, including Gill’s onion soup, served in a bread cup, and Nick Stylianou’s lovely game goulash.

We looked for a club called Global, but again, without breaking our little tradition, we found that it had been shut for two months. Then we went to bed. 

Ace.