Ljubljana, Slovenia

We made it to the Slovenian Capital of Ljubljana, and if you can say it three times fast you deserve a medal because it's pronounced lyoob-lyee-A-nah.  If Prague, Vienna, and Venice could have a baby, it would be Ljubljana, and being the midpoint between the Slavic, Germanic and Italian worlds gives Ljubljana a special spice.

Ljubljana reminds me a bit of Amsterdam and Copenhagen, with the houses situated along the main canal.  Anyone else agree?!?

I would love a corner unit here!

This town is all about its ambience, cute little cafes to enjoy a drink, and upscale trinket shops.

We came across some nice music, I wonder who was singing:)

Seriously darling shops!

Greg and Jordan got carried away at a little outside shop trying to break apart the wooden puzzle.  They did it, but had a bit of trouble putting it back together again.

The heart of Ljubljana is lively Peršeren Square, always bustling with people.  We saw lots of people eating ice cream, so were going to have to get to the ice cream later in the post...

In the square there is a statue of Peršeren, a very important Slovenian nationalist poet and architect. He is portrayed as being inspired from above by a Muse.  The statue provoked a scandal and outraged the bishop when it went up a century ago-a naked women sharing the square with a church-OH MY! For the first few years that the statue was up citizens covered the scandalous statue with a tarp at night.

From the town square we went and checked out the triple bridge, three bridges are necessary to funnel the traffic from 6 streets they think, maybe we should do this on some freeways in LA.

There are lots of bridges, here is the view from Butchers' Bridge:

We walked along the river colonnade, which is a great place to shop for souvenirs.  We also saw the local farmers market and market hall.

Okay last bridge I promise.  We went to the Dragon Bridge because the dragon has been the symbol of Ljubljana for centuries, ever since they slew one in a nearby swamp. 

       From the bridge there is a little hike you can take up to the Ljubljana castle.  It was steep, but worth it; up we go!

The view from the top:

We didn't go inside, but the grounds were cool:

After the castle we rented bikes and took a leisurely ride around the city.  We went through beautiful parks, a botanical garden, and through a really interesting graffitied part of town. 

Laidback Ljubljana is the kind of place where graffiti and crumbling buildings seem elegantly atmospheric.

My favorite building:

 My favorite guy:

We're all about the street food, and the notable things we had in Ljubljana were pipping hot off the street.  We tried Bureks from the famous stand Slaščičarna Olimpija stand, which is open 24 hours.  It is a popular, cheap fast food-phyllo dough filled with meat, cheese, spinach, or apples.  The burek rivals pizza-by-the-slice as the most popular take-away snack food in the former Yugoslavia.  We tried the pizza one and it was good and greasy!

We had to wash it down with some delicious ice cream that was so creamy it pretty much melted the minute it was out of the freezer, but so good!

We had such a great trip with Florence and Greg! We wish it was longer, and while goodbyes are always hard to do, we are looking forward to traveling with them again soon.  We are so grateful we got to visit with them and adventure through one of Europe's most unexpectedly charming destinations together.