Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It took us about 4 ½ hours to drive there from Munich. With a population of less than 300,000, it’s a pretty small city. Many often refer to it as a “village.” We weren’t exactly sure what to expect. We had heard the city was nice, but the country of Slovenia has a complicated history, and honestly, we just didn’t know that much about it. We were even fairly certain that it wasn’t part of the Euro-zone – as it turns out, they have been using the Euro since 2007! Given the small size of the country and the geographical location, Slovenians typically learn English from an early age. So we had no problems at all – although I will say that I was surprised at the lack of English on menus at restaurants and bars located in the city center.
We arrived on Thursday in the late afternoon. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the city center to do a bit of exploring before dinner. We were immediately impressed. The architecture, with Italian and Austrian influences, was simply stunning. There is a lovely river that runs right through the city center, with quaint bridges every few hundred yards. One of the most famous bridges is the Dragon Bridge, which shockingly, features statues of dragons. Apparently, the dragon is the symbol for Ljubljana. The city center is lined with cool restaurants, bars, cafes, and stylish boutiques – this, we were not expecting. We enjoyed a round of drinks in a small, cozy bar, then headed to dinner. Matt was super excited to drink an IPA! While German beer is delicious, he certainly misses the variety of beer in the U.S. We had a great dinner at a Mediterranean-inspired restaurant. After dinner, we enjoyed espresso and hot chocolate, while enjoying the city at night.
The next day, we did another walking tour. This was a different company than the usual one we use, but it was pretty similar. We saw some of the city’s main squares, prominent statues, the central outdoor market, and a beautiful church. We walked around the city for about 2 ½ hours, and our tour guide filled us in on some history and interesting facts about the city. He even explained one theory on why the dragon is the symbol for the city. Apparently, it is believed that Jason from the Greek legend of the Golden Fleece struck down the great “monster” between the present day towns of Ljubljana and Vrhnika. I don’t know how factual this story is, but nonetheless, a dragon is a pretty awesome mascot. The weather on Friday was really sunny, but it was pretty chilly. After the tour ended, we pretty much jogged to a café for lunch. After lunch, we explored the city a bit more and headed up the hill to tour the castle. We rode a short funicular railway car up to the castle. It was pretty small, but there was a tower which provided a great view of the city. Ljubljana is surrounded by mountains, and since the weather was so clear, we could see everything. It was fantastic. In the evening, we tried some Slovenian wines at a cool wine bar, grabbed a quick dinner, and enjoyed dessert at a cute bakery.
On Saturday, we started our journey home. But not before making quick stops at both Lake Bled and
Vintgar Gorge. The lake was a bit disappointing. It was pretty touristy and honestly, we have seen some truly spectacular lakes in the Alps in Germany and Austria. I’m sure if we would have spent more time at Lake Bled exploring, we would have appreciated it a bit more. Next, we stopped at Vintgar Gorge. The gorge flows for about a mile and eventually forms a waterfall. It used to be impassable until they built a wooden walkway through it. It's a bit strange walking over a flowing river via a wooden path bolted into jagged rock, but it's better just not to concentrate on that. It was beautiful and reminded us of Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, but again, a bit chilly. After seeing the waterfall and snapping some photos, we were ready to get back in the car and head home.
We really enjoyed Slovenia. The pictures really don't do it justice. What a great last-minute decision! This week, we are heading to Spain for two weeks! We will try to do some blogging along the way...
Bis später,
Kristin and Matt
No comments:
Post a Comment