10.31.21

I woke up around 7 to have enough time for breakfast and to check out of my hostel. Since it’s Halloween, I wanted to kind of celebrate some how so I booked a cave tour (which also includes a hill side castle.

The guide picked me up from the hostel and , joined with a girl from France, we headed to the caves. The drive was about an hour but the guide was very funny so it went by quickly.

The cave tour was incredible! We joined a huge group of tourists and got on board a rollercoaster like train and were driven deep into the caves. They were so cool. We got off the train and walked 45 minutes through them. The formations were so crazy looking and we leaned about the species that live here- especially the “human fish”.

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After the tour, we had a 15 minute drive to Predjama castle- a huge castle in a hill, connected to a cave. It was so cool and we got audio guides explaining each room and the history and significance.

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It was also beautiful weather today in Slovenia so we got to see some amazing views.

We then drove back to Ljubljana and I got dropped back off at my hostel around 2:30. I was pretty hungry, and couldn’t resist when I saw an ice cream place, so I got a double scoop and had it in the city center, it was so good! I walked around a little more and decided to have an actual substantial meal so I got some salmon and veggies from a seafood place.

I still had some time before my train so I decided to do a short hike up “castle hill”. The hike was gorgeous with all the fall colors on the trees, and I got to the top just in time to see a beautiful sunset over the city of Ljubljana. I sat on a ledge and just watched for like 45 minutes, enjoying the view.

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I hiked back down and collected my ruck sack from the hostel and got to the train station to board at 6:45. I had three trains to take in order to get to my next destination- Padova, Italy where I will be meeting Melina who is on break from school right now and flew in earlier today. My first train was 2:45 hours, then a 30 minute layover. Secondly, a 1:30 hour train and a 50 minute layover, and finally a 26 minute train and I got to Padova around 1:30 am.

The air bnb we are staying in was pretty far from the station and unfortunately all the buses didn’t run this late, and I wasn’t going to walk 40 minutes with all my stuff this late at night, especially on Halloween! So, with my huge ruck sack, day pack attached, and an additional tote bag, i took an electric scooter. It was a little ridiculous and I was certain a strong gust of wind would knock me right off, but I made it after only 20 minutes!

Melina, thankfully, saved me the queen bed so I promptly set my things down, brushed my teeth, sprawled out on the bed, and passed out!