I’d only been to Ljubljana center once before, years ago and at that time it was briefly and at night, so I had a little time today to go down to the old town and see things for myself and explore.
It is a small yet very nicely arranged part of town with a rather vast and hilly park that we did not have much time to explore but it seemed very well placed and looked after with various recreational areas and open spaces.
In walking around the old town many things came to mind, the buildings reminded me more of Budapest (Hungary) then Zagreb (Croatia) which I thought it might share more in common, the walking street could have been a street from Graz (Austria) or many other southern German towns I’ve visited just in the layout and assortment of designer stores and boutiques. The cafes were something like you’d see in Italy or maybe Astoria road in Budapest with nicely tailored waiters and well planed ambiance. The river and little bridges reminded me of the canals in Amsterdam (Holland) with little water taxis and flowers hanging off the bridge. Ljubljana is definatly its own city, but certainly also a truly European city and there is testament to it every corner you turn.
We did not have time to have a coffee or something, but the prices seemed reasonable from what I saw even in the touristy up-scale old town, and the tourists are aplenty. I stood around for a minute and was almost hard fought to find a ‘loco’ that was not service personnel in the cafes or retail. For late August this town is doing great in bringing people in, some understandably Germans and Austrians on their way home from seaside holidays but also Asians, Americans and other nationalities communicating in various accents of English soaking up the last few rays of sun and summer days left in this culturally flourishing city.
Some pictures from today.
Plano Maximus – A 3D version of the old town with the castle on the hill
One of the many old buildings that are being carefully restored to their former glory, why don’t we build like that anymore?
A sidewalk cafe, not one of the more elaborate ones but quaint and a favorite of locals and tourists alike.
The castle on the hill over looking the town, I hope to be able to visit it some time soon
The beautiful waterway that runs through town
Capitalisation, this country has worked out a pretty good economic system and some are starting to see the fruits of it like this Bentley with Slovenian plates.
Or this high-end Deli that beautifully restored the bottom of this building while the low income tenants above get economy class. There is more of a two class state then ever was before in the XYZone and Slovenia being already part of the EU is leading the way.
Note: I was only able to spend about an hour walking around and getting these shots so this is by no way an A-Z of Ljubljana but a small overview and first thoughts as I visit and see more I will blog it here.
This fabulous castle dates as far back as the 12th and 13th century–a magnificent sight to see jetting out of the rock cliff with a vast gaping cave below and the wide open blue sky above. I was incredibly fortunate to have gone to visit this castle on August 20th as they hold the annual “Erasmus’s Knight’s tournament” on that date. It’s a festival celebrating the times and lives of the place during the 16th century with knights, jousting, street bazaars and the likes as it might have been then. This was actually the fascinating bit as you are able to get hands-on with medieval weaponry, there was also organized games for kids, costumes, food and drink all in one of the most picturesque settings I think I have ever been to in all my life.
The castle is open most of the year but this one fair is only for one day so it was a bit of a mad scramble to get there as it seemed thousands of other people and hundreds of cars had the same idea as us and there was bad traffic for kilometers and frustrating parking on little field hilltops and village roads to get anywhere within walking distance of the castle and little hamlet village where most of these events were taking place. My advice is if you are driving to get there early and leave early as the roads are not made for heavy traffic and the organizers are naturally unwilling to make a lager state road there just for this one day event or mess with the natural beauty of the small country roads so you have to take it as part of the experience. But one look around from the castle bridge at the castle and surrounding countryside will make all the inconvenience seem small in comparison. I was not able to have time to visit inside the castle itself but I hear it is very well maintained and beautiful, guess I’ll have a good excuse to get out there again sometime.
This is a fascinating place of unique nature set in the rolling hills. About an hour south from Ljubljana and only about 9 km from Predjamski grad is this amazing underground world of caves and passageways that are just spectacular. The tour is guided, but I found it was not nicely balanced with useful tourist information and facts and times of quiet walking to take in the wonders of it all. The train ride was an
interesting touch as I’ve never heard of that being done on cave tours before; it felt kind of like an old mining cave experience. It was rather fast but an amazing way to take in the sights and well lit formations and vast spaces underground. Again I did not find this place very back-packer friendly as most of the traffic was prearranged tour busses, campers and private cars and there was not any public transport connections around that I could see. Hitching a ride might be a bit iffy too as there are planed tour times and they only let you in the cave then. There is a local hotel at the foot of the cave, but it looked more like a health retreat for elderly, but there are probably private accommodations with locals in and around the small towns if it came down to it, but with a car it is easy to do it all in one day and be back in Ljubljana that night again as we did.
This is a rolled strip of ground beef (and/or mixed with ground pork), deliciously spiced. Much of the local food here is rather bland, but sinking into a čevapi is simply rich and flavorful with paprika, pepper and other spices. Usually served as fast-food in local snack shops, though you can find it on the menu in mid -range restaurants and grill houses, as well usually served with either a large bun toasted in the meat’s juice on the grill or with pomes (French fry like deep fried potato wedges) and dices of fresh onion and ajvar (a red paprika dip). You can find the spice mixture in just about any store or supermarket that caries packaged spices and you can trick out your own packet of minced meat for a grill with friends, or get ready-to-cook ones with the spice already mixed in and cut into strips. It really doesn’t matter how much you make you will never seem to have enough of this finger-licking good stuff, it really is that good.
This is a fruit brandy much like the German Schnapps, often a homemade drink (moonshine) that is often offered while visiting older people’s houses as it is often made by them or a relative and no one really can give you an exact alcohol percentage on it but it generally starts at 40% proof and up. Many people say it has healing properties and have it around for “medicinal” reasons, though it is also a popular drink among older men and there are even some small distillers that actually market it, some even creatively adding a preserved fruit in it. Most commonly made with pears, plums or occasionally apples I’ve tried a few different ones from different regions, but it really is just like drinking turpentine or polyurethane, it burns the whole way down your throat and can’t be good for your internal organs either. It does make you relaxed and sometimes a bit light in the head and I can see how people think it is soothing and healthy though it is not really my kind of drink. It is a good cultural experience and way to show your host you are willing to try their brew and survive it if even with tearing eyes after saying “čivali“ (cheers) and giving the shot glass a bottoms up.
This is a great snack, it is a donut-like bun about the size of a fist that is light and fluffy and usually filled inside with marmelada (what they call marmalade but is more like a sweet peach/fruit jam) or Čokolada (a rich, sweet chocalate paste). It is often served for breakfast or as a snack with tea or coffee if you are staying with locals or at a Pension (guesthouse). I like eating them sometimes while traveling or driving as it is easy to hold in one hand and eat not crumbly like bread, burek or other pastries. It is just made with white flour and sugar, so it’s not really great for the old waistline so I don’t make a habit of it, but it is a great local snack from this area that is really good and worth a try and best of all it goes for only about a dollar, some places even less (at least in Croatia at the time of writing this).
I thought I’d seen it all till I walked into a local Pekarna (bakery) and asked for Burek meso; they were fresh out, but the sales person asked if she could interest me in a pizza burek instead. I was stunned, had someone finally found a way to hybrid the pizza and burek in one? Well not quite, but it was an interesting combination, having tomato paste in what might otherwise have been a dry cheese burek, they maybe could add some ham next time, but otherwise a welcome change. I know most burek enthusiasts might cry foul that a non-Bosnian, non-Albanian run bakery has tampered with this historic food tradition, but I think it will grow in popularity and I commend them for thinking outside the box on this one–something not many Croatians are known for, saddly.
Living life in the eX-Yugoslavian Zone 