The temperature has dropped all across the region, and it was pretty cold yesterday morning (Sunday, Day 8), when we were due to leave Trieste.

The second train we were scheduled to catch originated in Austria. And it wasn't long before we were receiving an email from Austrian railways warning us of disruption because of heavy snowfall...

There was no problem with the first leg, which took us as far as Ljubljana. There are actually two trains involved here, although it's marked as one service. The first one takes you way back along the coast (the way we'd arrived), and then doubles back again to Opicina. This is how you get up over the steep Karst that looms over the city.




The second train bears you onward to Ljubljana. The change is a very easy business. The connecting train comes in at the same platform at Opicina, so you just have to walk forward a little, and the job is done.



And now we were in a real winter wonderland. Snow had obviously fallen quite heavily on this higher ground, and it was lingering. In any weather this would be a very scenic ride, with gorgeous views down into the valleys. But the snow added its distinctive ethereal element:






No probs, though. We arrived pretty much on time in Ljubljana, which we'd last visited in March. Our connection gave us enough time for lunch and a walk, so we shoved our bags into a locker, and set off.

However -- as we soon learnt from consulting the platform indicators -- the connection would now not be a train but a bus. Oh no!!! So few trains on this trip, and now one of the few had fallen over. Maybe we'd unknowingly just alighted from our very last train... After all, the money we'd paid to buy tickets on the last scheduled train of the journey -- from Sarajevo to Mostar in a week or so's time -- had just been mysteriously returned to us, so heaven knows what's happening there... Maybe it would be nothing but the dreaded buses from here on in...

Anyway, what will be will be. And next on the agenda, cheeringly, was struklji, from Moji struklji Slovenije. I said at the time that I would come back to Slovenia for the struklji alone -- well, our return was not purely for this reason, but having them on the horizon certainly gave a whole new gloss to this particular connection.

In Ljubljana it had obviously snowed too. Most of it had disappeared from the streets, but the surrounding hills were lightly powdered like old-fashioned wigs:



Our struklji purveyors were still serving, cold or not, and the chairs were provided with nice warm sheepskins to entice the punters. The amazing soup-struklji combo wasn't on offer any more, unfortunately. But never mind, three struklji made for an excellent lunch:




And a quick trot round Ljubljana's picturesque city centre was a good way to warm up:








We returned to the station in good time to extract our luggage from its locker (you never know when these operations are going to go wrong). Then we needed to find out where to board the dreaded replacement bus.

And -- miracle! -- it was a replacement bus no longer, but a replacement train! All a bit confusing, as there were no signs on the platform, and the carriage in which we had reserved seats was missing in action. But never mind. A train! We plonked ourselves down in the first available non-reserved compartment, and had a pleasant journey to Zagreb.

You wander along the valley of the river that links the two capital cities. It's clearly a bit of a swollen river at the moment, with the trees nearest the bank up to their calves in water. Picturesque, though:



We left Trieste at just after 0900, and arrived in Zagreb about 1720. So it was another pretty full-on day's travel.

The city was full of Advent action. No-one seemed deterred by the cold. There were loads of lights, and loads of people. Hard going when you're fully laden.


But the apartment isn't far from the station. Again it's in one of these traditional apartment buildings. But it's spacious and comfortable, and has obviously been decorated by a music lover:




I love the stairs and landings you get in these places:


This time we have a little courtyard outside:


We look out onto the boarded-up Church of St Mary. Some sort of renovation going on, I think:


Anyway, back to yesterday evening. As is our usual practice, we dropped our bags, briefly surveyed the territory, and tumbled straight back out to provision:


Very much looking forward to exploring another city.