Ljubljana, the lovely, romanticised capital of Slovenia, should be on the bucket list of all the travellers who love culture, art, literature, and history. The city is situated along a trade route between the northern Adriatic Sea and the Danube region. The city is not just known for its rich history and tradition but also for the unfulfilled romantic tale of France Prešeren, a renowned poet who fell in love with a young teenager, Julija Primic.
The city is active during the June – July month with numerous
programmes, food and music festivals, however, I would recommend travelling
during May, September, October and December to enjoy the real scenic view of the
place.
After reading a bit about the history
and weather in the month of October before our short trip made me pack my
luggage with lots of sweaters, sneakers, and a map.
As mentioned in my previous trip,
pack your bags as compact as possible for an easy exit from the airport to
avoid a long wait at the baggage carousel. Although Slovenia is known to be the
most expensive place in Europe, the beautiful classical Baroque
and Habsburg-inspired buildings, and the mesmerizing view of the bridges by the lake in the evening, along with
the elegant architecture of the city constructed by Jože Plečnik, will
make you feel all worth it.
As soon as we stepped out of the
airport, we decided to catch the local bus to our hotel, but we found a shuttle
bus service counter near the exit. They charged us just 12 euros per person to drop
us off at our Occidental hotel. Unlike our usual trips, we avoided pre booked
trip guides and decided to explore the city by foot with the help of a map
shared by our hotel manager. We also learned that the Slovenian government has
allotted free tour guides who will take you to the key locations, give you a good
brief of their history and recommend the list of best restaurants that are a must try.
As we reached the city quite late
and it was raining heavily, we decided to conclude the day and started early
the next morning.
Walked through the roads of
Ljubljana to learn the history and the elegant architecture -
The next day, we woke up around
6:30 AM and got ready for a good heavy breakfast at the hotel for the busy day
ahead. While checking out the large spread of food options, we met 2 boys from Kerala,
who are studying hotel management in Ljubljana. Me and my husband have always
believed ourselves to be a true Keralite despite being born and brought up
outside Kerala. Although we love introducing ourselves to other Malayalee
populations and make new acquaintances, we have always restrained
ourselves from
asking the typical line, “Naatil Evide?” Where do you stay in Kerala? Which we
thought was a cliché.
My husband, who enjoys talking to new people, approached them to order 2 omelettes for us and came back with a big smile on his face. I asked why he was smiling, and he replied, "You can take a Malayali out of Kerala but you can never take Malayalam out of a Keralite.”
Coming back to our tour. Based on the
instructions by the hotel manager, we reported to the Prešeren Square in front
of the pink church sharp at 11 AM, where the free tour began. The lovely lady
Anja was standing by the stairs with a yellow umbrella (identification). We introduced
ourselves, and she introduced herself as a Slovenian by birth. Soon after she
listed the names of people who were accompanying us for the tour, we began the
journey by giving us a brief about the history of Slovenia from the Roman Empire
rule till they received independence in the year 1991.
If you are planning to explore the real ethnic Slovenian food, buildings, and monuments, I recommend approaching a local tour guide who will take you to the best places in town.
While talking about the history, Anja pronounced as Anya spoke about the renowned poet France Prešeren who has inspired Slovenian literature, had an unhappy love story. He fell in love with a young girl Julija Primic, while he was already married to another woman. I am sure that was a risky move, but it was a love at first sight, lured by her youthful beauty. To commemorate their love tale, the statue of France Prešeren was placed, which stands in the eastern side of Prešeren Square looking towards the sculpture of Julija, where she used to live.
Then the guide further took us to Urbanc House standing across the sculpture of France Prešeren. It is known to be the oldest department store in Ljubljana which was built in the beginning of the 20th century and constructed in an Art Nouveau style architecture.
Enjoying our guides detailed explanation of the history of Slovenia, people continued following her towards the market hall, where the restaurant owners set up an open-air breakfast table. We also saw citizens selling good quality honey and accessories to the tourists, packaging them as a souvenir to remember the city.
As the tour was progressing, the
dark clouds covered the sky and started drizzling in no time. Me and my husband
thought the tour might come to a halt temporarily, but Anja continued her tour,
explaining further about sculptures at every junction and corner of the bridges,
representing a story. Everyone at the tour did check the weather dot com before
joining the tour, so all were well prepared with an umbrella in hand.
