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In August 2016 I flew to Serbia and Slovenia for over 3 weeks. This was to include a week in Serbia, 2 weeks in Slovenia, and an unplanned layover in Helsinki, Finland.

The trip started with a long day of flying. I started with a flight to Paris, where I had time for a fine French breakfast because of a 4-hour layover. Then I had to catch a flight to Helsinki where I had a luscious lunch because of another 4-hour layover. Then my next flight segment was to Ljubljana, Slovenia to spend the first night. I made it to my Ljubljana hotel after 14 hours of flying and 8 hours of layovers. Despite all this, I walked around the Ljubljana old town and had a delightful dinner (I'll be returning in a week to spend 2 weeks in Slovenia). After dinner, I finally went to bed. However, the next day I flew to Belgrade, Serbia to officially start my trip with a week in Serbia.

I had 8 hours of sleep the first night, but had to get to the Ljubljana airport to catch my flight to Belgrade, Serbia (the capital). Ljubljana has a small airport, with only 10 gates. Slovenia has a strong tie to Austria, so before my flight I enjoyed a delicious apple strudel at the airport. Once in Belgrade, Serbia I checked in to my hotel and scoped out my neighborhood for food, found a couple places and a 24-hour grocery with hot food. Cool! Also, a McDonalds that I literally can see from my hotel window (always a safe bet). I got to bed early that first night in Belgrade and got caught up with sleep.

Belgrade offered a 4-hour guided walking tour of the city. This tour covered a lot of what I planned to see in Belgrade, but since it's all new to me I had no concerns that I would go back later to some of the sites on my own. Plus, there were more things I was going to see not on the tour. It was a good way to get oriented to the city.

The next day I had lots of walking around Belgrade, 16 miles. I saw the largest Russian Orthodox church in Serbia, the Church of St. Mark. I also walked all over old town, including the Belgrade Fortress and along the Sava and Danube rivers. In Belgrade is where the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers occurs, visible from a beautiful viewpoint of the fortress. Part of my walk was attempting to get to the Tito Mausoleum using a paper map from my tour book. Long story short, I was getting there but it seemed like I was walking way to far (I was kind of turned around and not sure of the streets because my paper map was not that detailed). I ultimately turned on Google Maps on my mobile and it said I still had an hour of walking left. My paper map was misleading about how far it was and Google Maps saved me a lot of walking. It would have been closed by the time I got there. In the end, I used Google Maps a couple other times to find the best way for walking to my sites. Data, cool...

I took a 90-minute public bus ride from Belgrade to the town of Novi Sod, Serbia to spend 2 nights there. Novi Sod is a really nice town with great architecture. My hotel was right in the heart of old town, I could see the tops of the old town buildings from my room. Novi Sod also has the ruins of the Petrovaradin Fortress right on the scenic banks of the Danube River. Novi Sod is really nice, and is not as busy and hectic as Belgrade. Oddly, while in Novi Sod I ran into the tour guide on the street that I had 2 days earlier in Belgrade on my 4-hour city walking tour, small country I guess. Another oddity, in Novi Sod I realized I was only 2 hours away from Timisoara, Romania where my co-brother-in-law lives and I was there just last year.

From Novi Sod, it was only a 20-minute public bus ride to Sremski Karlovci, Serbia on the Danube River. It has only a small-town center, but a lot of nice historical buildings. Besides the beautiful town hall, courts building, and many churches, there is the Panorama. The Panorama is a viewpoint high above the town overlooking the entire town and the Danube with several monuments and statues there.

I thought I had the public buses figured out in Serbia, but not quite. When I took the bus back to Belgrade from Novi Sod, I must have gotten the express bus as we are on the highway to Belgrade. Going to Novi Sod, we took the scenic side road and it took about 2 hours. The bus back to Belgrade on the highway only took about 50 minutes. When I did get back to Belgrade, it basically was a 'Day of the Dead' (no, it wasn't that I was tired). I went to see the Nicolas Tesla Museum, very interesting and his ashes are there. Also, I finally made it to the mausoleum of Josip Tito, former President (Dictator) of Yugoslavia from 1943 until his death in 1980.

