Ljubljana

We had a late start to our morning as we didn't want to leave Zagreb in rush hour. We were away by 10. It was my turn to drive the car and Andrew's turn to navigate. It was a cool but sunny day. Our first destination was Samobor about 45 minutes outside of Zagreb just before the Slovenian border. It was a small pretty town which Rick Steves recommended as a pleasant place to stop. The town was very pretty with a large yellow church overlooking the square. The time is known for it's Kremsnita cream cake. We walked around town a little and checked out the memorial to soldiers lost in their civil war against Serbia. There were quite a few names. Perhaps 20 which is quite a lot for a small town. We stopped and ate a cream cake in the square. I couldn't quite figure out how they had made it as there was a thin layer of pastry crust on both the bottom and top of a pudding middle. It was very nice.

We drove onto Ljubljana on a beautiful highway with a speed limit of 130kmh. Interestingly the trucks could only go at 100 kmph . I did about 115 but the danger was that if you went out into the inside lane to pass a truck someone going 150kmph would run into you. No collisions. Before we knew it we were in Ljubljana. As soon as we came into Ljubljana we had a good feel. It seemed more prosperous than Zagreb. No snarled traffic. Lots of bicycle paths.

We were to Ljubljana in a very good time. As such we headed down to Preseren Square named after a 19 century nationalist Slovenian poet France Preseren. They don't name their streets after sports heroes here unlike in Edmonton. We admired the three bridges designed by Joze Pletnik Ljubljana's famous architect. The buildings in downtown Ljubljana are all Art Nouveau which I just love. The statue to Preseren was very controversial when it was first displayed in the 19th century as behind and above the writer is his muse a half clad woman. The monks of the Franciscan pink church across the square were insulted by the naked woman and lobbied to have it removed. As a compromise the city would cover the statue at night.

We walked along the river taking in the beautiful market before ending up at the dragon bridge. Dragons are big in Slovania and Llubjana as supposedly Jason of the Argonauts and Golden Fleece slew a dragon here. The dragon bridge is guarderd by 4 dragons. We took a funicular up to the castle which afforded us great views of the city. We walked through squares with beautiful fountains visited the Ntl library also designed by Plecnik, visited the French revolutionary square with an obelisk also designed by Plecnik. We admired the beautiful copper doors on the Cathedral designed for the visit of John Paul the second. It was coming onto 5:30 and we were just exhausted.

For supper we were to meet one of the followers of my travel blog. Actually I think his father and 2 uncles- the Aycock brothers who I met in the UK while hiking the C2C trail 2 years ago are principally my followers. When Sebastian's father realized that I was going to Ljubljana he connected us with Sebastian who generously agreed to join us for supper. We went out to a traditional Slovenian restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed listening to Sebastian's stories of life as an ex-pat living in Slovenia. Sebastian's hobby is writing a blog about the Ljubljana professional hockey team so it was interesting to hear of all his experiences in the Slovenian hockey world. Who would have thought that Llubjana was an outpost for Canada's favorite sport. We walked around a little with Seb after supper but needed to tap out as by then with all the walking and sightseeing we were just exhausted.

Today is May 1 which is celebrated as a national holiday here in Slovenia. They just don't celebrate May 1 as a holiday but also May 2 and May 3. It is a Slovenia national holiday all weekend and as such all stores businesses and many museums are closed. Restaurants and some bakeries are open. I really hadn't counted on this and was hoping to do a grocery shop today. Andrew seemed pleasantly amused that we will be eating out so much this weekend. I had booked us tickets for a tour of Jozef Plecnik's eccentric collection of houses he had as a compound. Jozef was a bachelor who lived an austere life shunning publicity and visitors. A genius but a very odd genius. He had designed the house and the majority of furniture in his house himself. Supposedly all of the furniture had been designed to be uncomfortable as he wanted to encourage people to not visit him. The tour was very enjoyable and gave us some great insights into Ljubljana's favorite son. We again rented bikes for the day and cycled for around 3 hours initially downtown but then to and around Tivoli park and then to unsuccessfully find the Canadian consulate. Very bike friendly city. Andrew lost the chain from his bike and had difficulty getting it back on the chain because of the chain guard but finally prevailed. His hands were covered in grease.

We chilled out for a while before heading off to a close by Vietnamese restaurant for supper. I need some variety from the meat kabobs that is the traditional Slovenian meal. Pad Thai for supper.Read more