Thurs 4th – Mon 8th June
Accommodation: Trubajerva City Apartments in Ljubljana, Slovenia: booked through Booking.com.
Thurs 4th June
There was fine weather for our drive from Rovinj, Croatia up to Ljubljana, Slovenia but it was a rather tough one for the drivers as there was a lot of traffic and most of this was trucks. Our apartments were located in a pedestrian only zone but there was a car park just around the corner where we could easily drop off our luggage. There were only 2 x one bedroom apartments in the complex and we had the upstairs one and Colleen & David had the downstairs one.
Our SIL, Brett, will be well pleased to know the first thing both couples did on arrival was to put on a load of washing; 4 days in a hotel had stretched our limit! After that we set out to explore our new neighborhood and what a surprise we were in store for. We’d only walked about 100m, and just turned the corner at the historic Dragon Bridge, when we found ourselves on a beautiful, tree lined pedestrian-only path, running alongside the Ljubljanica river, packed with people either strolling the cobbled walkway or kicking back and enjoying a drink at one of the many alfresco bars. It was such a lovely vibrant scene with people of all ages, but especially a younger crowd, so we suspected it must be a University town and that exams must clearly be over. We learned later from our host, Gaspar, once we’d sat down to join in on the alfresco bar scene, that many were likely German as they have a holiday week and this usually results in an influx of tourism for Slovenia and Croatia. It did go some way to explaining the number of Germans we’d spotted at our last stop in Rovinj, Croatia. Having said all that, the vibe here is definitely more German than Italian and the scene here reminded us of Oktoberfest. Gaspar was a young vigneron, working with his dad, trying to build up a relatively new (5 yrs) vineyard located on the outskirts of Ljubljana. He was a friendly and well informed young man and he even knew that the capital of Australia was Canberra! It was hard to leave such a festive and bustling scene but we were all quite tired after our day of travel so we headed back to the apartment for a quiet night of dining in.
Fri 5th June
It was a cool and overcast morning and rain was forecast for much of the day. The boys did manage to get out for a ride without getting wet and Coll and I got in a short walk before the rain started. We had a 2 hr walking tour booked for 10 am so we hoped we wouldn’t get too wet out on that trail.
Our walking tour led by Natalia was excellent as, despite not being a native of the area, she was married to a Slovenian and, along with their two young children, had lived here for many years. She delighted when she saw a group of pre-schoolers being led around the city in their rain jackets and explained that that was how reliance was developed in their young people as school children were taken out by their teachers to explore the city and beyond in all weather, rain snow or sunshine. Natalia explained that her 6 yr old was taught to ski and swim in the first year of school. She segwayed to explain this may help to explain Slovenians over representation and success in many sports and their medal haul at Olympic event, despite their relatively small population of just 2 million. Natalia also explained that University is free in Slovenia which would go some to explaining the large number of young people in the area.
The architecture around Ljubljana is just beautiful and Natalia brought our small tour group to the attention of an early 20th century architect, Jože Plečnik as he had been an influential force in the design of many significant buildings, bridges and structures throughout Ljubljana. Plečnik, himself was a devotee of the Vienna Secession movement and further defined himself by designing his projects with the end user, ie people, as his main focus and made do with smaller budgets by using local stones and products from the area. Plečnik’s focus on human centered design earned his works in Ljubljana UNESCO heritage status. I later discovered that the Tourist Information Office offers guided and self guided tours about Plečnik‘s works in Ljubljana which we might go on to explore. All but two of the magnificent building you see around the city were built in the early 1900s because an earthquake in 1895 had destroyed all other buildings and the collapsed buildings were slowly replaced by the beautiful art nouveau ones on display today. Needless to say, the tour was excellent and I consider this a must-do activity if you’re ever in the area.
It was lunchtime by the time our tour finished and we were all keen to sit down for a while out of the cold so headed to one of the restaurants that Natalia had suggested was good for typical regional food. We all enjoyed a Slovenian food favorite of a stew/soup served in a bread cup; Coll had a creamy mushroom soup (gobova juha) and the rest of us had a type of venison goulash (divjačinski golaž) with each poured into a hollowed-out, crusty loaf of sourdough. It was exactly what we all need with this cooler than expected weather.
