I Love a Funicular!
After a 10 hour sleep, we are both feeling refreshed except it was clear to see the mosquitoes had fun yesterday!
Today is going to be about discovering more of Ljubljana, but only after breakfast. Iain decided to have some eggs, which came with a mini stir-fry and bacon. I was still full from the night before so it was cereal, some fruit and a mini croissant for me.
After a swift breakfast, we walked to Prešeren Square where we were due to join the Number 1 tour on TripAdvisor. It was a city tour of Ljubljana and would take us around some of the important sites, but not the castle as we were planning to do that ourselves.
On arrival, we registered and were given numbers as nearly 100 people turned up and a dog, I guess this is a fair way to figure it out; we got to join Tina along with another 22 other people and a dog. The tour took in all the main points of the city including Plečnik's market, the Cathedral, Robbo fountain, National Library, a number of bridges across the river including the dragon bridge and we finished off at the University Administration building where Melanie Trump studied architecture before heading to Milan to begin her modelling career. As I said, the meeting point was “the pink church” on Prešeren square, it is a baroque church and very beautiful but it shouldn’t be confused with the Cathedral which has the most ornate door documenting Ljubljana through the ages. At the top of the door is Pope John Paul II as he was one of the ones who fought to recognise Slovenia when it became an independent country in 1991. Aside from the pink church, there is also a statue of France Prešeren, who is Slovenia’s most famous poet; he also wrote the national anthem, but it was actually a poem called The Toast, which celebrates Slovenia and its culture. Above Prešeren is a naked woman, and this caused outrage back in the early 1900s when it was first erected as it is facing the door of the Catholic Church. It was obviously expensive to erect so the mayor decided to plant some trees around the church, meaning those leaving would not be able to see her, rather than get a new statue. On the other side of the square facing Prešeren is the love of his life who he never married as she was from a rich family whereas he was a poor farmer. It’s quite strange as she is a plaque on the wall, and he is th most celebrated poet in Slovenia.
We were told a few interesting stories, particularly round Dragon bridge which was linked to Jason and the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece; apparently, he got lost on his way back from retrieving the Golden Fleece, and ended up in Ljubljana where he had to fight the dragon which was protecting the city. After defeating the dragon, Jason created a settlement here, but the dragon has remained the protector of the city and its symbol.
The other story I liked, is about the National library which was also architected by Plečnik. The Library was completed, but it had no books yet as they were still in the old library. The Italian army were on their way to Ljubljana and people were concerned that they would take the library as their military headquarters. Over 2 days and nights, the people of Ljubljana created a line and transferred thousands of books from one library to the other; unfortunately, they weren’t complete when the army arrived, but seeing people so scared and acting quite crazy, they decided to help transfer the books therefore sealing the fate of the library to this day. It’s quite an odd building and has been made to look like a carpet on the outside.
The tour was excellent and Tina was great; she was a trained journalist so was quite precise about everything. It was already 1pm, so we thought it was time for a drink, and maybe a bite to eat. We found a little place called Capriccio where the beer was cold, and Iain was again in his element. Due to Slovenias close proximity to Italy, there are a ridiculous number of Italian restaurants, but it’s cheap and cheerful. We even managed to watch the last 15 minutes of the England game (Women’s World Cup Final) on or phones, but the result didn’t go the way we hoped.
After lunch, we decided to visit Ljubljana Castle which you can either walk up to or get the Ljubljana Castle Funicular; given it was 30 degrees, we decided to take the funicular up, and walk back down. In hindsight, it was definitely a good decision as the castle was roasting; we visited some of the free attractions like the interrogation cells, but didn’t fancy the Puppetry Museum; think Annabelle the horror film! There was a great view over the city so that was worth the trip up, the walk back down was fine albeit gravely, but I never regretted paying 6 euros for one-way on the railway!
We were roasting after walking around the castle and decided another beer was the order of the day. We walked back down towards the river, thinking a seat beside it would be cooler but that was not the case. We managed one beer, which I’m convinced we sweated straight back out, before deciding to move to the other side of the river and the shade.
The bar was called Solist Urban Lounge and had amazing cocktails; my new favourite is a Bergamot Spritz! We stayed for a couple of drinks before heading around the corner to a Slovenian wine tasting.