At the end of my week, I flew from Belgrade, Serbia to Ljubljana, Slovenia (the capital). I'll be getting back to Ljubljana at the end of my trip, but just so you know, you pronounce it: Lube-lee-on-na. In Ljubljana, I picked-up a rental car and drove to my destination where I will be for 3 nights, the beautiful Lake Bled. Really nice area with a lot to see and do. Before that, I stopped in the medieval town of Radovljica. You're on your own to pronounce that one (now you know what I go through all day).

As I mentioned, the Lake Bled area is really beautiful. I spent a day walking the path around the entire Lake Bled, and taking the boat out to Bled Island. Overlooking the lake is the 1000-year-old Bled Castle, and in the lake is Bled Island with the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary. Really pretty. At the castle, I got an 'I was here' certificate printed on hand made paper stamped on a Guttenberg press. I took a video of him pressing it, and I helped. I can actually see the lake, castle, and church from my hotel room. So, if I could see this all from my hotel window, why did I walk 10 miles that day?

The area around Lake Bled is in the gorgeous Julian Alps. Driving through them, I saw numerous small towns worth stopping in. Picture post card Slovenian towns that aren't necessarily tourist traps. I drove over 2 mountain passes. The highest peak in Slovenia is Triglav, with an altitude of 2,864 metres (9,396 feet). Incredibly twisty roads in this area and not too crowded.

I drove down towards the small coastal region that Slovenia has, a 47 kilometre (29 mile) stretch on the Adriatic Sea. It was close to the same area I was at 2 years ago when I was in Croatia, so I knew it would be gorgeous. I ended up spending 3 nights in this area. Along the way I stopped at Postojna Cave (where I took a train ride in the cave) and Predjama Castle on the side of a cliff (built in 1274). Both very impressive. All in all, a great day's drive.

In the coastal town of Piran, Slovenia they have a webcam in Tartini Square. I sent email notices with the webcam link to a bunch of people to be able to see me standing there. I waited about 30 minutes and received some emails from people that said they saw me. Neato! It was very hot there and the webcam is right in the sun, so 30 minutes was about all I could stand. Slovenia only has a couple coastal towns on this small stretch of the Adriatic Sea, and I spent the day wandering in this beautiful old town viewing lots of old buildings and charming narrow walkways. Thanks to those that joined me on the webcam!

I went to a couple more Slovenian coastal towns on the Adriatic Sea. I actually stayed in Koper, a larger town that's a little more industrial than touristy. Their beach is a little lacking and right next to the docks with all the big cargo ships. The small town of Izola has a nice beach with a park on the coast, and has a Mediterranean feeling with the tourist places. But the town of Piran, was still the best.

Two words – cream cake. One more word – deliciousness. Rezina kremna is what they call it in Slovenia (they also had it in Croatia when I was there 2 years ago). It has a flaky crust, with whipped cream and custard filling. I did have one with a mango layer and that was really good. All I know is that I had it whenever the chance came up.

Funny story on my way to the next hotel. I forgot my power convertor at the apartment I had just checked out of, but they were nice enough to email me when they found it. Fortunately, I had not driven that far, and was at Skocjanski Cave waiting for my appointed tour time (10:00 am). I let them know I would pick it up after my tour. It only put me about 2 hours out of my way. LESSON LEARNED: Always take 2 adaptors.

The area of Slovenia I was in was cave country. After my Skocjanski Cave tour (then picking up my convertor) my next stop was another cave, Skocjan. The second half of the tour was impressive, with massive caverns. This was the second cave tour of the day, there's even more caves in the area, but I hit the 2 biggies. The remainder of the day was driving to 4 impressive castles (I guess it was castle country too).

