Oct 3 - Cesky Krumlov to Slovenia

Our shuttle (old van) supplied by Expediche arrived at 0800 as expected. I should have mentioned that public transport from CK to Austria involves backtraking and loss of productive time so a shuttle is money well spent.

While the included breakfast at Pension Lobo was supposed to start at 0800, there were no signs of any activity from the office as we left.

We did meet a Lobo driver as we left - several Lobo vehicles were around. As we were possibly the only people in the pension overnight, it was lucky for them that a 'problem' developed as it would have been uneconomic for them to drive us to Linz at our agreed price. We must remember to share these Pension Lobo experiences with Rick Steves, and perhaps others.

The trip from Prague to CK was over fairly flat terrain but now we were into hills. We took winding back roads and the entrance into Austria was quite distinct - all of a sudden the farms were neater and country homes more manicured. After 75 minutes we were at Linz's main train station and plenty of time for breakfast.

The train left Linz at 10:32, on the button. We headed west to Salzburg and then south through St. Johann in Pomgau, Bad Gastein and simply gorgeous scenery like


Right on time, OBB delivered us
for our transfer at Villach, just north of the Slovenian border.

The transfer went like clockwork and soon after we went through a long tunnel and across the border. Again the change in the scenery outside the train window was a case of 'Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!'

We arrived in Ljubljana circa 16:30, checked into our hotel and met our tour group for an 18:00 orientation meeting.

We are a group of 12, including our tour guide: 3 from the Ottawa area, 2 from Kitchener, 2 from Vancouver, 2 from California and 3 from Uruguay.

We then headed out down the street to supper at a nearby restaurant. There were three full meal options available to us based on trout, game (deer, wild boar, etc) and a country combination (sausage, blood pudding, pork chop, roast pork).

Our Hotel Slon (a Best Western) is very nice. On main drag, bathrobes & slippers etc - rack rate 255 euros for a double.

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