Sunday, June 9th

As we gathered for breakfast, it became evident that Sally had not had a comfortable night as the air conditioning unit was not set as she likes it, and she couldn’t understand why it was so high near the ceiling in the room, which meant she couldn’t reach to adjust it. She had repeatedly tried using the bed as a trampoline to get extra reach, all to no avail, although the people in the next room gave her a funny look in the morning. The air–con situation was quickly resolved when she was asked if she had a set of remote control buttons in her room other than those for the television!

At Dunroamin Holidays, ever wanting to satisfy our customers, or at least keep them alive, we have introduced “Pill Time” at breakfast. This is where we all put our pills on the table and take turns in taking them. A bit like opening Christmas presents. Next year we are doing secret Santa – that should make things interesting!

Breakfasts in Easten Europe are getting better all the time, but there are still some novelties which for Jerry was the cauliflower!

It was a short walk into the centre of the city passing the colourful Franciscan Chruch on the way and crossing over the famous Three Bridges described by one web site as “probably the most beautiful and well known of all bridges in the city”. This does not say much for the other bridges around. Originally the centre bridge was for traffic and the side bridges for pedestrians, but since 2007, all three bridges have been part of the Ljubljana pedestrian–only zone.

We headed straight for the tourist information office to get our Ljubljana tourist card. This costs €30 each for 48 hours and gives free transport and free entry to most of the places to see. More and more European cities do these and it is usually good value.

With our cards in our pockets we made our way to the funicular railway to get to Ljubljana Castle set on a hill above the town. Entry to the railway and the castle was free with our tourist cards.

There were some good views over the city from the castle tower. The area inside the castle seemed to be a place for local people to go and relax on a Sunday and there was a band playing. The castle premises house several museum exhibitions and presentations, such as Slovenian History, The Prison and Virtual Castle, among others.

St. George’s Chapel, originally built in the Gothic style and later rebuilt in the Baroque style, is one of the oldest parts of Ljubljana Castle. It is decorated with 15th century frescoes and 1747 wall paintings of the coats of arms of provincial governor–generals and five Austrian rulers.

We found a calligrapher working in the chapel who was happy to script our names in ornate style to demonstrate his skill.

When we had finished looking round the castle, we went back down the funicular and stopped in a cafe at the bottom for a drink.

Considering it not challenging enough to stop here for lunch we decided to seek out somewhere else. We wanted a snack and not a meal, and we came across a Slovenian entrepreneur (there can’t be many of them yet) who said he would do us toasted sandwiches and home brewed beer. We were a little apprehensive when he then struggled to find enough chairs for us, but it turned out fine.

At 2pm we assembled at the town hall for a guided tour of the city, which was mainly on foot but included a boat trip. All again free with our tourist cards.

Our first point of call was a nearby bar where we were treated to samples of the local cuisine in the form of Kranjska sausage and strudel.

After leaving the bar, one of the first points of interest was a sculptural feature commemorating the historic open sewers that used to run along the streets. Comprising a shallow channel containing engraved turd–like dollops it is known colloquially as “Faeces with Faces”! They must have known Dungroamin were coming. We were in our element.

Another interesting feature of the old town is shoes hanging from overhead wires. One story about the origin of these is that the first pair of shoes were hung by a nearby cobbler and instantly her shop became regularly visited. The second pair were hung by a lawyer and the next day he got his first job. The third one by a ballet dancer, and the rest followed. The custom spread fast and nowadays nobody knows anymore whether they appear due to life changing situations of their late wearers or because of any other state of mind.

Upon returning to the hotel, Jerry and Fiona (although Jerry can not be blamed for this one) decided what item they were going to mislay this year – ref. phone in Berlin, etc.. And they decided on a gold necklace that Fiona had. Having searched their room, they concluded that maybe the staff were less than honest and mentioned the mislaid item to the hotel reception who were very helpful in checking their CCTV cameras to see if any one had entered their room. But no luck.

For our evening meal we decided to return to the bar where we had tried the Kransjka sausage earlier in the day. They had a very spacious upstairs room and we had a good meal before retiring to the hotel. Still no sign of the missing necklace.

Our evening meal.