PJ’s 4 day weekend fell on April 5-8 so we decided to travel to
Slovenia to see Ljubljana and Bled. It is typically around 25 degrees Celsius
in April but it was only about 9 degrees that particular weekend. It only takes about 3 hours to get to Ljubljana from Venezia, and we were able to find a direct bus route by using a Slovenian bus company called D.R.D.
We were looking at a few hotels and hostels and decided to stay at Hostel Celica. This hostel is interesting because it
was part of a former Yugoslavian military prison, hospital, and barracks complex, and now visitors can sleep in the renovated cells. We didn't get the most unique cell in the
building, but it was interesting to say the least. I probably wouldn't stay there
again, but I do think it is worth a stay at least once.
On Friday we arrived around 3 pm, grabbed a bite to eat, then headed out to check out downtown. After a few hours of walking it
was getting close to dinnertime so we found a great restaurant right along the
Ljubljanica River called Zlata Ribica. We also spotted a bar tucked away into the retaining wall along
the river. An added bonus was that it served hot white wine, which I don't think is as good as the hot red wine, but not too bad.
The next morning we went on a free 2 hour tour of Ljubljana, which was well worth it! Our guide was extremely informative about Ljubljana and the country as a whole, which is comprised
of only about 2 million people in total. The city recognizes a poet by the name
of France Prešeren as being one of the greatest influential people in their
country. There is a large statue of Prešeren in the main square which, when erected, was quite controversial due to the topless woman sitting on top. Most of the issue came from it being located right across from the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation. One night the church tried to tie a scarf around the statue to cover the woman up, but that didn't last long. In the end, trees were planted to block the view from the church, which only really solves the problem in the summer.
There are a mixture of many architectural styles in Ljubljana, but the most prominent seemed to be the Baroque and Art Deco. The Slovenian
architect Jože Plečnik designed many buildings and bridges in Ljubljana, as well as in the surrounding countries. His last project was the Žale cemetery complex in Ljubljana, which was the last stop on our tour. Other notable architects are Vladimir Šubic, Ivan Vurnik, Boris Podrecca, Jurij Sadar, Boštjan Vuga, and Edvard Ravnikar
 |
| Statue of Preseren |
 |
| Franciscan Church of the Annunciation |
 |
| Art Deco building in Preseren Square |
 |
| Town Hall |
 |
| Zale Cemetery |
There are 17 bridges that connect the downtown. Some of the more prominent ones are Dragon
Bridge, Triple Bridge, and Butchers Bridge, to name a few. Butchers bridge is a
lot like the lovers bridge in Paris in the sense that people lock their love and throw the key into the river, which is ironic because of the not so loving name. The bridge was originally built to house butchers stalls but the design was never fully
recognized.
 |
| Statue on Dragon Bridge |
 |
| On Butchers Bridge |
 |
| Butchers Bridge |
A stop on our tour was to Saint Nicholas' Cathedral. The Baroque Cathedral has a very famous entry door called the Slovene Door, which is made of bronze and depicts Slovene history. An image of Pope John Paul II is placed at the top looking down at the rest of the door. The artist, Tone Demsar, placed an image of himself hidden on the door, and it is said to be good luck if you rub his nose.
Contrary to what I thought, these shoes do not represent any type of gang. Instead, it is a local college tradition that right before graduation,
they take their shoes and throw them up there.
During our tour we were also able to walk through their Saturday morning
market. One of the vendors was nice enough to let us all try her chopped radishes
and chopped sauerkraut. All the vendors were local farmers from Slovenia, and their produce and products looked so delicious and fresh!
The library downtown was designed by Plečnik. The concept was
to recreate the academic enlightenment journey. Upon entry, the visitor is
greeted with a dark narrow staircase [representing the unknown before learning],
which leads to a large glass reading room with windows from floor to ceiling
[to represent a persons enlightenment]. The facade was interesting as well.
 |
| National and University Library of Slovenia |
On Sunday PJ and I were suppose to be taking a tour of Kras and the Škocjan Caves. The tour was unfortunately canceled because there were not enough participants, so we got up early and hopped on a train to Bled,
Slovenia. Bled is home to Bled Castle and Bled Island, with The Church of the
Assumption located on it. Lake Bled has been home to the World Rowing Championships 4 times, the last one being in 2011. There were many teams training for all over while we were there .
Bled is located about an hour northeast of Ljubljana and the lake is only about a 3-minute walk from the
train station. A walking path surrounds the lake as well as several stopping
points, beaches, cafes, restaurants, and boat docks. There also seems to be many hiking trails in the area.
Once we arrived our first task was to find a gondola that would take us to the island to see the church.
The island is small and they are currently restoring the tower so we were
unable to climb to the top. It should be completed by May so maybe a summer
visit will be in the works. We only needed about 30 minutes to walk around and
then we headed back to the mainland.
From there we headed to the castle. The trail we took was extremely steep and had what seemed like
100 steps, but the views were beautiful. We explored what we could of the
castle and checked out the museum. The last stop there was the castle
restaurant and sat right next to a large floor to ceiling windows looking out
over the lake. By the time we were finished with our late lunch is was getting
close to our train departure time, so we headed back to get a cappuccino and
catch the train.
 |
| View from the rowing docks |
We plan to drive back to Slovenia during the summer for a
day trip visit Kras
and to see the Škocjan
Caves. They are supposed to be
beautiful!
No comments:
Post a Comment