In Celje, Slovenia I encountered my first bad weather day, cloudy and rain. I used this to get some extra sleep. The weather is supposed to be perfect the remainder of my trip, but considering this was the first rain the whole trip, I was happy. After my nap, I walked around the town and was able to get up to the 13th century Celje Castle, one of the largest fortifications in Slovenia. One advantage of being this close to Italy, real Italian pizza. I had a wood fired oven pizza for dinner. The guy actually had a pizza certificate on the wall with an Italian flag and everything. Yummy!

Sure enough, the next morning the weather was back to being perfect and I was well rested. I then spent 2 nights in and around the town of Maribor, Slovenia, the 2nd largest city in Slovenia. I went to several castles nearby in the northeast part of the country. Then in Maribor, located on the Drava River, I walked around the scenic old town. On Glavni Trg square, the old town's main square, the Renaissance-style Town Hall (Mariborski rotovž) dates from 1515. On nearby Grajski Trg square, 15th-century Maribor Castle houses the Regional Museum of Maribor.

I drove to the town of Ptuj, Slovenia, the oldest town in Slovenia (69 AD). It has the 12th century Ptuj Castle overlooking the Drava River. What does one do in the oldest town in Slovenia? I had some green apple ice cream, tasted great! Nearby, I drove to the Vinarium Tower, the highest observation tower in Slovenia standing at 54 metres (176 feet) and opened last year. You can see 4 countries from the top (of course I could also drive to them) - Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, and Austria. Very windy on top.

On my drive back to Ljubljana, I stopped at Velenje Castle in the town of Velenje. It's one of the best-preserved medieval castles in Slovenia and was built in 1270. It was hard to get a good selfie, I guess they didn't consider that when they built it back in 1270. Spending the next 3 nights in Ljubljana.

Back in Ljubljana, I trekked up to the Ljubljana Castle located high above the city. While the interior is modernized to handle city events, the exterior walls are from 1461. There's a great Ljubljana webcam near the triple bridge area. Fortunately, lots of people got to see me on the bridges. That was fun. When I'm not a web celebrity, I spend my time spelunking. On my last full day, I took a tour of the second largest mercury mine in the world located in Idrija, Slovenia. It was discovered in 1492. Not sure, can you only spelunk in a cave or does a mine count too?

I caught my flight out of Ljubljana, Slovenia to Helsinki, Finland and arrived in the evening. The next morning, I went to check in for my flight to London / Chicago and they redirected me to the service desk. They offered me a direct flight from Helsinki to Chicago which left Helsinki about 6 hours later. Consequently, that meant I could have 6 hours in Helsinki roaming around. By the way, the direct flight would arrive only 10 minutes later in Chicago than I would have arrived going through London with a several hour layover. Wow! What to do, what to do? Fortunately, I am familiar enough with Helsinki, easy enough to get into the city centre from the airport and navigate my way around. This was unexpected, but a pleasant surprise. As you can see by my pictures, there's a lot you can see in Helsinki in a short time if you know what you are doing…




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Helsinki, Finland - The Helsinki C (Central Railway Station) is always the jumping off point of central Helsinki.

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Helsinki, Finland - The Uspenskin katedraali (Uspenski Cathedral) was built in 1868 and has a good vantage point over Helsinki.

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Helsinki, Finland - Havis Amanda (the mermaid statue) with a view of the port.

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Helsinki, Finland - When in Finland, enjoy a reindeer burger.

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Helsinki, Finland - Mannerheiminie is the main business shopping street in Helsinki.

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Helsinki, Finland - The 40 metre (130 feet) Finnair SkyWheel along the waterfront.

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Helsinki, Finland - View of Helsinki from the top of the Finnair SkyWheel.

