Day 8 : Sat 17th – Koszeg, Szombathely, Maribor & Ljubljana - Slovenia

Sunrise 6:34am – Sunset 7:09pm

Weather Forecast:   23 & possible showers

Steps:                 10,148     7.0 km

We got away from the hotel this morning at 8:40, heading towards our first stop of the day, at Koszeg.

It had rained overnight and it was still cloudy but not raining.

Once again we travelled via the back country roads, which is a very pleasant way to see the countryside. The flowers in the streets of the villages that we passed through, were beautiful. Many rose bushes planted alongside the footpaths. 

We arrived in Koszeg around  9:30ish.

Karin took us on a short walk through the old part of this very pretty town. We had a short sprinkle of rain which lasted only a minute or 2.  We then visited the "General's House". 

Some nice views over the roof tops from up on the 3rd floor balcony.

I had time for a quick coffee and a slow wander back to the coach.  There was a bike riding training track set up in part of the main square and young children on their bicycles, were being taken through the maze.

You can read more about Koszeg here

We departed the town at 10:50am and the sky was looking blue as we headed towards Szombathely.

We arrived in Szombathely around 11:15 and after a very quick orientation, we then had an hour of free time.

I lunched with Kathleen, Geoff & Sandra. I had a strudel & a beer.  After lunch I just slowly window shopped as I walked back to the coach for our 12:30 departure.  Your can read more about Szombathely here

We crossed the border into Slovenia around 2 pm and had a comfort stop shortly afterwards.

Next stop was Maribor, where we arrived around 3pm.

National Liberation Monument

The pedestrian area was very quiet, as a lot of the shops and restaurants were closed.   I still had a wander around the 700 year-old university town of Maribor.

Some very nice shops, so perhaps it was a good thing that they were closed.

We departed Maribor just after 4pm and took the highway to Ljubljana, where we arrived at 6:55.

We had some rain about 1/2 an hour out of Ljubljana and after going through a couple of tunnels, the sun was shining again, even though it is very cloudy.

Dinner was not included tonight, so I chose to do the optional, that includes a visit to the Castle and dinner in the courtyard.

We departed for dinner at 7:15pm.  I did a similar optional 3 years ago and it was in the same restaurant.  Cold cuts were shared by all

then I had a pasta, Sea Bass with broccoli & cauliflower

and a desert, whose name I forget.

Delicious fresh food, cooked just right. 

We didn’t get back to the hotel until around 10:30, so a late night.

Late start tomorrow. We don't leave until 9am.