I take a FlixBus from Zagreb, Croatia to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Now that I am in the eurozone border crossings are no sweat. During the couple hour bus ride it rains. It also rains my entire 20 minute walk to the apartment I have rented for my first visit to Ljubljana.
Slovenia is a country in the Balkans north of Croatia and south of Austria. While it was part of the former Yugoslavia, it was the first to claim its independence when the former communist nation dissolved. It was also able to leave Yugoslavia relatively easy unlike its neighbor Croatia. It has a very different feel to it then other former Yugoslavia nations since it was always popular for tourism due to its mountains and other resources.
It takes me a little while to find my apartment because while the instructions are detailed I still have a hard time locating it. I am not too far from the elevator that takes you up to Ljubljana castle.
I had planned to use this first day to catch up on some things like travel planning but arrived in town very hungry. I check into my room and go out for an early dinner at a restaurant across the street.
The rain stops and reveals a charming city. I decide the weather is so nice I need to walk around. I window shop and notice all the cafés along river that cuts through town.
There is a good amount of interesting artwork scattered across the historic city.
Day 2
I wake up early get some coffee and something to eat. I head to a strukli cafe – My Dumplings of Slovenia. They aren’t fully open yet but they do sell me coffee and cold strukli to heat up at my apartment. I purchase two cold strukli thinking I have a microwave back at my apartment but apparently I do not. Because the other methods of heating are too complicated I eat a small amount of cold strukli (not the best) and save the rest for later when I have the patience to heat them up.
Today I am visiting the Ljubljana castle. I had bought tickets in advance and I plan to take the funicular to the top in lieu of the stairs or path.
The medieval castle itself isn’t too impressive in size. It was used for prisoners during various battles. I enjoy the video of the history of the castle. There is a Michelin restaurant on location that I have reservations for in over a week.
I also really enjoy the puppet museum. In the museum is a collection of weird puppets.
There is also a history museum of sorts but it isn’t too impressive because most of the items are just facsimiles of items in other museums. There is a good section on the history of the city in Slovenia during wars.
I walk down the long path to town and visit the central market.
For lunch I decide to try some Slovenia kranjska klobasa at Figovec. I get a very large smoked sausage served with dipping sauces. I order a side of veggies and there is bread accompanied by a butter mixed with some green herb that I can’t stop eating.
After my heavy meal I take a walk around the Tivoli park.
I stop for ice cream at Vigo.
This afternoon I have a Slovenian wine tasting scheduled. Looking forward to trying some local wines. In the tasting group are people from Spain, Mexico, and the UK. Our very enthusiastic host tells us all about the wines he is serving and the regions they come from. Slovenian wines aren’t made in large quantities so it doesn’t make sense to widely export them; although if you are part of the EU it is slightly easier to purchase them. I guess I need to just enjoy them while I am in the country.
There are two “surprise” wines of the tasting (although one I already know of due to advance city research). Slovenian orange wine is made by leaving the white grape skins in to ferment with the juice, like a red wine is made. Cviček is a rose like wine that is made from a mix of white and red wine. It is lower in alcohol and popular on warm days. Kind of like champagne it can only be named so if it comes from this one particular region in Slovenia. I enjoyed most of the wines I tasted but I probably wouldn’t order the Cvicek again. I do arrange to purchase a bottle of orange wine to take with me on my travels the next few days.
More sightseeing tomorrow
Growing With Leala 