Ljubljana, Slovenia

Busy. That's what I have been. Busy.

We drove from Zadar to Ljubljana on Wednesday. It involved mountains, tunnels, bridges, gale force winds, fog (not together), sunshine, a border crossing within EU (both sides of which passports were inspected and stamped), and an off-the-beaten-track route through Slovenia towards it's capital.

Goodbye Croatia

Hello Slovenia

Slovenia is a rural idyll. Magnificent forests, very neat farmland, lots of green, sheep and cows, very beautiful autumn colours in forests of mixed fir trees and deciduous ones. The bit we saw of Slovenia was of a country remarkably devoid of industrial scars. The approach to Ljubljana was not through a belt of industrial dereliction but through well maintained villages, old houses with new roofs, new windows, fresh gardens, lots of flowers - geraniums in scarlet.

Ljubljana - as cities go is an interesting mix of architectural styles from really old through Habsburg Empire, Kindom of Yugoslavia, the era of Communism,  and modernity: viewed from the castle at the top of the funicular (pets not permitted😾) you can sort of see the city growing outwards as the styles change.

Down at ground level it is a city that moves on bicycles and has dedicated bike lanes everywhere.  Something about this feature makes it feel calm, relaxed, kind, even personal.  It is mainly flat (the hilly bits having been reserved as forested parks - Tivoli being the most well known, and we were staying right on the edge of Tivoli).

Bikes and bike art from the Alternative Arts Centre (getting a separate post)

Ljubljana has dragons, but the people are very friendly and welcoming.

Dragon Bridge

My humans went out for a meal on our first night, walked into a randomly selected restaurant up a back street and found themselves here, the family homestead of  Slovenian famous poet. F couldn't pass up the beef and horseradish menu option (horseradish being a favorite of hers that doesnt feature in Greek cuisine). What she didn't count on was her (perfect) slice of beef being buried in a whole root of freshly grated raw horseradish. Eye-watering stuff but she ate it all with relish and declared it a most excellent meal.

Mr B's meal concluded with a traditional Slovenian cake dessert in layers of cake and pastry, with apple, walnuts, cinnamon, young cheese and mak (which turns out to be poppy seeds).

Ljubljana is definitely worth a visit; in fact it looks like it would be a great place to live and we should have stayed longer than 2 nights but we are on our way home now....driving every day.

I always pick my own place to sleep.