Why I love Ljubljana, SLOVEnia
I nearly skipped Ljubljana. I have been avoiding capital cities and Ljubljana really wasn’t on my radar. This is one of those examples where a bit of flex in your itinerary is a very good thing! After a last minute decision to do a hike in the Julian Alps (more on that later), I added Ljubljana to my plans because that was the pick up point. I figured I’d just lay low there for a few days, get some study done. I didn’t have high expectations. I was quite, quite wrong about that. What a gorgeous surprise this wonderful city was!
Ljubljana is a pro-tourist city. You can feel it immediately. But it’s pro-tourist on their terms, it is not a city that has been given over to tourists. So, whilst there is certainly evidence of a concentrated effort to attract tourists, it’s done in a way that doesn’t alienate the locals. And I also believe in a sustainable way that consciously seeks to ensure people become return visitors, whilst maintaining the essence of the city. The result is a truly charming European city experience. This is not fair to Berlin and Rome and Paris because they are different things…but Ljubljana might just have made its way into my top 3 favourite European cities. And this despite the fact it rained for the whole time I was there!
Reasons to love Ljubljana
It’s so pretty
Largely Baroque in style, Ljubljana is such an attractive city. It’s full of pastel coloured buildings and the Ljubljanica river winds its way through the centre, lined by restaurants, houses and trees. It has wide, cobble-stoned streets and narrow little alleys and street art and sculptures. You feel like you’re walking through an artist’s impression of what a quintessential European city should look like. And it’s spotlessly clean. Slovenian’s take their environmental responsibilities seriously and this extends to littering. It doesn’t happen. In fact, Ljubljana won the European Green Capital Award in 2016!
Lots of green space
Tivoli Park and the larger green space of Mali Rožnik hill and reserve behind it are called the lungs of the city by the locals. Tivoli Park is a beautifully set out oasis of mature oaks and birch trees, with the Narodna outdoor gallery running along its central path, showing rotating exhibitions. It’s currently showing black and white photography of Slovenia’s most prominent architect Josef Pličic’s works. He was responsible for many of the city’s landmark structures such as the Triple Bridge and the Central Market.
Small and local focus
There is one small section of the main part of Ljubljana given over to Zara, H&M, McDonalds and Mango. Otherwise, there is barely a large scale commercial shop to be seen unless you venture out to the large shopping malls in the suburbs. There are gorgeous little gifts shops selling things from local artists and producers and clothes stores are limited to boutique style offerings. It seems like the philosophy of Slow Travel (like Slow Food’s response to fast food and the demise of quality food producers and consumers, Slow Travel is a rejection of the mass tourism, package, automaton style of travel) is the basis for most things tourists will interact with in Ljubljana, from food to gift buying to tours to transport.
No cars
Pretty much the entire centre of Ljubljana is given over to pedestrians. There is a little electric van that will take you anywhere you want to go within the pedestrian zone, but I didn’t see many people using it even in the rain. People walk or bike everywhere. The free city bike scheme is fantastic. There are lots of stations around the city and bike paths abound. You can register online (using the wifi that is throughout the city – free for 60 mins every day) in about 3 minutes, pay a €1 fee for 7 days access and then an hour of use is free. You re-park the bike at a station, wait 5 minutes and go again! Great way to get around with no cars and lots of bike paths outside of the city centre.
The food and wine
My fan-girling of Sarah Wilson continues! Her blogs on food, wine and hiking in Slovenia were my bible for Ljubljana. So with that credit acknowledged, here are some of the fantastic food and wine experiences I had in Ljubljana:
- Ŝkof restaurant – tucked away in a little street just on the edge of the main part of town, Ŝkof was my introductory meal in Slovenia and set a very high bar indeed. The menu was one of those ones where you want to try everything. I settled on a cauliflower soup with flax seeds, followed by trout with almonds. A welcome appetiser of fresh, house-made bread and cottage cheese came with my glass of Sanctum rose. There was no wine list, the sole waitress just asked if you’d like white, red or rose and then narrowed it down to sweet or dry. It’s a very stress-free way to order wine! It was delicious so I asked to see the label and took a photo. The cauli soup was perfect for a rainy day and the expertly cooked local trout had crispy skin with white flesh, much less oily than the trout I’m used to. Simple boiled potatoes with spinach and parsley and an almond butter sauce came with it. Gorgeous, friendly, efficient service and a meal to remember.
- Wine Tasting at D’virno bar – held in a 300 year old wine cellar and hosted by Boris, the most enthusiastic wine buff ever, this was such a fun two hours. We tried seven wines, all indigenous to Slovenia and from the three different wine regions in the small country. My favourites were the Modra Frankinja, like a pinot and the Cviček, which is a blend of red and white wine that looks like a rose but isn’t! There were little games throughout and so much information about the wines, their stories and Slovenia. The time flew by, an absolute bargain at €35.
- Biro – I had a quick dinner here, but the menu looks great for lunch. Delicious salad options and an interesting wine list. Some of which I could actually decipher thanks to the wine tasting course!
- Dobra Vaga – look for the entrance in the old fish market building that runs along the river and go down a level to find this commercial gallery that hosts ever changing exhibitions of young local artists. It’s a great setting, with some of the art displayed in the old ice troughs the fish would be stored in. The windows are at river level and a beautiful spot to sit and escape the rain or I imagine catch a breeze on a summer day. The café serves soup, sandwiches, cakes and has a great wine list. I went once for soup, coffee and got some study done and once with a couple of friends from my hiking trip for a glass of wine. Really friendly staff who actually remembered me several days later – not bad!
- Draga Violina – it’s with a little reticence I recommend this place. It’s in a great location, good menu with lots of Slovenian dishes and reasonable prices and the food is delicious. It employs a number of people with disabilities and so clearly has an important social role. But the night I went for dinner with some friends, the service was horrible. Watching your waitresses eat their own meals behind the counter whilst you’ve been waiting an hour for yours is a bit hard to take. They had two big groups in the back so I imagine this was the issue but it was not a good experience. Proceed with caution.
The castle
There is a funicular or a number of different walks to get up to the castle. I went on a rainy day and arrived as one of the guided tours was to start so I joined in. It was great! The castle has a really interesting history having served many purposes over the years and has been occupied by a number of different ruling forces. The tour stops at various points in the castle and in addition to your guide, has a number of actors in costume talk to you in character. From St George who the chapel is named after, to an inmate of the prison. It’s another example of a unique tourist offering and is entertaining, in a wildly kitsch way…though you do get the feeling they don’t take themselves too seriously!
I’m sure there are lots of other wonderful things to do in this city. But I spent most of my time just wandering and escaping the rain. For me, the joy of Ljubljana was less about things to do and more about the way it made me feel. Just go and you will see what I mean!
