Ljubljana, with the ever-present castle looming in the background.

So I’m travelling again, this time in Europe. This trip started in Slovenia, moved on to Italy and will continue to France.

Slovenia love their dragons

Slovenia

Saturday Night Fever?

Slovenia was formally part of Yugoslavia, gaining independence in 1991 in a near-bloodless ten-day coup. It is a small country with just 45 kilometres of coastline (Croatia claimed the bulk of the coastline). The rest of the country is made up of forests (in Europe, only Sweden and Finland have a higher proportion of forest), lakes, caves, medieval towns and Unesco world heritage sites.

I opted to stay in Ljubljana and travel out from there each day. The lazy choice maybe, but it puts less stress on my knee not to have to carry my bag every day and also less stress on me not to have to get up, find the bus station and move on every day. it’s a small country; few places that I wanted to visit are more than an hour and a half away from the capital.

Look! Pink church!

The capital, Ljubljana (let’s do it slowly together: ly-oob-lee-ahn-a), is a small city; it really doesn’t feel like a capital city at all (I remember having the same feeling in Zagreb). It was busy (I got there first week of September) but not ridiculously crowded like Florence or Barcelona.

Things to see in Ljubljana

It is a great city to walk around and see what you find. It isn’t chock-a-block with must see’s, although I suppose if anything comes into the category of must sees it would be the castle. Ljubljana’s castle is like the Eiffel Tower; wherever you go in the city you can see the castle perched up on its hill.

Best thing about the castle was the view.  I found the castle itself too crowded and too full of tour groups to be enjoyable, even though I got there 9.30 in the morning.

Other things to see

Metelkova art and cultural space.

In the 1990s, this former army barracks was taken over by a bunch of artists.  The government was threatening demolition and the artists squatted there to protect it.

Now it has become a small area where you can hang out, admire the artwork, get a drink and maybe see a concert in summer.  There is even a hotel there (Hostel Celica) in a former prison, where you sleep in converted jail cells.  Unfortunately it was fully booked when I tried to get a room last minute, but reviews are great.

Ljubljanica river

Ljubljana, viewed from the river

There are several companies offering cruises down the river; all last around 45 minutes and cost 10 euros. Walking along the river bank works equally well, and there were also some people on stand up paddle-boards.

~.~.~.~.

Ljubljana: I kept coming across these little impromptu libraries with chairs and books laid out on the grass, trying to encourage people to read more.

Brown bears apparently roam the streets outside the capital….