Picturesque; that characterises today's travels. That, and a bloody long wait for a train, and possibly my favourite city yet.
Took a train from Venice to Villach, a small town in Austria and a surprising rail hub, through some gobsmacking Alpine scenery. The peaks were towering, sure, but what really got me about the nicest views I've yet seen were the colours. It's peak autumn, so the forests were ablaze with as much colour as anything I saw in Japan. The many streams and rivers were even more striking - a stunning turquoise blue you only get in the purest mountain water.
My train arrived at Villach at 12:04, a train left for Ljubljana at 12:02, and the next one left at 15:55. Bloody stupid timetabling.
The Villach to Ljubljana is more alpine loveliness, with more villages and crops, making it less dramatic, but more detailed and just as picturesque.
I'm staying at possibly the world's nicest hostel, Celica. It's famed for being a converted prison, but it's the design, arty features and facilities that make it great - after all, Mt Gambier already did the jail-hostel thing.
Ljubljana, meanwhile, is simply lovely. Some of the usual stuff - pretty old buildings, nice bars and restaurants, lots of pedestrian streets, scenic river, hilltop castle - but it's so much more intimate, unpretentious, non-touristy and cheaper than the other big cities. Not Asia-cheap, but cheap enough to notice the difference. It feels like a little treasure the Slovenes have all to themselves.
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