Day 1: Arrival in Ljubljana
Today was the start of our adventure! 16 days, 3 countries, 24 tour member names to learn, and lots of exploring ahead!
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Today's HighlightsI was excited to arrive in Ljubljana today and start exploring the town before our orientation and welcome dinner this event. Today's highlights included:
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- Clearing skies as we strolled along the river passing cute cafes and checking out the bridges. The entire central part of the town is a pedestrian zone and it was great to be able to easily walk from our hotel to all the sights we wanted to see as well as some shops and great restaurant options. Pro-Tip: Do not eat a big lunch! The welcome dinner for this tour is huge - so be sure to save room.
- Climbing the spiral metal staircase at the castle for views of the town, each tread on the stair climb is decorated with the symbol of the city - a dragon.
- The history exhibit in the castle: The top floor of the exhibit was my favorite with interactive pieces, news clips and items from the 20th century. I liked this portion of the exhibit best because I could relate to the pieces - I remember watching portions of this history unfolding on my nightly news.
- Blueberry brandy at the orientation - it's nice to get a taste of Slovenia right away! Plus, Barbara, our tour guide, had a printed itinerary of our entire trip, day by day with times - wow! She's super organized!
- We had a cozy room for our welcome dinner which just seemed to keep coming. There were so many courses and so little room in my stomach! Delicious!
Activity Tracking
Ljubljana is an extremely walkable town with a pedestrian zone that spans both sides of the river. Today's peak steps occurred while exploring the castle and the castle climb served as my peak flights of stairs for the day too.
Totals for the day: 15,087 steps, 23 flights of stairs
- A: Arrival in Ljubljana & strolling along the river
- B: Exploring the castle
- C: Walk back from a delicious dinner - thank goodness for the walk, this was the biggest welcome dinner ever!
- D: Climbing the castle tower, a mix of wooden stairs and spiral metal steps
Totals for the day: 15,087 steps, 23 flights of stairs
Day 2: Exploring Ljubljana
Today we had a full day to explore Ljubljana from architectural treasures to the wines of the region.
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Today's Highlights
We wandered back through the old town, enjoyed a great cafe lunch and took advantage of the fact that there were lots of events in town for the Eurobasket tournament. The best parts of the day were:
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- The Serbian Orthodox Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius. The church is covered from floor to ceiling in beautiful paintings and has beautifully intricate wood carvings.
- Meeting up with more tour friends who were excited to introduce us to the wine festival along the river walk. Mom & I each bought a glass (How will we pack that?!) because it came with free tasting coupons rather than renting a glass and buying coupons (we were saving money!).
Activity Tracking
As you can see, the group tour of the old town isn't too taxing, it's hard to move a big group quickly through narrow streets. Our adventure and getting lost hiking up and around the castle ground was the high point to the day both in steps and flights of stairs (We even hit a green exertion bar!). Finally, a wine tasting stroll is a great way to get steps and wind down from a big day.
Totals for the day: 25,599 steps, 56 flights of stairs
- A: Old town walk through Ljubljana
- B: Exploring the castle grounds
- C: Exploring Ljubljana
- D: Enjoying the wine tasting along the river
- E: Tromping around the castle grounds ~30 flights of stairs
Totals for the day: 25,599 steps, 56 flights of stairs
After two days of city delights, it was off to drink in some natural beauty at Lake Bled
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