*Photo upload is incredibly slow tonight so I will try again later!*

With only a half day to explore Ljubljana, I made the most of it by getting up early and checking out. I then headed down to the river where the Central Markets were on. They were the most incredible markets for produce I have ever been to! The tour guide the day before had explained that they were designed to reflect Roman markets with shops on one side and market stalls on the other side of the street. It was good fun to walk around the stalls and if I’d been staying in Ljubljana longer I would definitely have bought a lot! Instead I just bought breakfast which consisted of an apricot Danish and a punnet of strawberries from the market stalls- one of the nicest and cheapest breakfasts ever! The reason that there is a lot of produce is that local farming is huge surrounding Ljubljana, and so everything is bought into the market daily.

After the markets I headed to the Funicular Railway which I could up to the castle on top of the hill. It was a very short trip up (1 min!) but it was fun to be in the glass box as it led to really good views of Ljubljana. At the top of the castle I had a little bit of time before my Time Travel tour started so I went to the Bee exhibition in one of the castle halls. Bee keeping is an ancient tradition in Slovenia and is still a large industry in Slovenia today. Every souvenir shop in Slovenia sold honey products, particularly candles and honey brandy (which was delicious!).

Then I went on my time travel tour where we walked around the castle with a guide and at different locations, actors would come and tell us about a particular period in the castle’s history from Roman times to the castle during the Wars. It was very interesting, particularly the stories about the castle’s use as a prison including an open air cell which would have been freezing in winter!

After the tour concluded, I wandered round the castle some more, going up to the highest tower which led to a panoramic view of Ljubljana and the Slovenian countryside surrounds, a Slovenian history museum, a National Geographic photography exhibition and the museum of puppetry (all at the one castle!). The museum of puppetry was really interesting and a lot of fun because there was heaps of different puppets to play with. I had to rush a little bit though because I then had to get back down the Funicular Railway and to the main bus station (in the pouring rain with all my luggage: P). I caught the bus to the airport back through the countryside and checked in for my flight. I then had quite a wait before the flight and then even more of a wait because the flight was delayed before we boarded and then again on the tarmac. We flew out early evening so I got great views of both Slovenia and Germany.

Once I got to Berlin airport I struggled to work out where to go. I got on a bus that then terminated prematurely to what I was expecting and then two U-Bahns before walking to the hostel. When I finally got there, I checked in and dumped my stuff before going out to the garden with some other Australians for some drinks and cards. I also met a few other people and we sat out there until the garden closed at midnight when I went to bed.