On the way to Bratislava, Slovakia

 

We planned today to take the long way to Bratislava so we could see the Alps, since we are mountain lovers.  What we didn’t realize was that we would also see   CASTLES.  15 castles to be exact, not that we were keeping track or acting like 6 year olds, or anything.  The 4 hour ride seemed too short.  The train was brand new and the seats smelled like new leather.  Since we were in first class it was un-crowded.

  Oh and the air conditioning worked, which turned out to be a drawback since the windows didn’t open, as you may notice on some of the pictures.

First, the view were wonderful (I am in need of new superlatives.).

 

  

                                  

And did I mention castles  !

            

 

                                                          

 

  

                                                                          

 

            Can you see the castle in this one?   

 

              here it is.  Its getting late and I’m getting silly.

 

                                                                     

                                                                                    Good Night

Ljubljana, Slovenia August 2- 8 - Part 1

 

We waited at the train station for 1 1/2 hours, on purpose.  We didn’t know how much trouble we would have getting to the station or how easy it would be to get the right train.  The ticket guy was very bothered by my questions.

Waiting for the train turned out to be wonderful.  We met Matt, who lives in Slovenia and spent 9 months cooking in Las Vegas and 3 years chef-ing in London.  It was wonderful to hear his view of his country.  While we talked, a very red haired older lady joined us while she waited for her train.  First, it was surprising that this little station had so many trains.  Secondly, she is a hoot.  She told us that she comes into town on this train all the time and that the conductor is from Sweden and not used to the heat in Pula, so whenever he felt overwhelmed by the heat, he would cancel the train and tell the passengers to get off and take a bus.  Today she lucked out and the train took her home.

Our little 3 car train was made of 6 people compartments and we spent most of the 3 1/2 hour trip talking to Matt and to the lady in the next compartment who spoke no English and we had a great time with Matt translating.  I am sure if this lady spoke English we would now be best buddies.  We were helping Matt figure out where to meet a woman and what kinds of food would sell the best where and tons of other unrelated stuff.  It sure made the trip go quickly.  It was sad to say goodbye.

So we did arrive in Ljubljana, Slovenia.  We walked to our hotel, only having to ask directions twice.  Beautiful place.  Came up, by elevator, to our room and      wow.  Huge, cool and wired internet.  What else could we want.  In case you missed it in the heading, instead of the 2 nights we booked we are still here on the 7th and are finally leaving tomorrow.  Why…..because we love it.  Not just the hotel but the town.

Much of the town was designed by one architect, Joze Plecnik, who just loved columns.  In addition, there are lots of examples of art Nouveau. 

      There was a big earthquake here and one of the only buildings that was not damaged, was this corner triangular building.  When the owners realized that there was money available to fix damaged buildings, they put up scaffolding and got their share and used it to add art nouveau designs.

This is the university library and also the equivalent of the library of congress in the US, with every book published in Slovenia.  This building was designed by Plecnik, but the columns are on the inside.        

The town is just full of lovely sights.  Of course there is a castle on the center hill

 

                                                                           

A river runs through the old town and there are many bridges across it. 

 

   the dragon bridge 

                                        

They even have their version of the locks of love.  Pledge your love and make it eternal by putting a lock on this bridge and throwing the key into the river.  Notice on the second picture that some people are hedging their bets and used a combination lock.

                         

Ljubljana, Slovenia Part 2

 

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.

 

                                                                                                         

Ljubljana, Slovenia Part 3

 

One afternoon as we were heading into old town for lunch, we saw a crowd of people in front of the Pink Church, actually a Catholic church.

                                           

Not wanting to miss anything, we checked it out.  It was a wedding, or actually the end of a wedding.  There we people waiting for the happy couple and a bunch of people dressed in what had to be folk costumes.  When the couple came down the church steps the group started singing, the band started playing and then everyone started dancing.  We got to see what was a folkloric show, right there in the square.  I videoed so much I filled up my sd card.  Here are some stills from the videos.

      singers  (like our barbershoppers)

                                                                    

                                                                                                                                

 

                                                               

How could we not love a place where we have seen so many wonderful stuff.

We, of course, saw a cathedral            

 

       

 

                     

After seeing these churches, who needs to go to art museums.

Ljubljana, Slovenia - Part 4

 

We decided it was time to find another place to visit, since we stayed a week instead of a day, and we could sort of find our way around old town, or so we thought……

There was one thing that we wanted to do before we left.  We hadn’t visited the castle.

                                                

So we rode the funicular up the mountain      

                                  and arrive at the castle                              

One of the first places we went was to the WC, where we saw this sign……”divorce court”  ?????

                                                            

 

These are some rooms in the castle and one of the views.  It is special because it is Duane’s first view of an Alp.

                                       

 

                                                                 

When we came down from the mountain, we went looking for a different place to eat dinner.  While walking along the river we found a whole area we never saw before.

First, a different view of the library      

Then a park and walking path along the river  

Then we found, as if no one else knew it was there, an old Roman wall from the 2nd or 4th century

   

A Roman floor being protected from the elements  

And further down the wall, more wall……notice the kid climbing the ancient wall  

We did find a nice restaurant to eat at and, as usual now, we ordered beer.  We have been having Lasko beer almost exclusively lately since it is a local beer and we both love it.  But tonight, the waiter suggested a different beer.  How dare he.  Well we tried it and it was good, too.  The interesting part is that he served it to us in wine glasses and kept the bottle cold in a plastic ice bag.

      

                                                                

Beer, not wine…..

Well, it sure was hard to pack up to leave tomorrow.  But we are taking a train through the Alps, so that should be pretty nice.