Driving in Slovenia and actually seeing stuff

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Trip Start Aug 21, 2009 Previous
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  Piran, Slovenia
Friday, October 2, 2009

I was awakened during the night, not to the chimes of the bells, but rather by the boom of an intense thunderstorm and the banging of my shutters as the wind whipped into my room. As I went to fasten them shut, it was a pretty awesome sight (whether it was a dream or actually occurred, I will never know), as I saw a bolt of lightning crash down from the sky immediately to the right of the bell tower looking over the square.  Whether it was a dream or reality, I will have that image transfixed in my mind for some time to come – probably the one I will remember most from Piran – a little spooky, as I think back on it, but very cool and mystifying as I watched.

When I awoke in the morning, the rain had not yet ceased, but fortunately, after breakfast, I was able to catch a lull, long enough to wander around the town for about an hour.  As I am want to do, I immediately headed straight for the labyrinth of alleyways behind the town hall, in the hopes of losing myself in them for a little while as I headed out to the lighthouse, on the tip of the town that extends into the Adriatic.  Fortunately or unfortunately, the town is small enough that, while one can wander through these alleyways, it is really difficult to truly lose one's self in them.  I was out at the lighthouse a short time later, which, as promised by my guidebook, was quite unimpressive.  I wandered back along towards the main square on the route along the water, then headed up the hill to the bell tower and churches.  This area does afford beautiful views in both directions – one of the harbor, main square and town and the other of the hilly coastline that extends across the bay.  I wandered around for a little while and then decided it was time for me to be on my way – I did have quite a drive ahead of me, and a couple of more stops to make en route.

It took about an hour and a half to reach Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital.  From the highway, there were not clear signs pointing towards the center of the city, so, once again, it was kind of a crap shoot.  After about thirty minutes of lucky guessing and a little backtracking, I finally spotted the castle and the pedestrian-only center of town.  I lucked into a place to put my car (I hesitate to call it a parking spot, because I am not sure that was what it was, but it was a place where I left my car and it did not get towed or get a ticket).  Ljubljana is situated at the intersection of two rivers, the Ljubljanica and the Sava.  The buildings in the main square are primarily in the Baroque style.  The castle sits at the top of a hill overlooking the square.  Down from the main square is a bridge, called the dragon bridge – the dragons on either side are said to guard the city. 

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Piran	Piran harbor	Piran	Piran
Piran	Piran	Pira	Piran
Piran	Piran	Piran	Piran
Piran	Piran	Piran	Piran
Piran	Piran	Ljubljana	Ljubljana
Ljubljana	Ljubljana	Ljubljana	Ljubljana
Ljubljana	Ljubljana	the view from the highway	Ljubljana
Bled	Bled	Bled	near Ryanair airport "in Linz"
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