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Belgrade, Serbia - The view from my hotel overlooking Trg Slavija (Slavija Square), at the intersections of Kralja Milana, Beogradska, Makenzijeva, Svetosavska, Bulevar oslobođenja, Deligradska and Nemanjina streets. OK, I didn't really expect you to read all of that.

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Belgrade, Serbia - Trg republike (Republic Square) is the central meeting point referred to as 'kod konja' ('at The Horse'). The Prince Mihailo Monument is in honor of him liberating Serbia.

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Belgrade, Serbia - Dom Narodne Skupštine (House of the National Assembly) is the center of the Serbian Parliament.

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Belgrade, Serbia - Hram svetog Save (Church of St. Sava) is still under construction and the inside needs some work. Construction started in 1935 and also 1985, it's a long story.

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Belgrade, Serbia - Beogradska tvrđava (Belgrade Fortress) from the 7th century has many gates, including the Stambol Gate with the clock tower.

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Belgrade, Serbia - Me in the Belgrade Fortress, at the the confluence of the Sava River and the Danube.

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Belgrade, Serbia - Like I said, lots of gates. This is the Zindan Gate.

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Novi Sad, Serbia - Spectacular view from my hotel room of this lovely city, despite it being the 2nd largest city in Serbia.

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Novi Sad, Serbia - The Vladičanski dvor (Bishop's Palace) is yet another beautiful building in the pedestrian zone.

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Novi Sad, Serbia - Completed in 1780, Petrovaradinska tvrđava (Petrovaradin Fortress) is high above the Danube overlooking the city.

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Novi Sad, Serbia - The delightful Trg Slobode (Liberty Square) includes the city hall building.

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Novi Sad, Serbia - In case you haven't noticed, I really like this city. So where is everyone?

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Sremski Karlovci, Serbia - Around the tree filled Trg Branka Radičevića (central square) of this historic town are many 18th and 19th century buildings.

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Sremski Karlovci, Serbia - The city and Danube from the Duško Trifunović (poet) Viewpoint. Hey! Down in front!

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Belgrade, Serbia - Statue of Marshal Josip Broz Tito, the President of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

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Belgrade, Serbia - The Kuća cveća (House of Flowers) is the mausoleum for Marshal Josip Broz Tito (1892–1980). In 2014 I saw his birthplace in Kumrovec, Croatia, so I guess this completes my Tito Trek.

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Belgrade, Serbia - The Muzej Nikole Tesle (Nikola Tesla Museum) contains many of his artifacts, along with his ashes.

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Belgrade, Serbia - 24 Yugo sightings! Most of them red. From 1978-2008, there were 794,428 cars made. So, I still have more to find...

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Kamnik, Slovenia - From the 11th century, Kamnik is one of the oldest towns in Slovenia.

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Kranj, Slovenia - The Glavni trg (Main Square) is at the heart of the well-preserved medieval old town.

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Škofja Loka, Slovenia - The Kapucinski most (Cappuchin Bridge), the oldest preserved bridge in Slovenia from the 14th century, crosses the Selca Sora river.

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Radovljica, Slovenia - It's called 'Portrait of a Traveler', artist unknown. I could look at this for hours.

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Radovljica, Slovenia - Linhartov trg (Linhart Square) is the core of one of the best preserved Medieval old towns in Slovenia.

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Bled, Slovenia - Almost my hotel view, right on Lake Bled. Enjoy a Kremna rezina (cream cake) while you are there. Yea, you know what I'm talkin' about.

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Bled, Slovenia - Incredible scenery during the 5 kilometre (3 mile) walk around Lake Bled. Including the Blejski Grad (Bled Castle) and Blejski otok (Bled Island).

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Kranjska Gora, Slovenia - The Cerkev Device Marije Vnebovzete (Church of the Assumption) on the town's square is from the 14th century.

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Kranjska Gora, Slovenia - Driving through the Soča Valley in the Julian Alps .

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Bovec, Slovenia - Panaramic mountain views abound in the Julian Alps while driving the 50 hairpin turns of the 1611 metre (5285 foot) Vršič Pass.

