Ljubljana, Slovenia

We had five nights to explore the delightful city of Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital. A few more words about pronunciation, as the Slovenian language seems to enjoy making every word a bit of a tongue twister. "j" is usually pronounced like a "y", so it's "lyoob-LYAN-nah". Sometimes you'll see a consonant with a little hat: č, š, ž. These are pronounced "ch" like in choose, "sh" like share, or "zh" like the s sound in "treasure" (or for any Green Acres fans: like "Zsa Zsa"). All the rest of the letters act like they do in English, except c. C is prounounced "ts", like in cats. So in Slovenian, "pizzeria" is spelled "picerija". Simple, right?

The city center is closed to car traffic, which makes Ljubljana a very pleasant strolling city. English is widely spoken, not so much because there are a lot of American and British tourists (there aren't). It's because most of the tourists are from other European countries and not too many of them speak Slovenian as their second language. We were able to communicate pretty easily, although the locals did chuckle and give us a thumbs up whenever we tried to use our limited Slovenian skills to say "hello" (zdravo or dober dan) or "thank you" (hvala). The city center is at the base of a hill and you can see a bit of Ljubljana Castle towering above. 

We took the funicular up the hill to check out the castle and after seeing the Predjama Castle the day before, it was a bit of a letdown honestly. Yes, it's one of the town's main landmarks and a castle has stood on this hill in some form or another since the 11th century. But it doesn't really have a typical castle "feel". There are no royal apartments because was never the home of a king; it was just used for defense (as a barracks, military hospital, and later a prison). In the 1970s they renovated and modernized it, and now its more of a cultural park -- with cafes, restaurants, and various art exhibits. Worth a stop but not a must-see.

The main thing we enjoyed doing was just soaking in the atmosphere and strolling around the city. The Ljubljanica River runs through the town and there are several pedestrian bridges connecting both sides. One in particular is famous - a triple bridge re-designed by local architect Jože Plečnik in the 1930s. The middle span dates back to the 1840s but by the 1920s it was a bottleneck -- too narrow for all the traffic trying to cross. So Plečnik added two arched footbridges on either side of the main span. In the photo you can see the pastel pink Franciscan Church which is also a town landmark.

In fact, if you are into architecture this a great town to visit. There are several beautiful Art Nouveau buildings, including this Cooperative Business Bank from the 1920s that incorporates eye-catching geometric patterns into the facade. I wish my credit union back at home was this aesthetically pleasing.

Another beautiful structure from the 1930s is the St Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Church. The interior is covered floor-to-ceiling with vibrantly colored frescoes that depict important saints and biblical scenes.

Since we were in Ljubljana for several days, we bought a couple of Ljubljana Tourist Cards that gave us free access to most of the museums in town. The modern art museum had an interesting exhibit on Harvey Gregory Prusheck, born Gregor Perušek (he Americanized the spelling), who emigrated to the American Midwest (Chicago/Cleveland) and was a prolific painter in the 1920s-40s. I really liked his use of muted tones and dreamy color palette. Apparently I was too enraptured to take any of my own photos, so here's one I found on Wikimedia commons showing an untitled Southwestern Landscape.

Our Tourist Cards also included access to the excellent Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, dedicated to Slovenian heritage and culture. One of the exhibits focused on Pust/Shrovetide, which is Slovenia's much creepier version of Carnival. It's associated with the period leading up to Lent (loosely translated both pust and carnival mean to "leave meat"). The Slovene tradition is for people to dress up in monstrous costumes (called kurentija) to scare away winter and welcome spring. Given the success of the Swedish-themed horror film Midsommar, I can't believe someone hasn't already come up with a slasher flick that incorporates these frightening traditional costumes. 

One of the most relaxing things to do in Ljubljana is to hop on an electric wooden boat and cruise the Ljubljanica River. It gives some of the best views of the bridges and the buildings bordering the riverbanks. We lucked out and a big tour group joined our boat so we had a tour guide pointing out all the interesting architectural features and giving us more of the town's history.

We specifically timed our stay in Ljubljana so we would be there for the summertime Friday food market tradition called Odprta Kuhna (literally "open kitchen"). Food stalls take over Pogačarj square, offering both local Slovenian cuisine as well as world cuisine. We shared a plate of žlikrofi - pasta dumplings filled with meat, cheese, or potatoes and topped with a sauce. We chose meat žlikrofi and that included a generous serving of pork on the side. Add a cold beer and you are definitely in comfort food territory. (Side note: Pogačarj square was named after a 19th century bishop, not after the famous Slovenian cycling champion Tadej Pogačar).

Also on Friday nights in summertime, the city serves up entertainment in the form of open-air concerts. We heard some wonderful music from a floating orchestra (literally an orchestra playing from boats in the river) and a wind section installed in the famous Plečnik Arcades near the market.

We both agreed that Ljubljana is one of those small but captivating European capitals. It's not packed with tourists and attractions, like Paris or Rome, but it has an easy-to-navigate city center, an interesting culture, appealing green spaces, and a pleasant river to walk along. We definitely enjoyed our time here, although we are looking forward to seeing some mountain scenery!