Waking quite early, we headed to breakfast again and made the decision to visit Tivoli Park which was around a 10 minute walk from the Hotel.
Although there had been a large amount of snow deposited, the streets and roads were pretty much clear. We walked across some major roads and entered Tivoli Park.
Tivoli Park
They had already cleared the snow off the playground!
Now although the park covers a lot of land, it also has a zoo, skating rink, cafe, museum and more. To be honest, although it would have been lovely to visit some of those sights, I was more than content taking photographs of the scenery. It literally was like something on the front of a Christmas Card.
Love these shots
Just magical
Reminds me of Mr Tumnus from “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe”
Winter Wonderland
The trees and parklands were covered in thick white snow. Children were on skis and sledges, all bundled up in snowsuits. The sounds of their laughter rang through the air as the came hurtling down slopes to be met at the bottom by their parents.
Sledging
I literally couldn’t stop taking photographs. It was the perfect environment for getting picturesque shots, so that is what I did!
Snowscapes
We walked around for an hour or two looking at everything the park had to offer.
Snow covered
The Museum
Of course we had to be a little silly and get in the prerequisite blogger outfit poses, although it was spoiled a little by the hat and big coat!
Pose 1
Pose 2
Eventually our feet started to freeze a little and we decided to head into the city centre for one last glance at Ljubljana. On the way we managed to pass by a stunning looking church, the US Embassy and the National Gallery. All so beautiful, I couldn’t resist!
Sts Cyril and Methodius Church
National Gallery
Museum of Modern Art
The US Embassy
Oh and one last cake!
Heading into another cafe, this time one called Cacao, we settled down in comfy armchairs and had a look at the extensive menu. I had to go for the caramel frappe and I chose a Rafaello cake. It basically looked like and tasted like a huge Ferrero Rafaello chocolate, which are my absolute favourite chocolates in the whole wide world.
Rafaello Cake
It was beyond delicious!
We spent a leisurely few hours in the cafe before wandering the streets again. One last visit to the Cathedral allowed me to get some beautiful photographs at twilight.
The Altar in The Cathedral
One of my last goals of the holiday was to get a ride in a Kavalir.
A what?!?!?
Well in 2016 Ljubljana won the European Green Capital award for a lot of really great reasons. One of the best is that the City centre is pedestrianised. However this makes it a little tricky to get around, especially for some of the elderly residents, as you can’t just hop on a bus or get a taxi.
the Kavalir
This is when the 4 seater Kavalir comes into it’s own. There is a fleet of electric “golf buggy” style vehicles that patrol the streets of the City centre. You can either ring a number and one will come and get you, or like us, you can hail one down with a wave of your hand and tell them where you want to go.
The best thing is this service is totally free and great for the environment as they don’t emit any pollution. So, if you want to hop in a Kavalir at the town hall and get it to take you to the Dragon Bridge…. a wave of your hand does the trick.
Initially they started with a fleet of two, in 2017 they had eight and there are even more on the cards for 2018. They are so brilliant we had a to have a ride in one.
Boo in a Kavalir
However, when one was coming towards me, I got over excited and started waving to it. The driver stopped and asked where we wanted to go. I hadn’t thought as far ahead as that and blurted out “the Town Hall, please”
He repeated my destination and I clarified that yes it was where we wanted to go. He kind of shook his head in confusion.
You see, I had just blurted out the first place that came into my head. But we were around 100 metres from the Town Hall. You could even see if from where we were standing.
The Town Hall is just behind me….
The thing was, we didn’t want a long ride, just to say we had been in one. And it was fab!
He must have thought we were crazy English people!!
Alas, our journey was coming to an end and as we had already booked our car to the airport, we went back to the Hotel Lev to relax for an hour our two before our pick up.
Footprints
This is where I got a little camera happy again as there was an amazing aquarium in the bar area, full of tropical fish. I simply couldn’t resist!
Stunning colours
Colourful Coral
Totally Tropical
As we sat there, Boo started getting alerts on her phone that the flights were a little delayed. This was not due to the snow in Slovenia, but apparently the UK had a lot of snow arrive and it had taken the airports by surprise. Again.
The alert said 30 minutes delay. Then 40. Then 1 hour.
Then 2 hours.
Then 2 hours 20 minutes.
I was frantically sending messages home, as I was being picked up at the airport. It was not looking good.
We were directed to turn up for the normal check in times however, so when the car arrived when hopped into it, and arrived at the airport not long after 730pm.
It was a good job we did, as not long after arrival we were informed a rescue plane had been sent, which was now only 30 minutes behind schedule.
In the Departure Lounge
Hooray!
We spent most of our time messing around on Snapchat with the Christmas/festive filters before it was time to board the plane.
Snapchats
A cute little deer
It was bizarre sitting down in our seats to watch a huge de-icing machine come along and spray the wings so they didn’t freeze up.
We took off around an hour late, however it could have been so much worse.
I was sad to say goodbye to Slovenia, it was one of the loveliest trips I had been on. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly and I would love to go back again in the summer months, when I imagine it will be stunning in a totally different way.
All it leaves for me to say is Hvala Slovenia.