This morning we were up just before 6am to catch the tram to the bus station, and then a bus to Ljubljana, Slovenia. The part that took the longest was the border crossing. I now officially have 8/37 pages in my passport free. Closer and closer to my mission of filling it!!
When we arrived in Ljubljana it was spitting with rain. We walked the 15 minutes to our apartment and left our bags as it wasn’t time to check in just yet. Instead, we headed to Prešernov Square to start the 11am walking tour.
Ljubljana (pronounced loo-bee-ah-nah) started off as a swamp in 3000 BC that people settled around. There is a medieval castle here, but no royal family has ever lived in it. The reason it’s here was to allow guards to look out over the city, and we are planning on checking it out on Saturday. The Hapsburgs (Austrian) did rule here for 650 years, however.
Our first impressions of the city were that it’s very pretty and probably more efficient and green than Zagreb. Nowhere near as many people smoke (my lungs are screaming YAY after four days in Zagreb!) and Ljubljana actually won the greenest city in Europe in 2016. Many improvements have been made in recent years including an underground recycling system, a widened pedestrian zone and lots of parks created.
Our tour started in Prešernov Square, named after Slovenian poet France Prešernov. I think Slovenia is so cool. Most capital cities - especially in Europe - have a statue of a soldier or someone involved in war in their main square. But in Ljubljana, they valued their language so much in between different empires ruling them, that they have a poet in their main square. 150 years after he wrote one of his poems, it is being used as the national anthem and is all about how the world should be peaceful and countries should get along.
Apart from the statue, the square has the beautiful pink (originally red) Franciscan church and the Triple Bridge. This is one of many structures in Ljubljana created by Jože Plečnik. What Wagner was to Vienna, Plečnik was to Ljubljana. Anywhere you see a funky lamp post or a column in the street here, you know he designed and built something nearby. The Triple Bridge is so called because originally it was one bridge, but Plečnik in reconstructing it wanted to add in a pedestrian bridge to each side.
We continued on to another Plečnik bridge, the Butcher’s Bridge. This one was covered in love locks! From here we could see the central market, another Plečnik creation!! Here we learned about the fact that Slovenia doesn’t have many traditional Slovenian dishes, but quite a lot of modifications of dishes from their neighbours and previous rulers. Delicious gelato from Italy and goulash from Hungary are popular! Their wine is also apparently quite delicious, but 90% of it is drunk here, so not much is exported. We will be trying it for sure.
Interestingly, the central market was built by Plečnik during the Second World War in between 1939-1945. During this time, the Italians occupied Ljubljana and put up a fence around the city so that no one could get in or out. As a result, the city didn’t suffer much damage during the war. And due to a Franciscan monastery collapsing behind the new central market site, Plečnik was able to build the central market during the war without having to import materials. He was effectively “locked in” due to the occupation, so this provided a lot of people with something to do for work during this time in helping to build it. When Italy was defeated in this area, the nazis took over. In 1945, Tito liberated the city and took over. We are doing a communist walking tour Saturday so more on that then.
Our next stop was the Dragon Bridge. This bridge has 20 dragon sculptures on it, and Ljubljana is often referred to as the “Dragon City”. This originates from a story about Jason and the Argonauts, who stole a golden Golden Fleece and fled via Ljubljana when the king’s guard chased them. Here they tamed a “swamp monster” which over time became a dragon. The town flag has a dragon on it and lots of shops, restaurants etc refer to dragons too.
Next we stopped at the Church of St Nicholas. Fun fact - even though Slovenia is a secular country, it has the most churches per capita of any country in the world. Most of these remain closed year round, and are only cleaned up and opened for religious holidays. The door here was fascinating and was created in 1996 to commemorate Pope John Paul II visiting. It displays a lot of Slovenian history, including archaeology (underneath Ljubljana is one giant archaeological gold mine), the crusaders, the ottomans and the first three books published in Slovene, during a time where Slovenia wasn’t an independent country. Pope John Paul II was put up the top of the door as a “thank you” to the Vatican for being the first country to recognise Slovenia’s independence post Yugoslavia in 1991 (yes that’s right, modern Slovenia is only one year older than me!!). The fight for independence here began 26 years ago today, coincidentally. 2 million people live in Slovenia, with 280,000 of them living in Ljubljana.
We tried some yummy liqueurs on the tour and then continued to the National Library built by...you guessed it....Plečnik! Slovene is derived from Russian, and has quite a few words that contain no vowels including Trg meaning “square” and Cmrli meaning “bumble bee”. Don’t ask me how to pronounce those!
Our tour ended in Congress Square at what is now the university administration building. University is free here, and students get free insurance, €60 a month rent and 50% off in all Ljubljana shops and restaurants. Up your game, Monash!!! I should have come here! Unfortunately there is a downside. Due to the enticing nature of going to university here because of the reasons mentioned above, just about everyone goes. Unemployment upon graduation is very common and on average it takes a year to find a job, and it’s usually through someone you know even when you do find one.
Upon conclusion of the tour, Mum and I had a delicious cake and a drink at a cafe by the river called Cacao. I had chocolate and Mum had strawberry. Then we walked a similar route to the tour but took our time. We looked at shops and then went to check into our apartment. It’s soooo nice! The Zagreb hostel room was so tiny and uncomfortable. This one is spacious and clean, easy to relax.
We headed out again and looked inside the town hall at a photography exhibition, and then at an abandoned military barracks turned street art gallery. The area felt a bit dodgy and was not our favourite.
At this point we were feeling pretty tired (and I’m still covered in bites which my body is using lots of energy to heal!) so we had a rest in the room.
For dinner, we went to a restaurant at the end of our hotel’s lane way. We each had a glass of Slovenian Sauvignon, and a lamb goulash with potato dumplings. Oh my god. I’m in heaven!! After a short walk and a stop at the supermarket, we are now back in our room for the evening.
Lake Bled tomorrow!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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