Continuing with the trip, we all
walked towards the Butcher’s bridge, where we saw many locks clinging on to the
railings. These locks represent/symbolize their love for their partners. People
were absolutely astonished by the number of locks hanging the railings.
We further walked, crossing the
large market selling flowers, sweaters, shoes, vegetables, and more. Gazing
through the market, smelling fresh flowers, we halted in front of a huge brass door carved
After passing through a few wet streets, labelled with famous wine shops, children’s books ,and clothes, we stopped at another huge building called the Town hall of Ljubljana also referred to as the Magistrate house. It is the home of the municipal government, constructed in the late 15th century. We all had a few clicks outside the building and the sculptural fountain by Francesco Robba right outside the town hall.
We headed to our next stop, a
well-known wine shop. The tour guide convinced the owner for a small cup of
wine tasting for people who were par
t of the tour. They served us 2 flavors;
one was made from fig and the second one from cranberries.
I must say the cranberry wine was
absolutely delicious. Like a child, I convinced my husband to buy the wine instantly,
however, he pacified me by ensuring to buy it after our tour was over. We
further crossed a few stores and reached another bridge called Shoemakers
Bridge. Earlier many craftsmen lived and worked on the bridge for the customers
to avoid paying the entrance fee. This bridge was made back in the 13th
century. It is decorated with Corinthian pillars and listed as the World
Heritage site in 2021 by UNESCO.
Architectural beauty -
As we took a right turn and saw a wide road with beautiful Roman style constructed buildings, we knew we were walking towards a classical history of Slovenia. Anya took us to an odd and unique building that had a bigger story behind it. The building was the most famous National and University library in Slovenia and stand still since 1791. However the new architecture was designed by the acclaimed architect Jože Plečnik in the 1930s and has been on the UNESCO list of world heritage since 2021. The building was almost destroyed during the second world war, but the natives reconstructed the building and made the copies of the books destroyed during the fire. For more details on the library click - Link
As we were getting closer to the end of our tour for the day, we took a few pictures of some of the very beautifully decked up restaurants and decided to try out the best ice-cream in the whole of Europe called Romatika ice cream parlor, claimed by the owner and the trip adviser. We ordered a delicious cup of mango ice-cream and enjoyed the view of the beautiful streets of Ljubljana.
While doing such tours, I would recommend carrying a water
bottle, some snacks, a camera, and an umbrella in case it rains.
We concluded our day and planned to get on a trip to castle trip covering the rest of the city.
Watched the mesmerizing beauty of the city from the top of the castle
We woke up fairly late, around 8
AM after a long walk-through Ljubljana city the previous day. Post our heavy breakfast
meal we explored a few shops, restaurants and buildings that we saw during our
tour.
We decided to begin with the pink church.
The church opens its doors to the tourists by 11 AM. It was absolutely pin drop
silent; and dark but well illuminated around the statues of Mother Mary and
Jesus Christ.
After taking a few pictures of
the church, we crossed the bridge to find something that would help us beat the
cold weather. While strolling down the street, we found a toy train that took
us to the famous castle, which has been standing tall for the last 900 years.
Although we had only 15 minutes to explore the castle, we also covered the rest
of the city, including the famous river Ljubljanica. The river passes
through the south of the town of Vrhnika and flows into the Sava River about
10 kilometres (6.2 mi) downstream from Ljubljana.
After finishing our tour, we bought a few things from the market hall to remember the beautiful place and headed back to our hotel to pack our bags.
If you are traveling back to the
airport or any part of the city on a weekend, please preplan as the cabs and buses
are not easily available. We prebooked our cab to the airport next morning and
headed back to our home.
If you want to explore a larger
part/area of Europe and not just Ljubljana, I recommend staying a week longer.
You will be able to cover Austria, Italy and
Croatia which are only a few hours away from Ljubljana.
There are a few direct and connected flights to Ljubljana which includes Flydubai, Emirates, Air France, Turkish Airlines and more.
We are certainly planning to come
back to this place, exploring more parts of Europe, capturing more beautiful images
for you.
Stay tuned for more updates and
suggestions for your next trip to your dream destination.
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