Tuesday 9 August 2016

Tue09Aug16: Prebold - Ljubljana, Slovenia (60.2km, 3,284.2km YTD)

Slept poorly again last night, partially due to my camping air mattress.  It's called "self-inflating" but since there's now a large rip in it, it's also 'self-deflating'.  Wherever I'm lying on it, it's flat as a pancake under my body; when I roll over, it feels good for a few seconds and then the air cushion disappears.  This tends to make a person roll around a lot, just for that few seconds of pleasure, which doesn't lead to a comfortable sleeping pattern.
Quiet campsite last night for a change, perfectly clear blue sky, and lots of heavy dew all over our tents & bikes & gear in the morning.  Breakfast of French toast, and today we have to make our own 'bag lunch' because there won't be a lunch van out on the road - I take two processed meat & cheese sandwiches, plus a banana.
Starting out a nice 15C today but nobody's in a rush because it's only 60km into Ljubljana (pronounced "yoob-yaana", the letter L is just there for show).  Stop for a photo at the "Mlekomat", a automat machine that dispenses pasteurised and full 3.5% cream milk into your choice of container; you can even buy the 1L container at the machine!




First onto the road with Rhinda (SouthAfrica) & Liz (England) & Tron (Norway), but after Chris (CDN) and Cindy (USA) cruise by, I follow them for a bit then start riding with Mark (USA) and Nelson (CDN).  Most of the TDA group have considered to pull off for the world famous (at least in this part of the world) doughnut shop at Tronjane - which specialises in huge pastry specials - but since it's only an hour after breakfast, I decide to give that idea a pass.

With so many pastry and coffee fanatics in the group, I'm soon on my own and heading for the pass at 24.5km, then comes the downhill, cruising gently all the way down to the Sava River valley floor, then a few simple turns has me heading towards Ljubljana.  Zig-zagging into town, I catch up to the flagging van just a few blocks before the City Hotel, follow Peter and Vilma (Slovakia) into the lobby, and help unload some of the personal bags until mine appears.  Then it's time for a quick clothing change, and I'm out on the streets to see the sights.

Into the Old City and then across the Ljubljana River bridges, then up to the Ljubljana Castle for a lengthy and informative tour (E10 @ adult).  Sign at the top of the clock tower of the castle states that the visitor is looking at 1/3 of the country of Slovenia from this vantage point, amazingly small but the most beautiful and inviting country that most of us have visited.  Walking down the backside of the hill below the castle takes me to through another section of the Old City and a different perspective of the streets and buildings.


Several river boat companies plying these waters so I take a 45-minute cruise (E8), before heading to the bank to convert my Hungarian florints.  No matter what you've heard about the Euro being the standard currency over here, there are seven (7) members of the EEC who insist on continuing to use their own currency although our group has only experienced Poland zlotys, Hungary florints, and Hrvatska crowns.


2pm is check-in time at the City Hotel and the TDA crowd is lined up at Reception and quite restless because apparently some of the rooms still aren't ready.  After Tron and I are assigned to Room #204, I head over the Mercator supermarket for supplies - he drinks about 10(!) 600mL bottles of Coke every day, I buy a couple of beer and a bottle of cheap red wine. After a shower, we take turns stretching out our wet tent fly and ground sheet from the hotel window until they're bone dry.
Supper is at the Cutty Sark Pub while watching 'footie' on the 'tellie', then back to the room for photo and blog time before bedtime.

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