Huge shaggy horned giants, wielding clubs are chasing me down the cobbled street. The noise from the huge cowbells hung from chains around their waist is deafening. They follow me through squares lined by medieval houses, monasteries and churches. This is the Kurentovanje, the Slovenian equivalent of Mardi Gras, and one of the world’s top ten carnivals.

Shoemakers Bridge was looking particularly pretty in its Christmas party dress as I began exploring Slovenia. All lit up and sending out fine festive feelings to the folk in Ljubljana Slovenia.. Remarkably different from its former role as the location for dunking misbehaving bakers into the cold murky Ljubljana river back in the middle ages. It seems in those days, the bread makers had a habit of creaming a little extra profit in hard times, and since bread was so important as a staple diet, it didn’t go down too well with the locals.