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| Church of St. Francis from the Triple Bridge |
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| Food Market |
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| Fun little sculptures near the Colonnade |
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| Horse Sculpture Fountain in front of the Grand Hotel |
The Dragon Bridge - There is a legend that Jason was the founder of Ljubljana, and he and his Argonauts killed a dragon. This is one of the four dragon statues in the bridge. According to local legends, when a virgin crosses the bridge, the dragons will wag their tails. Some local people have nicknamed this structure "mother-in-law" because of its fiery nature.
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| Interesting door near the flower market |
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| Flower vendor |
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| Milk Vending Machine |
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| Great angel reliefs above a doorway in the town center. I loved that each of the reliefs has the angels doing work (farming on the left, Art center, construction on the right) |
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| Colonnade Shops |
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| Clever Trash Bins |
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| Bridge with an array of old sneakers strewn on a wire above |
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| More dragon statues - The dragon is a symbol for the city and seen on everything from t-shirts to key chains to sculptures all around the city |
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| Strange Hollywood art installment |
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| Stone carving near a door way (1 or 4) |
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| Stone carving near a door way (1 or 4) |
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| Stone carving near a door way (1 or 4) |
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| Stone carving near a door way (1 or 4) |
Dragon Bridge with a bird seemingly flying out of his mouth and one flying near his wing.
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| Tour Train |
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| Dragon Bridge |
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| Pretty Building near a small central park |
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| Courtyard at the Ljubljana Festival Building |
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| Courtyard near church at the Ljubljana Festival Building complex |
Woke up to gorgeous sunshine and spring like temperatures in this small but charming city. I basically strolled for hours and hours enjoying the weather and gazing at all the pretty buildings and bridges, parks and the river.
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| Small farms behind residential homes just across the street from the main town area. |
At breakfast which my hotel does very nicely with hot and cold options, a mother and daughter from Belfast, Northern Ireland were having their meal across from me. The mother was very friendly as all people from Ireland usually are and we chatted about their 3 day visit and her daughter works in a museum in London so she visited there first and then they came here and leave tomorrow. I had gone down to the lobby after breakfast and the mother had headed up to their room and while I was down stairs talking to the front desk the mother came off the elevator and gave me a book she had just finished reading that she brought from home and thought maybe I would enjoy it since she didn't want to have to take it all the way back to N. Ireland. Very sweet of her and it looks like a good book so I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
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Picture of Ancient Roman Wall above and below - "One of the scant survivors of the Roman town of Emona which once stood on the present site of Ljubljana, the Roman Wall complex runs for two blocks along Mirje street at what was the southern side of the fortification. Built between 14 and 15 AD, the wall measures 2.4 metres wide and from 6 to 8 metres high. Renovated during the 1930s, famed architect Joze Plecnik took the liberty of inexplicably adding a bizarre stone pyramid atop one section of the wall. Another renovation of the Roman Wall took place in the 1990s. This is the main vestige of the remaining traces of Emona, which fell into decline around 600 AD. (The pyramid now, as you can see is used as a resting place for some of the many college students in the area.)"
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| Ancient Roman Wall entrance with stone pillars |
I stared off at Church of St. Francis's which is pretty much in the center of town and just as I arrived Mass was beginning so I stayed and the church was packed which surprised me since it was 10am on Friday. There were also several long lines on both sides of the church with people waiting to go to confession which makes sense since Palm Sunday is just two days away. It's clearly a very spiritual country and the large wooden confessional booths have automated indication systems so when the red light at the top is on someone is in the booth and when the green light is on you are welcome to go in.
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| Ancient Roman Wall cave remnants with college student napping on top of it while another climbs up to join him. |
Also, it was interesting to see so many nuns, and some very young. The priests where dressed in Franciscan brown robes and the church itself if fairly large with warmth in the color palate and large frescoes all along the ceiling.
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| Sculpture in the courtyard of the Ljubljana Festival |
I then walked along the old town crossing the Triple Bridge which is one wider bridge with two smaller pedestrian bridges on either side. "The Triple Bridge is probably the most unusual and the most frequently crossed bridge in Ljubljana. It connects the main square and a newer part of town with the Old Town and the Market, what makes it an area with the highest fluctuation of people. It got its final image when Joze Plecnik in 1931 added the side pedestrian bridges tothe existing main one. Offering you a view of the river Ljubljanica, Old Town, main square and the Market, Triple Bridge is a perfect place to stop and feel the city."
After some walking along the main street and tiny side streets I took the 12 noon tourists train that goes through the city and up to the Castle on the hill. It was very nice and then I walked down the hill along the pretty park and back into town where I stopped at a second hand store. I always love to see what people give away.
