Lovely Ljubljana

Day 1 

We arrived in the afternoon in Slovenia and took the bus from the airport into town. We were left at the central bus station to find our own way to the hostel. Luckily for us, as we would soon find out, Ljubljana is an easily walkable and navigable city. In fact, it feels more like a sleepy small town than a proper city. It was gray and cool with a slight drizzle, but we quickly made our way to the Tresor Hostel. This was our first hostel stop, but if anything it was more like a cute boutique hotel. A former bank, the place was nicely decorated with quotes about money and was clean with lots of amenities such as a game room and reading corner to make it a chill place for backpackers to hangout. I was surprised to see not only backpackers, but also much older people, even one with a small child, staying at the hostel. 

Picturesque Ljubljanski River

Tresor Hostel was very conveniently located, situated between the main street of the city and the tourist filled, historic old city district on the river.

It was also just down the street from the main park, Tivoli. Basically everything we could want to see was within a 5-10 minute walking radius. As it is already getting late, we decided to just walk around and orient ourselves. A walk through Tivoli Park (which included trying the local favorite of a horse burger- not recommended), a quick peek in at the Contemporary History Museum, a thorough exploration of the river area complete with ice cream sampling, a brief checkout of what the main street looked like at night and then doing laundry at the hostel concluded our first day. 

Day 2

Our one full day in Ljubljana was spent visiting all the essential tourist sights. The day turned out to be blue skies and sunny weather, great for wandering around. First we visited the open air market located behind the cathedral. I bought cherries and quickly devoured them- delicious. Gotta love cherry season! Then we went up via funicular to the most distinctive landmark of the city, the Ljubljana castle. We walked around the walls, tower, chapel, jail and information displays, enjoying the view from the highest point in the city. We visited the City Museum to learn more about the history of Ljubljana and walked through the small but ornately painted cathedral. 

After ice cream and a quick nap to energize us, we went on a river cruise for an hour (we were the only two on it). We splurged a little on a nice dinner at a traditional Slovenian food restaurant and then walked out of the tourist area to Metalkova, an army barracks turned free-living commune. We were too late for the galleries and too early for the alternative club scene, but it was an interesting set up with art covering every surface.

Dragon Bridge

Besides some more museums, we had basically covered all the main tourist points of Ljubljana. Although there wasn't much to see, the city definitely has an appeal with its quaint, old Europe charm. Cafe filled streets, old stone buildings painted pretty colors and a pretty river scene gave the city a very relaxing vibe. A nice place to hang out for some peace and quiet. 

Day 3

Our last morning in Ljubljana we packed up and checked out, leaving our bags at the hostel until our afternoon train ride. We started off with a visit to the Museum of Modern Art, then rented bikes. Ljubljana is extremely bike friendly with bike lanes painted on sidewalks and streets. Since everything is so close by, we biked around the old town, through the park, into the suburbs and then back to town all fairly quickly. It was a nice way to get a last view of the city. We grabbed lunch and one last Slovenian ice cream, then caught our train for Zagreb. 

Conclusion: 

Such a contrast to Istanbul! Going from the chaos and vibrancy of massive Istanbul to the mellow and cute town of Ljubljana was quite a change. It was a great start to our actual backpacking though as we had a nice hostel and a city that was easy to see with only two nights. I get the feeling future cities will be a bit crazier. Ljubljana was easy to handle with everything close together (all walking, we didn't need public transport), no traffic or huge crowds, and not so many things to visit. I could see myself coming back if I wanted a pretty location to relax and get some quiet time sitting next to a river in a square. But besides that, not much more to do in Ljubljana.

Embracing my inner prehistoric woman in one of Ljubljana's museums