Monday in Bled, Tuesday in Trieste, Wednesday in Aquileia

On Monday we took the bus to Lake Bled, a little more than an hour from Ljubljana. These are "local" buses, so the time varies. On our trip from Ljubljana, the bus visited every bus stop, so it took about an hour and a half. On the way home, it went directly to Ljubljana, and so it only took an hour.

In the center of Lake Bled is a single island with a church that is internationally popular for weddings. (These were prohibited during Communist times, and the first one was conducted clandestinely in 1989.) Going up to the church, there are 99 steps and the tradition is for the groom to carry the bride up the steps to prove he is worthy of marriage. Apparently about 4 of 5 couples make it all the way. No statistics on how many of their marriages make it all the way, though.

Towering over Lake Bled is Bled Castle, build by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry II in 1006. Today, it's a popular tourist attraction, but not popular enough for Kathy and I to make the hike up there. I took this picture because it reminded me of my brother Gary, who is an avid paddle-boarder.

One of the most popular ways to get out to the island is via the traditional wooden, hand-rowed boat known as a pletna, first used at the end of the 14th century. You can see one over Kathy's shoulder.

We got back to Ljubljana around five pm and walked down to the river for dinner. We had dinner at another restaurant recommended by Luckta named Sisi. The food was fine, but, perhaps, not as good as last night. I had Tandoori chicken and Kathy had ravioli, but I was so tired, I forgot to take a picture. It was disconcerting to be the only people eating in the restaurant.

After dinner, we crossed the river to get some gelato (pear and thyme along with sour cherries and banana). Along the way, we passed by a park with hundreds of people listening to a band, and getting pretty excited. It was dark now, and by the time we got to the main plaza, it was completely filled with people, along with a few policemen. Everyone looked very expectant like they were waiting for something to happen. We decided to head back to the hotel.

We had no longer gone one-hundred yards, when the whole city burst into fireworks; not just from one place, but from what seemed like every street corner and rooftop. When we got back to the hotel, we asked at reception, and found that it was a hyper soccer fan group named the Ljubljana Green Dragons, who were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary.

Tuesday In Ljubljana and Trieste

Tuesday morning was misty once again and I set out to see a little more of the city before breakfast. Looking across the Ljubljanica river, which bisects the town, to the domes of St. Nicholas Cathedral, the Ljubljana castle is hidden behind it in the mist.

Over by the cathedral, I watched the shopkeepers setting up for the daily produce market, and, along the river bank, I shared the sidewalks with the café owners using leaf blowers to clean the sidewalk and blow the debris a little further down-river where the owner of the next establishment took over. Circling the cathedral I admired the bronze doors. They reminded me a little of the ones on the door of the baptistery in Florence. When I looked them up, however, I found that they were quite modern, added in 1996 to commemorate Pope Paul II's visit and to celebrate the 1250th anniversary of Christianity in Slovenia.

Back in the room after my walkabout, Kathy and I packed and went down to breakfast. After breakfast, though, we realized that we still had several hours before our bus left at 2:00 pm. Leaving our luggage in the hotel we decided to visit the castle on the top of the hill. (We took the funicular; no more long climbs for us.)

The castle is relatively new and we weren't really interested in touring it. Nonetheless, our funicular ticket let us visit several of the rooms, including the chapel and the penitentiary, which was used to house political prisoners and later, Italian prisoners of war. There was even an art exhibit by a popular editorial cartoonist, which we both enjoyed. I'm standing next to "Mass Tourism", wondering if I can detect a resemblance.

Down off the hill, we had to visit the famous Dragon Bridge, and get a selfie. Mass tourism indeed!

We still had a few hours before our bus left, so we did my favorite thing in Europe: we got a table at a riverside café, and just watched the world go by. 

Our bus was more than a half-hour late (just like our train into Ljubljana) and we didn't get into Trieste until after four. Instead of a hotel, we stayed at an apartment, we had to provide our own breakfast, so we walked to the store to get some supplies. I was happy to find sugar-free orange and lemon soda once again. We were too tired to walk around town, or even to go out to dinner. Instead, we made ourselves a picnic in our room and fell fast asleep by 8:00 pm.

Wednesday in Aquileia

After a good night's rest both of us were ready for another adventure. About fifty miles from Trieste lies the small village of Aquileia, which, in Roman times, was a river-sea port, and was the fourth largest city in the Empire. Augustus made it the capital of the province of Regia Venetia et Histria, and he personally met with Herod the Great here. To get there, we had to take a train and then a bus. We made it by about 10:00 am, and spent a half-hour walking around a current archeological excavation.

Aquileia was one of the first Italian cities where Christianity was openly practiced, evangelized, according to tradition, by the Gospel writer Mark. The Basilica was built by Bishop Theodore in 313, just after Constantine issued the Edict of Milan. Both St. Ambrose and St. Jerome spent time here. In 452, Attila the Hun sacked the city, with many of its inhabitants fleeing south to the lagoon in Grado, and others fleeing west, where they found refuge in the Venetian lagoon. The current basilica was built around 1031 by the Patriarch Poppo in the Romanesque style. 

When Poppo rebuilt the basilica, he thought that Theodore's floor was old-fashioned, so he covered it up with red and white tiles, preserving it for its rediscovery in the 20th century. Theodore's mosaic floor is the largest early-Christian mosaic anywhere in the world.

There are glass walkways down each side of the church, and you can peer over and see the mosaics from a few feet away. This is the Good Shepard.

This is supposed to be the cockerel of Christ announcing the light of the world to the tortoise of darkness, but I don't know. Perhaps the guidebook authors were overthinking things. On the left side of the church, in the basilica's processional hallway, the modern-day excavators have uncovered the mosaic floors of the 1st century Roman houses that predated the 4th century basilica. It's really fascinating, and I'm sure it would be much more famous if it wasn't so far from the more popular tourist destinations.

The 14th century crypt, under the alter, is covered with frescos, illustrating St. Mark's visit, the early bishops, and so on. There are also some bones of different martyrs enclosed in reliquaries. 

By noon were were frescoed out, and went looking for lunch. We ate at the Hotel Patriarchii, right next the basilica. Kathy had the traditional ravioli of Frulia Venzia Giulia, (the north-east corner of Italy), called cjarsons. I had spaghetti Bolognese. Both were delicious. For our secondi, we split a main course of frico, fried cheese and potatoes, very similar to Rösti in Switzerland. I forgot to snap a picture.

After lunch we caught the bus to the Cervignano del Friuli train station, and, a half-hour later the train back to Trieste. We got back around 5:00 pm and were really tired. Despite that, we decided to stroll down the waterfront, where everyone is setting up for the 55th Barcolana regatta this Sunday.  

On the way back to our apartment, we made a quick stop at Gelato Marco and took a final selfie in front of the ancient Roman amphitheater, which is a block from our rooms. Then, we hit the sack. Tomorrow, we're heading out to Ferrara, where we'll see the Ravenna Byzantine mosaics.