After lunch we took a loop (75 min) on the tourist tram but this wasn’t really all that informative although it did take us down a few interesting streets we had not yet seen. We then headed back to our apartments to rest and warm up before our next outing.
It was around 5 pm by the time we set back out and we went to a couple of different bars for a drink and had dinner at the Indian restaurant just near our apartment where the food was quite delicious. We were back home by 8.30 pm but that suited us all as we were quite tired from our fairly full day.
Sat 6th June
It was pleasing to see that there was just grey sky this morning and no rain so the boys had a big ride whilst us girls had a walk. We had a rather slow day planned with a river cruise for the morning and browsing the shops in the afternoon.
The river cruise was well worth doing as we got to see the city, and its many beautiful buildings, from the water and it was a very pleasant way to spend an hour especially as the sun had reappeared. Our boat operator was very interesting and gave us a bit more background about Slovenia and Ljubljana and explained that the population of the country is only 2 million but that they have better educational standards than many neighboring countries which we have found to be the case; we have found, thankfully, that their mastery of English has been very good. He explained that everything you see in the city that is beautiful is thanks to the architecture, Plecnik. This Plecnik sure made a huge impact across the city and with the population!
We had lunch in the central market area before parting ways to rest for a bit. Coll and I then did some browsing of the shops in the afternoon and we all regrouped later to have drinks at the roof top bar at Nebotinik followed by dinner at Ljubljančanka. Our meals for dinner were delicious and this is a restaurant I’d highly recommend.
Sun 7th June
It was a foggy start to the day but that, hopefully, meant a sunny day was to follow. There were two more items on our to-do list and that included a trip, via the funicular, up to the castle and for a bike ride around Tivoli Park.
By the time we had readied ourselves for the trip up to the castle, the fog and clouds had cleared and it was a beautiful warm sunny day. The visit to Ljubljana Castle was interesting but we didn’t pay to go inside the museum as we’d had our share of castles for this trip. The castle you see today was only built in the 16th and 17th centuries but there have been fortifications on the hilltop since the 11th century and settlements in the area since 12th century BC! We rode the funicular up and back but, in hindsight, we would have been better to ride the funicular up, have a quick look around the castle and then walk the path down back to town especially given it had evolved into such a beautiful sunny day.
Our plan had been to have a quick lunch at home followed by a rest and then the bike ride but we found all supermarkets were closed on a Sunday. They are quite seriously religious here with their Sunday observance and there were 8 masses scheduled for just the Cathedral! This meant we’d be dining out for lunch and dinner.
Our afternoon cycle around Tivoli Park was not without its hiccups. It seems there are no bike hire shops as such anywhere near the park just bike hubs where your hire with the aid of an app. Three of us couldn’t use the app though due to bank visa restrictions which meant we had to schlepp back in to town to hire bikes at the Tourist Office. This then meant we had to ride out of the city towards the park and return the same way which was a bit hair raising for me and Colleen but we ended managing just fine.
Tivoli Park Is not set up as well as the likes of Centennial Park back in Sydney Australia for cyclist. Much of the route had us out on the streets and there were a few few hilly sections. I do think Some architect like Plecnik needs to come back and carve out some safer family / novice friendly cycle paths. Having said that, we all enjoyed our 90 minutes of cycling and it did feel like quite an achievement to have completed it. I was also mighty pleased that there were no geese in the park but I did almost manage to take out a small dog in the dying metres of our cycling.
Our dinner for the last night was at Baščaršija (Ljubljana Trubarjeva), a Balkan style restaurant, and this was excellent. All of our meals were delicious and I had the best baklava I’ve ever tasted along with a Turkish coffee so needless to say this is another recommendation.
Our final night involved us all bunking in together which was akin to camping but it made the last night in Ljubljana all the more memorable.
We loved our time in Ljubljana and would highly recommend that people visit. The city is compact, flat and easily walkable with enough history and architecture to keep you busy for a few days. It is also one of the most beautiful cities with the most charming old town located on both sides of a very picturesque river that is crossed by numerous beautiful bridges and with a hilltop castle thrown in for good measure. Our accommodation was excellent, given that it was very comfortable, clean, modern and centrally located for easy sightseeing.