Unfortunately, we forgot to stop and get water, but we fell into bed pretty quickly anyway.
Today is going to be about discovering more of Ljubljana, but only after breakfast. Iain decided to have some eggs, which came with a mini stir-fry and bacon. I was still full from the night before so it was cereal, some fruit and a mini croissant for me.
After a swift breakfast, we walked to Prešeren Square where we were due to join the Number 1 tour on TripAdvisor. It was a city tour of Ljubljana and would take us around some of the important sites, but not the castle as we were planning to do that ourselves.
On arrival, we registered and were given numbers as nearly 100 people turned up and a dog, I guess this is a fair way to figure it out; we got to join Tina along with another 22 other people and a dog. The tour took in all the main points of the city including Plečnik's market, the Cathedral, Robbo fountain, National Library, a number of bridges across the river including the dragon bridge and we finished off at the University Administration building where Melanie Trump studied architecture before heading to Milan to begin her modelling career. As I said, the meeting point was “the pink church” on Prešeren square, it is a baroque church and very beautiful but it shouldn’t be confused with the Cathedral which has the most ornate door documenting Ljubljana through the ages. At the top of the door is Pope John Paul II as he was one of the ones who fought to recognise Slovenia when it became an independent country in 1991. Aside from the pink church, there is also a statue of France Prešeren, who is Slovenia’s most famous poet; he also wrote the national anthem, but it was actually a poem called The Toast, which celebrates Slovenia and its culture. Above Prešeren is a naked woman, and this caused outrage back in the early 1900s when it was first erected as it is facing the door of the Catholic Church. It was obviously expensive to erect so the mayor decided to plant some trees around the church, meaning those leaving would not be able to see her, rather than get a new statue. On the other side of the square facing Prešeren is the love of his life who he never married as she was from a rich family whereas he was a poor farmer. It’s quite strange as she is a plaque on the wall, and he is th most celebrated poet in Slovenia.
The other story I liked, is about the National library which was also architected by Plečnik. The Library was completed, but it had no books yet as they were still in the old library. The Italian army were on their way to Ljubljana and people were concerned that they would take the library as their military headquarters. Over 2 days and nights, the people of Ljubljana created a line and transferred thousands of books from one library to the other; unfortunately, they weren’t complete when the army arrived, but seeing people so scared and acting quite crazy, they decided to help transfer the books therefore sealing the fate of the library to this day. It’s quite an odd building and has been made to look like a carpet on the outside.
The tour was excellent and Tina was great; she was a trained journalist so was quite precise about everything. It was already 1pm, so we thought it was time for a drink, and maybe a bite to eat. We found a little place called Capriccio where the beer was cold, and Iain was again in his element. Due to Slovenias close proximity to Italy, there are a ridiculous number of Italian restaurants, but it’s cheap and cheerful. We even managed to watch the last 15 minutes of the England game (Women’s World Cup Final) on or phones, but the result didn’t go the way we hoped.
I had pre-booked this tasting at Dvorni Bar, it was quite expensive but was highly rated. First, we were ushered into the cellar which was very atmospheric and was built around the remains of the Roman wall from over 400 years before. Tina explained all about Slovenian wine and we tried 7 different wines from the different parts of Slovenia.
In order of tasting, we had:
- Zelen, a white wine from the west of Slovenia
- Riesling from North East Slovenia
- Orange Wine which was Pinot Grigio but made the way red wine is made
- Cvicek or what is known as wine crime, red no white wine mixed together but with strict rules
- Pinot Noir from East Slovenia
- Cabernet Sauvignon Bosc which was finished in oak barrels
- Gewürztraminer from near Maribor
Over 95% of the wine stays in Slovenia, and Slovenia is the 2nd largest per capita after the Vatican! At one point, we also had to guess what we were drinking and were blindfolded,.
We really enjoyed the tasting, and ended up talking to a Dutch couple beside us who just happened to be PSV Eindhoven fans (Rangers are due to play them in the next few days, but I am not convinced we will be quite so happy this time!). They were also max Verstappen fans, but at least they were also bored with F1 as it is just now.
In fact, the tasting was so good that we decided to stay and have a bottle of the Riesling along with a cheese board.
We left slightly worse for wear, but enjoyed the walk home. The lights on the many bridges were shining, and we walked by two very different but beautiful art nouveau buildings.
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