After such an early start the previous day we had a lie-in to recover.  It was fairly chaotic when we arrived for breakfast due to the volume of people. The breakfast itself was a standard chain hotel continental breakfast.

After breakfast we took the funicular to Ljubljana Castle where we spent the whole day. On arrival we joined a guided tour with costumed actors. The guide was very good and actors appeared at certain places along the route to play out and emphasize the history. It was all very well done. One of the things we learned was about the well and the water wheel. Originally the well had been 100 feet deep but now it was only half that depth because ammunition from the WWII was dumped in it. When the castle was used as a prison the prisoners had to walk inside the wheel (like a hamster) for ten minutes at a time to draw up water from the well. They were blindfolded whilst doing so to prevent dizziness. This gave them their daily exercise as well as performing a useful function.

Within the castle, there is a Museum of Slovenian History which we found very interesting and it helped us choose which other museums we might visit whilst we were staying in Ljubljana.

For lunch I tried to order a sparkling wine to go with a slice of Prikmurska Givanica. I showed the waiter the picture of the drink in the menu but, even so, what arrived was something entirely different! It was in a tumbler full of ice and it tasted vaguely of rum…

We walked around the outside of the castle walls and saw the Alps in the distance, glowing in the late afternoon sunshine. When we had finished our walk we caught the funicular back down to ground level and made our way back to the hotel where we quickly freshened up before going out for dinner. We chose another restaurant along the riverside but picked a table next to the restaurant that was well covered in case of a repeat performance of rain. I chose salmon with roasted veg which was very nice. Afterwards we stopped of in one of the cafe bars for a nightcap before making our way back to the hotel.