We took a free walking tour here, and loved it. Our guide is a student of English at the University.
She is a delightful lady who made Ljubljana come alive. Here we are in an old monastery that is now a performing arts center.
She explained to us some things from Slovenia’s history. Like most of this part of Europe, Slovenia has been ruled by many countries and finally got it’s independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.
This is a statue of Preseren and it is in the main square. Who is he? A general? A politician? Nope…..he was a poet. He wrote, amongst many other things, a drinking song. The first verse tells of the virtue of good wine. The second of the virtue of beautiful women. The third of the good strong men. So why is he in the place of honor? Well, the 7th verse of his drinking song speaks of peace with and for all nations and that verse has become the national anthem of the country of Slovenia. Imagine an anthem that does not celebrate the greatness and military prowess of your country, but speaks instead of peace.
Another very important part of Slovenian life is the respect for their language. Here in the Baltics there are many languages spoken. Many of the countries that controlled this area did not allow Slovenian to be spoken and it is the language that brought these people together, to become one country. Preseren helped make Slovenian an accepted language, as did Napoleon. He formally allowed the people to have their own language. Even though he conquered and occupied the area there is a monument to him because of what he did for the language.
It seems that these are a special people.
I don’t want you to think they are perfect. Just look at this menu from a local restaurant…..
notice number 26 (and, yes, foal means horse)
Duane said he never saw me move so fast as when I left that restaurant.
Another interesting thing about here is seeing this : 
We have been being careful about drinking water. We mostly purchase water, even when the hotel says it’s OK to drink their water. But here, we only drink water fountain and tap water. Imagine, discouraging buying bottled water…..no way would that fly at home.
Well some of us can drink from fountains better than others…..
I never did get that drink and a particular part of my body got refreshed….
Some other sights on our tour included a milk-o-mat where you get cold fresh whole unpasteurized milk from natural fed cows. Just like our filtered water dispensers, they have milk dispensers.
This square was built for having military presentations for visiting royalty back in the 1800’s. They have built parking underneath….give you any ideas Telluride.
No matter whether it is daytime or evening, you will find wandering mistrals, playing folk songs or Italian songs or even Israeli songs.
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