July 27, 2010 • 0

Ljubljana

Our time in Ljubljana was magnificent and it dramatically altered our opinions of Slovenia – especially after our time with John and Nathalie. We left Krško early on Friday morning. The ride back to Ljubljana was beautiful. The morning air was cool and crisp, the light on the Sava River and the mountains enchanting. When we got into Ljubljana we dropped our bags off at our hostel and wandered through the city centre. We quickly fell in love.

Excited to be on the train to Ljubljana

We strolled through the old town and discovered flower, craft, and food markets to meander through. Then we rode the funicular up to the castle for a view of the city. The castle is mainly used as an exhibition space for art and historical information on Ljubljana. When we returned from the castle we wandered down what would become our favorite street and did a little shopping in some old, delightful bookstores and shops. We sat in the street at a cafe’s patio and had iced coffees. The weather began to cool down a bit while we sat there and it became much more pleasant to continue strolling through the city. We eventually checked out some film times at an art house cinema (Kinodvor) and then returned to the hostel to make ourselves dinner. The film we ended up seeing that evening was actually an independent American film, The Electric Mist. Tommy Lee Jones was the main character – which was surprisingly comforting. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and the art house where we had beers and conversation with the bartender before the film.

France Prešeren – Slovenia’s famous poet

Prešeren Square or Prešernov trg

Walking across Tromostovje (Triple Bridge)

From the other side of Tromostovje

Farmers’ Market

Zmajski most (Dragon Bridge)

Ljubljana Castle or Ljubljanski grad

View from the castle

Ljubljanica River

On Saturday we had planned on going to Bled, but the rain caused us to push it back to Sunday, in hopes of better weather. Instead we took the rainy day as an opportunity to relax. I went out to a nearby pekarna (bakery) to buy us breakfast and we lingered a bit at the hostel before heading out into the city. Zach wanted to visit the Modern Art Museum so we did that first. It was small, with only one floor of exhibits, but it was a really great display of Slovene artists. After we left the museum we had sandwiches at a bakery near the main square. They were delicious. Zach had mozzarella and tomato and I had prosciutto with olive bread! To seal the meal we had a huge brownie. The perfect meal on a rainy afternoon. We went with our umbrellas to another side of town and found another bookstore to pillage. We crossed the river and walked a ways until we found a quaint cafe to hide out in for a few hours. It was perfect. We wrote some postcards, read a little bit, and when we left the rain had finished. We started to head back to the hostel, but stopped for a while in Tivoli Park on the way. Then we did a little grocery shopping before settling into the hostel. We got our bags ready for our check-out the next day and lounged around before going to sleep.