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| One of hundreds of small ferns growing out of the Roman Wall |
The colonnade is right along the river and has some outdoor vendors selling everything from jewelry to food and across from there in a plaza area is a large outdoor market selling food, clothes and other wares. It was nice to just walk around seeing all the locals buying their weekend groceries. And the flower market right next to it, along a side street is so beautiful and being that it's Palm Sunday this weekend they were selling small hand crafted flowers out of what I think is very thin slivers of wood. Apparently they bring them to church on Palm Sunday and hold them up and have them blessed. They're very inexpensive especially for the tiny ones that weigh practically nothing so I got a couple to have blessed on Sunday and bring home.
Also in this market square they have something that impressed me or at least fascinated me and that was a fresh milk vending machine from a local far. Anytime, day or night you can bring your plastic jug up to 3 liters. I didn't have a cup with me or I would have indulged in some raw milk as it read on the sign next to it. They also sell cheese and yogurt in the vending machine a few feet away from this one. Here is exactly what sign reads: "Milk - Non-Stop - Daily un-skimmed fresh raw cow milk. You are standing at the Milk vending machine, where you can pour yourself a fresh raw cow milk from the dairy farm MIS situated at Zavrh under the Smarna gora. The cows at our farm graze in pastures and they produce milk of superior quality suitable for drinking and preparation of dairy drinks and dishes. At the price of 10 cents you get a one deciliter of mil and a whole litre for 1 Euro. Into plastic container you can fill also less, milk, depending on the amount of money you have previously inserted. Plastic milk containers can be bought from the vending machine as well. You can fill also your own perfectly clean containers (jugs or cans,) up to 3 liters. Place the (plastic) container into the vending machine, insert the coins and press the draw-off button." I just love this idea!
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| Tivoli Park with gorgeous purple flowers peeking out from the earth |
And it's not the only clever Ljubljana device. I noticed a women going over to these square metal bins with lids on them (they're all throughout the city) and she uses an electronic card and places it to the right of the lid and then the lid magically opens and she placed her garbage in it. First a regular trash bag but then in the bin next to it recycling glass and then recycling paper. There were several young men at the stations near the town center with large trash baskets from the restaurant behind the bins getting ride of the recyclables the same way. I love this, everything is so clean and the trash is all neat and organized and bet this way cuts down on rats and such. I know it's probably impossible to install such contraptions in NYC but it's really very clever and hygienic And I noticed all around the city that cleanliness is clearly a priority, you could practically eat off the sidewalks. I always do prefer a very clean city.j
After another long walk and a stop for a snack I came to the Ljubljana Festival buildings which it seems used to be a seminary and now is a collection of arts/theatre buildings with an outdoor cafe and courtyard and a fabulous outdoor theatre space which was closed today.
For such a small city they are bursting with arts venues and specifically museums and theatres. I am so impressed with the sheer quantity of theatre's showing classical works from Shakespeare and Checkov this month to new and traditional Slovenian theatre pieces. As long as you didn't mind the general quiet of the city you would never get board from lack of cultural events. In fact they have a huge Da Vinci exhibit going on in the city now.
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| Dancing sculpture in Tivoli Park |
I continued walking, stopped again for a snack in a small Italian cafe so I could also use the bathroom and the waitress and baker were the only ones there. The waitress was telling me she just moved back to live with her parents after having spend time working in Italy and that she just turned 30, has two college degrees and speaks 10 languages and can't get any job beyond a waitress because there just aren't any for young people right now. Scary when a girl who speaks 10 languages and is highly educated is serving coffee but that's the economic state of things all over the world and clearly here. The baker who is from Kosovo gave me a chocolate muffin complimentary. I'm not sure why but she just brought it over and they both smiled at me. People are so nice here and for the most part speak English exceptionally well.
I then headed over to the Tivoli park which is pretty large and has some small but beautiful hills running along the side and today there were mommy's with babies galore, dogs with their parents out and about and joggers getting their fix and lots of couples enjoying some romantic time in the sun.
One last visit to a church before heading back to my hotel, the Greek Orthodox, Pravoslavna church. Beautiful exterior but stunning interior with all walls covered in traditional Greek Orthodox murals in gold, blue, purples and reds.
The city is well worth a visit especially if you're in Austria, Norther Italy, Hungry or Croatia because getting here for two days from any of these places is a breeze and it's beautiful, historic and has a huge cultural life so that alone should put it on most people's lists of a great place to stay.
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| Greek Orthodox, Pravoslavna Church |
"Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia and its only centre of international importance. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. With approximately 280,000 inhabitants, it classifies as the only Slovenian large town. Throughout its history, it has been influenced by its geographic position at the crossroads of the Slavic world with the Germanic and Latin cultures. For centuries, Ljubljana was the capital of the historical region of Carniola. Now it is the cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative centre of Slovenia, independent since 1991. Its transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and cultural tradition are contributing factors to its leading position."
