A Hotel Surprise in Ljubljana

Saturday, July 30, 2016--Trieste to Ljubljana

We took Flixbus from Trieste to Ljubljana today.  It is one of the new kinds of buses that are popping up all over the world.  It's similar to MegaBus in San Antonio.  Reservations must be made online and tickets bought online.  Prices for the first seats are low and continue to grow up to a designated level.  For our trip, we paid 13 Euros each, and the highest priced tickets were around 20 Euos each.  The buses run non-stop from major city to major city, are clean, have good a/c, usually include free wifi, etc.

We had a complete turn of events when we arrived.  I've written several times in the past few days about the problems with our original hotel reservation.  I got an e-mail from a group of lawyers about 6 days ago saying that the online reservation service I had used was in receivership and that they had not paid for my hotel reservation here (even though I had paid them).  It even had it underlined that my reservation had not been paid.  In the back of my mind, I kept wondering if maybe they were wrong, especially since my reservation had been made so long ago in May.  I did not have a way to directly contact the hotel.  Their website listed only automated 800-type phone numbers.  The one for the US took me to an electronic service that wanted me to input the reservation number with the hotel, and I didn't have one since I had not dealt directly with the hotel.  There was no option for reaching a live person.  I found a form online that was not for the hotel itself but was for the group of hotels to which it belongs.  I completed the form asking if they would confirm my reservation.  I never heard anything.  So in the back of my mind I kept wondering IF maybe the hotel had been paid and that I DID have a reservation.  Finally, last night to give us some assurance that we would be okay after we arrived here, we made a reservation at another hotel that could be canceled as late as 18:00 today.  When we arrived in town, we came directly to the original hotel.  I told the lady that I needed to ask a strange question:  "Do I have a reservation at this hotel under the name Drum?" She confirmed that I did.  I asked if it was prepaid, and she confirmed that it was.  What a relief!  We checked in and got online to cancel the alternative reservation we had made.  I'm still going to wait to contact my credit card company until we check out just to make sure everything goes right.  I will need to ask them to drop the fraud claim I made over the phone with them the night I got the e-mail

So, we are staying in Hotel Central.  It's conveniently located between the bus/train stations and the downtown area.  Although it is classified as a 4-star hotel, I would say it is on the lower end of that category.

It is HOT here (like everywhere we have been going).  We went out, however, around 2:30 to explore the city.  Ljubljana is nothing like it was when I was here in 1982.  Then, it was a dull, unpainted Communist city with old buildings that had obviously been beautiful at one time but had been allowed to fall into disrepair.  The river in town had berms along the edges.  Today, traffic has been removed from the center, buildings have been beautifully restored, the river is lined with sidewalk cafes that are full of people in the evenings, etc.  It's one of the smaller capitals of Europe, but it is a very nice city.  Only in pockets does one still find Communist structures that still stand looking severe with signs of crumbling due to low quality construction.

This evening, we ate burek which is a popular local filled pastry.  It consists of filo dough filled with either cheese or a spicy meat mixture.  We bought one of each and had them cut into halves to share.  Each pasty was an oval about 12 inches (30 cm) by 6 inches (15 cm).  It was a LOT of food, but they came from a shop that has the best reputation for them in town.

As we explored the city more, we came across a sand volleyball festival featuring players from various countries.  We sat in the stands and watched a girls match between Slovenia and Bulgaria and then a men's match between the USA and Australia.  The men's game was much better in terms of precision and sportsmanship.  The USA won.