Slovenia.is.cool.too.

Well after just a little over 24hrs back home in Budapest, I was off again to Slovenia. First to Piran, on the Adriatic coast, very close to Italy. This was an organized trip with the ESRAMUS group, so I was with 75 others- a few people I already knew from my technical university here, but also a bunch that I'd never met before from other universities in Budapest. All exchange students, and all english-speaking. We got to the bus in Budapest at 6:15am after only a short sleep. And of course there had to be 2 people who were late... really late. We didn't
end up leaving until 7:20. ouch. We had a long bus ride through the west of hungary and straight into slovenia, then all the way from one end of slovenia to the other until we reached Piran on the East coast of the Adriatic sea. After 10 hours on the bus and 4 pit stops, it was a relief to finally get there. The last part of the ride was up and down mountains with some great views of the Adriatic sea.

Walked around the small city (must only be a few hundred people) and stopped in at one of the local pubs that were still open. There we savoured some Italian Grappa. A lot like moonshine, and definately gives you a good kick. And enjoyed a couple good Slovenian Beers. Then back to the bus to bring our gear to the hostel- where we we'd been waiting all day for our included supper. Sausage,bread, meat,cheese,some wierd salad, some bad cheap beer, and we were good and full. Ready to go out in Piran. We walked around for half an hour before finding the ONLY BAR OPEN in Piran on a Thursday night for a few good brew.

Friday morning we were up early at 9 and walked around the city exploring old roman walls at the top of the hill and inside a couple nice churches. Those romans must have been some short lads, because pretty much everyone hit their head at least once on a doorway. A lof ot old italian-style buildings and nice narrow pedestrian-only streets everywhere. Not a lot of people here- it's pretty quiet and calming. We finished our time in Piran with an awesome meal on the water. A big plate fresh Mussels for just 5euros. Best seafood since Vancouver!

Our bus took us into Liubljana which took about 3-4 hrs and we walked into town and up the castle hill. The castle from the outside is pretty nice but the inside has been renovated about 5 times, and is pretty modern with a few cafes and a nice gallery. still dissapointing for the 25minute hike up the steep hill to get there. the rewarding part was the nice view of the entire city, and still a view of some mountains. A good place to catch the sunset. We spent the rest of the night getting a good bite to eat at a nice resto and had some piescavitsa (sp?) same as in Serbia -like a nice big burger. But these ones were HUGE. hard to finish. The waitor liked us so much he even gave us a slovene drink on the house! a mix of moonshine and blueberry schnopps with real blueberries floating around. nice. Then off for a nice bar hop from pub to pub. Again tried a local drink... can't remember what this one was called though.

Saturday morning we were up early again and headed off for Bled. Just an hour and a bit away from the capital. A real tourist joint. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere with a nice village around it, with a nice lake and incredible views of the mountainside from the castle on a cliff. We hiked up the cliff to the castle. It's an old one... that goes back till before the middle ages and was burnt, destroyed, rebuilt, and renovated a few times. The view was worth it, and there's a pretty good museum of the history of the place.

Saturday evening back in Ljubljana walked around for a bit, since I hadn't really explored the city too much yet. And picked up some Burek with meat for supper mmmmmm. Chilled out at the hostel for a few hours with some others from Germany and had some cheap beer while practicing our newly found Slovene phrases. But by the end of it we figured there's only so much we could actually remember. So focused on the important ones:

Jaz sem Alan. / My name is alan.
Samski sem. / I am single.

(You see Uncle Pete and Auntie Trish, I'm putting that phrasebook to good use!)

Then out we were for one last night in Slovenia to a local club. Global. Really cool- you take a glass elevator from the street up 6 storeys to a roof, then the club's inside. A good time and a late night.

Sunday, got up and took a look at the random junk that people had out for antique market day and made it to the bus. for another long trip home. got in to Budapest at 11pm. and went straight to bed.