Ljubljana

Dober dan!

From Trieste I took a bus to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. A few minutes after leaving Trieste we were suddenly in Slovenia, I didn't even notice the border.

Ljubljana is a perfect holiday destination.

1. It's in the foothills of the Alps so the view is beautiful no matter which direction you turn. 
2. Location. You can take a day trips to Austria, Croatia or Italy.
3. It's cheap. Eastern European prices but Western European standards.
4. There isn't really anything to do there. No really, that's a good thing. It means that there's no pressure, you can just relax and enjoy the cafés by the river without feeling bad because you ought to be doing some proper touristing.

Me in Ljubljana Castle

The main landmark of the city is Ljubljana Castle. It sits on on a hill overlooking the city so you get a great view of the city from there.

The other main feature of the city is the Ljubljanica River. The river is lined with cafés, bars and restaurants. It's a great place to relax and enjoy life.

Me enjoying a glass of sparkling wine.

If you get bored with drinking and eating you can take a trip on one of the many boats cruising the river.

Me on a riverboat

As you may remember from my Top 5 list of statues and sculptures I met this dude on one of the bridges crossing the river. I'm still not quite sure what he is, but he seemed nice.

That'll do for today, next stop Rijeka in Croatia!

Top 5 statues and sculptures

Hej hej,

Some time in the future the world will be full of statues commemorating Vanja the Great, Vanja the Conqueror, Vanja the Awesome and so on...
But while we're waiting for the rest of the world to discover my amazing talents, let's have a look at some of my favourite statues from my travels.

1. A Crab/frog/whatever in Slovenia

Last summer I met this dude (whatever he is, maybe batfrog?) on the Mesarski bridge in Ljubljana. For some reason he has a padlock in his mouth. He wouldn't tell me why.

2. A Croatian Dragon

Did you know that my middle name is Lord of Dragons? (Julius' is "Pain in the Ass"). Well, I try to live up to my name by taming any dragons that I come across.

This is a basilisk from the Trsat Castle in Rijeka, Croatia, that I defeated with my own bare paws. It was a great moment, I felt as powerful as Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones.


3. Charles Darwin

Here I am with Charles Darwin in the Museum of Natural History in London. I'm not a big fan of the theory of evolution — I mean look at Julius, something clearly went wrong there — but I feel Charlie and I could have had some stimulating and interesting discussions had he still been alive.

By the way, the Museum of Natural History is worth a visit if you happen to be in London. And it's free! (Not that I normally pay for museums, I just sneak in.)


4. Shepherd and Sheep

Speaking of London. Julius and I went there last November. The city is almost too big for me. There are too many statues and monuments you can climb on. We were quite exhausted.
We found this funny sculpture in Paternoster Square behind St. Paul's Cathedral.

Sheep are stupid, you don't need to be Charles Darwin to prove that. The silly things refused to move no matter how much I shouted and kicked.

Come on now, move it, I'm in a hurry.

5. The Cordwainer

I quickly lost patience with the stubborn sheep, so we went to Cheapside were we met this dude.

We played shoemakers for a while. The man held Julius in very tight grip (he could hardly breathe) which gave me an idea. I went for ice-cream in peace and quiet while he held on to Julius. Thank you, shoemaker!


You can't write a blog post about sculptures and statues without mentioning the Vigeland park in Oslo. I went there for Easter 2017 and it was (literally) freezing cold. But I'll tell you more about that tomorrow. Until then, here's a preview:

Staring into the abyss.

While you're waiting for my next post you can check out my other top 5 lists: tops, sports and drinks.

Top 5 tops

Hey hey!

As you've probably figured out by now I've travelled quite a lot in my life and I have lots of pictures to show you. So my plan is to do a series of "Top 5" posts with highlights from my previous travels.

Let's start out with a fun one: Top 5 tops! Or in other words the top 5 high places I've been to.

Top 1. A mountain top in the Swiss Alps

Did you know I climbed a mountain? A whopping 2548 metres above sea level! That's right, I'm tougher than I look. I sometimes have to remind my humans when they're being annoying.
Also, what's up with the Swiss? I know they're a very efficient people, but having signs telling you how many sexually transmitted diseases (STD) you can get in 30 minutes seems like overdoing it a bit, don't you think?

Me in the snow on the way to the top. Brrr.

Top 2. The roof of Duomo in Milan.

This picture isn't from our recent trip to Italy. It was taken back in the good old days before I started travelling with Julius.

Ooh, that looks like a nice gelato place down there.

Top 3. The Eiffel tower (you can't do list of tops without that)

Haha, I'm kidding of course. That's just a model of the Eiffel Tower, I'm not King Kong — though sometimes I wish I were... Here's a picture I took of the real thing:

And here's one with me in it. Look how tiny and insignificant I am. You probably can't even find me in the picture.

Top 4. Catedral de Santa María La Real de La Almudena in Madrid. (Yeah I know, the Spanish have a way with names...)

This is the cathedral next to the Royal Palace in Madrid. There's a wonderful view of the city from the roof.

If you look to the west you can see the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains in the background.

Top 5. Ljubljana Castle.

You do know that Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia, right? Just checking. It's located in the foothills of the Alps in the centre of Slovenia which is itself sandwiched between Austria and Croatia. But you already knew that, right? 

Because of the location you have a beautiful view of the mountains.

Bonus Top! The top of the Asinelli tower in Bologna. If you haven't done so already you have to read my post about Bologna to see the pictures from the tower.


That's all for today, folks!