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Predjama, Slovenia - A must see sight in Slovenia, the Predjama Grad (Castle) was built in 1570. Hey, they only had to build 1 wall, how hard could that be?

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Postojna, Slovenia - Postojnska jama (Postojna Cave) is another must see sight, and it includes a 3.5 kilometre (2.2 mile) train ride deep into the cave.

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Piran, Slovenia - Tartinijev trg (Tartini Square) includes the Občinska palača (Town Hall) in this beautiful town.

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Piran, Slovenia - One of the few towns in Slovenia on the Adriatic Sea, Piran is on a peninsula jutting out into the sea.

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Piran, Slovenia - From the top of the town wall built in 1470, you can see the narrow medieval streets that make walking the town so interesting.

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Izola, Slovenia - On the Adriatic Sea, Izola has more of a Mediterranean fishing village feel then the other Slovenian towns on the sea.

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Koper, Slovenia - The big Slovenian city on the Adriatic Sea (24000 people), it is a port city, more modern, with a small old town.

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Park Škocjanske jame, Slovenia - The highlight of Škocjanske jame (Škocjan Caves) is the 3.5 kilometre (2.2 mile) long, 60 metre (197 foot) wide, and over 140 metre (460 foot) high canyon. Think underground Grand Canyon.

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Kozarišče, Slovenia - Grad Snežnik (Snežnik Castle) built in the 13th century is just one of many castles through out Slovenia.

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Turjak, Slovenia - What'd I tell you? Grad Turjak (Turjak Castle) is also from the 13th century.

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Žužemberk, Slovenia - Nope, different castle. You know the drill by now. Grad Žužemberk (Žužemberk Castle) from the 13th century, along the Krka River.

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Celje, Slovenia - You wouldn't know by looking, but this is Slovenia's third largest city.

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Celje, Slovenia - View of the city and Savinja River from the 14th century castle.

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Maribor, Slovenia - The second largest city in Slovenia, this is the pretty Glavni trg (Main Square) with the Rotovž (City Hall) taking center stage.

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Maribor, Slovenia - Lots of incredible architecture, including Grad Mariborski (Maribor Castle) on the left in Grajski trg (Castle Square).

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Ptuj, Slovenia - Founded in 69 A.D. along the banks of the Drava River, Ptuj is the oldest city in Slovenia. I guess back then they only had 1 vowel.

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Lendava, Slovenia - The Stolp Vinarium (Vinarium Tower) stands at 53.5 metres (176 feet) and offers views of Slovenia, Hungary, Austria and Croatia. Been there, been there, been there, and been there...

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Velenje, Slovenia - Slovenia's fifth-largest city, and home to the well preserved 13th century Velenjski Grad (Velenje Castle). They sure were busy building in the 13th century.

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Idrija, Slovenia - This town had the 2nd largest mercury mine in the world at one time. Ooh, shiny!

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Ljubljana, Slovenia - Great view of the town centre and the Tromostovje (Triple Bridge) crossing the Ljubljanica River. Also, a great spot to be on their webcam.

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Ljubljana, Slovenia - Vodnjak treh kranjskih rek (Fountain of the Three Carniolan Rivers) in Mestni trg (Town Hall Square).

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Ljubljana, Slovenia - A view of the city from one of the towers in Ljubljanski Grad (Ljubljana Castle).

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Ljubljana, Slovenia - The Zmajski most (Dragon Bridge). Legend is Jason was the founder of Ljubljana, and he and his Argonauts killed a dragon. Pretty small dragon if you ask me.

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Ljubljana, Slovenia - Prešernov trg (Prešeren Square) and the Tromostovje (Triple Bridge) crossing the Ljubljanica River is the heart of the lively old town, even at night.

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Ljubljana, Slovenia - A hearty meal of Slovenian meat. This ain't my first rodeo...

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