Here I am so caught up in being whisked around the world and being pampered like a baby whereever i go, that I didnt have time to fully blog about my last Long Vacation, which took me from Poland, to Vienna and Prague, briefly to the coast of Croatia before finally departing from Slovenia.
We chugged into the capital, Ljubljana, from the very, very sunny coast of Vrsar in Croatia, where Maja and Dejan had taken us for a quick trip and an instant perma-tan.

The river Ljubljanica separates Nove Mesto and Stare Mesto (New/Old Town)

Ljubljana, in my opinion, is somewhat similar to the once forgotten, now emerging central/east european cities, notably Budapest and Prague. However, I don’t think it has quite emerged from the shadows of those bigger, more glamorous, more forceful and more tourist infested big boys. You notice immediately that its certainly not a third world sorta joint, which some may conceive as Slovenia is such a minor european country in the books of many.

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There are your posh department stores, coca cola vending machines, big apartment blocks and crazy-ass drivers like you find in many developed cities. The modern architecture isn’t extravagant or bold – i guess it gets the job done though. Mind you, this is in the New Town area, separate from the historic Old Town. (I’ve noticed that almost all central/ east european cities make these regional distinctions).

There are several bridges which link the two, like the one here which is particularly prettier than the more famous Dragon bridge, shown here,which is covered in graffiti nowadays. As the national emblem of Slovenia, you find many dragons around the city. (Not real ones. Although that would be waaay cool.)

The buses are somewhat rickety and old – you still need to purchase small, round tokens from a bus booth and drop them in a box when you board. No oyster cards or anything here. The city centre is not much to look at when you first arrive – buildings are a little grey, a lot of large, bustling old women in flowery dresses with shopping bags. The youths however, seem very trendy and modern – I daresay they hold a very different mentality to the older generation. Their english is quite excellent, and seemed willing enough to help us out when we got lost.

 

Tell you something though. Being sandwiched between Italy, Hungary and Croatia does have its advantages. Speaking of food..Slovenia has a great pick of culinary delights here. As with most countries around here, meals are heavy, and they love their meat. And I mean LOVE. During our time there, EK and I were treated to a Balkan feast, as pictured here. Now, its hard to tell you whats what, but its literally every type of edible meat you can think of, battered, cooked, fried, and god knows what else. At the front you can see a few things which sort of look like sliced cannelloni , cept theres tons of really strong cheese inside and oozing out. We ate this between four people and still couldnt conquer it. It was so incredibly filling, i could hardly move after..

Maja’s very kind family (coupled with the ever handy boyfriend’s car) also took us out for a typical Slovenian evening meal. Whilst I can’t show you the main meal, which i believe was rather good but nothing slovenically especial, I encourage you to see the look of delight on my face while tucking into this national speciality of Slovenia, the Slovenian ‘Prekmurska gibanica’ layered cake (Thats Maja’s pre-mentioned boyfriend Janus in the background). From my trusted sources at Wiki, it contains poppy seeds, raisins, apples, walnuts and – cottage cheese? Can that be right? Anyway, for the lingually curious among you, the name means ‘Over-Mura Moving Cake’ – (*shrugs* don’t look at me).

Evidently, I didn’t take many pictures in Slovenia, thanks to my paltry 16mb memory card on the camera. Well, expect more from my trip this Oct/Nov, when i equipped myself with a 512mb bad boy and a USB cable 🙂