Ljubljana
Ljubljana is suffering an epidemic. It does not discriminate by age but seems only to affect females, and only local females at that. I counted 22 women who showed the symptom (as far as I can tell there is only one) in the ten minutes it took me to walk from my hostel to the river.
The affliction to which I refer is dyed red hair. I’d first noticed a few suffers up in Bled but it was only in the city that the full scale of the outbreak became clear. The primary shade of red is a dark one that I’m not at all averse to, though I also noticed a few rather more orange shades as well.
I questioned my private guide on the boat tour I took (private only because I was the only customer) about this. He looked at me like I was some sort of crazy person and mumbled something about red hair not being native to these parts and perhaps these women were from Ireland. I got the impression that he probably doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in the company of women, other than his mother, so he may not have been the best person to ask.
Along the river
Red hair epidemic notwithstanding, Ljubljana is a rather happening little city that I quickly warmed to. There is a very lively bar/restaurant scene along both sides of the river and there was a free concert under way in the main square, next to the Triple Bridge. This is a rather odd construction which came about in the early 20th Century as the original bridge (the central span) was too small to handle the growing volume of (pedestrian) traffic. To forestall its demolition (it was quite old by this point), a local architect came up with this rather original design to add two additional spans.
Triple Bridge
The main square, next to the Triple Bridge, is something of a homage to Slovenia’s national poet, France Prešeren, with a series of easels suspended from wires, which make for some good photos, such as this one.
Airborne easel
The city’s symbol is a green dragon, based on a legend that Jason (of Argonaut fame) came to these parts a while ago and fought with a dragon. Green Dragons are therefore everywhere (perhaps the red hair thing is a reaction to it?) including the city’s coat of arms and, most impressively, guarding the ‘Dragon Bridge’.
Dragon Bridge
Next to the Dragon Bridge, sitting below the castle, is the main market, a fairly modest affair consisting of a mix of pretty awful clothes and really excellent fruit, veg and flowers. I supplemented my unsatisfying hostel breakfast (two pieces of toast) with a large, juicy nectarine – one of the best I’ve ever had.
The market
The castle is certainly more substantial than its counterpart up in Bled but much less romantic in setting. It was also half closed when I went so didn’t get much out of it other than the views out over the city.
Ljubljana castle
The Town Hall is a nice enough building that I wouldn’t normally have given a second thought to but it was on the list of places I was supposed to see so I wandered in.
I’m glad I did as they have a fantastic sculpture garden set in an atrium off the main hall with some really cool sculptures, including this one (though I confess that I only worked out what it was once I looked at the photo on my laptop later on – until then I thought it was a furry creature of some sort, like Dougal from the Magic Roundabout).
Sculpture garden
The old town is charming. It’s well preserved without being overdone – there’s still plenty of authentic peeling paint around – and is almost completely unblighted by chain stores and has some really interesting hand made toy shops and the like.
Old town
As I was wandering around, I enountered a very friendly (and really pretty) local lass (I’m guessing late 20s) with a very cute puppy bouncing along at the end of a lead. We exchanged smiles, my heart jumped and my warm feelings for this little country grew that much warmer.
This wasn’t the only ‘moment’ I’ve had on this trip either. Bled is a very romantic place, remember…
Speaking of which, the general female attractiveness ratio here (at least in the bits I’ve been to) is pleasingly high. They’re also a genuinely pleasant lot. Nearly all the locals (including the guys) I’ve met have been friendly and welcoming in a disarmingly relaxed way which I find very endearing. Like most small European countries that don’t dub their television, most of them also speak excellent English, along with Italian, German and probably French. It’s almost embarrassing to be an essentially monolingual English speaker in places like this (though I did manage a few minutes of passable German conversation with the Viennese lady I sat next to on the plane to Singapore, so perhaps I should give myself a little more credit).
Slovenia has many similarities with its northern neighbour, Austria, a country in which I’ve spent quite a bit of time, though I find this place much less uptight and decidely less pristine. It’s not a dirty place – far from it – it’s just a bit frayed around the edges (especially outside the tourist areas), and the ‘socialist legacy’ – crumbling apartment blocks mainly – is certainly evident out in the suburbs. I kind of like the extra character this adds to the place though.
Combine all of these attributes with some very special geography and the fact that it is surprisingly cheap (especially for the Eurozone) and I’m finding this a very easy country to like.
Oh, and the conference went really well too.