Ljubljana, Slovenia - Part 1

Christmas Eve in Ljubljana

Firstly, here is a little background information on our Christmas holiday destination, as it appears that very few people we know have ever heard of Slovenia, let alone could place it on a map. Slovenia is a very small country - it has an area of around 20,000 sq km, which is about one-eighth the size of New Zealand's South Island - in southern Central Europe. It is wedged in between Italy to the west, Austria to the north and Croatia to the south and east, as well as sharing a small border with Hungary to the north-east and having a small patch of coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west (see map below). Interestingly, Slovenia is shaped much like a chicken (if you use your imagination) and its capital city, Ljubljana, is located smack-bang in the middle of the chicken. The population of Slovenia is around 2 million, of which 280,000 live in the capital.

Slovenia was once a republic in the federation of Yugoslavia, from which it declared its independence on 25 June 1991. Despite its Yugoslav connections, Slovenia is not, and has never really been, part of the volatile region known as the Balkans. Throughout its history Slovenia has had close cultural and economic ties with Central Europe and has been influenced much more from the west and north than from the south and east. Slovenia became a member of the European Union on 1 May 2004.

Slovenia has always been a very safe place to live and to visit. The slump in tourism during and after the war in Kosovo in 1998-99 was based on false perceptions, as there was actually no danger in Slovenia at all. Except for ten days in 1991, when Yugoslavia tried to prevent what is now Slovenia from making a break for it, there has been no further fighting in Slovenia. While Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina became embroiled in the most bitter conflict in Europe since WWII, Slovenia got on with what it has always done best: working hard, earning money and making progress.

Slovenia is a particularly green place with around 58% of the country being covered by forests. This, together with the beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains, explain why outdoor sports and recreation are so popular in Slovenia. Skiing, hiking, mountaineering, kayaking and rafting are all very popular activities in the region.




















We arrived in Ljubljana very late on Tuesday night and we were surprised to see so many people out and about on the streets when we got to our hotel at around 1am. Apparently the bars and clubs only get going around 11pm, so the nightlife is good. We stayed at the City Hotel, very close to the centre of the city, and it was superb, we loved it. They put on amazing breakfasts every morning, our room was excellent (we even had a bit of a view), the staff were all great, there was a pretty decent bar in the lobby and free internet!

Despite our late arrival, we were pretty eager to get going on Wednesday morning and explore the city of Ljubljana. After a very nice breakfast in the lobby, we set off for the Old Town. It had been around -2 degrees celcius when we arrived in the middle of the night and it was chilly but bearable as we walked through the city centre in the morning; nothing like the -7 degree highs we had experienced in Prague the year before!

Just a few blocks from our hotel is Presernov trg (or Preseren Square). There are several "town squares" in Ljubljana's centre, but Preseren Square is the largest and most impressive one. It is named after a famous Slovenian poet, France Preseren, and a majestic statue in honour of Preseren stands in the middle of the square. To the north of the square is the Baroque-style Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, a magnificent salmon-coloured building.

One of the main shopping streets in Ljubljana, Cop Street, leads off to the north-west, towards Tivoli Park. On the south side, the Ljubljanica River passes by and is traversed by the city's best known bridge, Triple Bridge. The central part of the Triple Bridge was constructed in 1842. It was extended into the Triple Bridge in 1929 by famous Slovenian architect, Jose Plecnik, who added pedestrian bridges either side, effectively widening the bridge and preventing it from becoming a bottleneck.

Across the Triple Bridge is the Old Town, with beautiful cobbled medieval style streets. There were dozens of Christmas market stalls set up in a line along the bank of the Ljubljanica River. We meandered along past all of the Christmas market stalls, which were selling chocolates, lollies, hot food and mulled wine, toys, handcrafts and warm clothing amongst other things, to the permanent open market, which was a huge collection of stalls selling fruit and veges, meat, cheeses and artworks. Everything looked fantastic - the produce was all so fresh and the artworks were all good quality and interesting.

At the far end of the open market is the Dragon Bridge. The Dragon Bridge was constructed in the beginning of the 20th century to replace an old wooden bridge that was damaged in an earthquake in 1895. The city coat of arms has a green dragon depicted sitting on a castle tower. There is a legend that says that Jason, the leader of the Argonauts, came up the Ljubljanica River on his ship and where Ljubljana stands today, he fought a terrible dragon and slayed it. However, the people of Ljubljana prefer to view the dragon as a friendly protector of the city. Whatever the story, the four dragons that sit on the bridge are beautiful sculptures.

After wandering the markets, we checked out some the proper shops in the Old Town. There were a lot of very nice boutique gift shops, clothing shops, jewellery shops, etc - some people in Ljubljana must have a bit of cash! Although we did notice that many of the shops were in sale, some up to 50% off, so the credit crunch has hit Slovenia too.

There is a big hill in the centre of Ljubljana - Castle Hill - upon which Ljubljana Castle sits, keeping watch over the Old Town below. The area of the present castle has been settled continuously since 1200 BC, when the first settlements and later fortifications were built. In the 15th century, the castle was enlarged with a complete wall and towers at the entrance, where a drawbridge was placed. A chapel was also built at that time.

Because it was not a home of a ruler or another important noble person and because a fortification in the area was no longer required, the castle started to lose its importance and began to crumble as the maintenance costs were too high to keep up with. In the 19th century, the castle was redesigned partially as a prison and partially as a military stronghold, making it less popular among the citizens. In 1905, the castle was bought by the Ljubljana Municipality, and renovations took place from the late 1960s until the 1990s and today the castle is used for weddings and cultural events.

We walked up the hill to the castle at the top, taking in the magnificent views of the city as we went. Unfortunately, the Belvedere Tower, with a viewing platform at the top, was closed for renovations, and the virtual museum was also closed for the day. However, we checked out one of the exhibitions and enjoyed a brilliant hot chocolate at the cafe (Slovenia has amazing hot chocolate) before walking back down to the Old Town. We each had a hot dog from one of the stands in the Preseren square for a late lunch - everywhere in Europe seems to do quality hot dogs!

By this stage, Megan was a little cold and we had done a lot of walking already. Megan wanted to go back to the hotel to warm up and relax before going out for the evening. Tim managed to persuade her to accompany him for a walk in Tivoli Park, a massive park in the middle of Ljubljana. A little reluctantly, Megan agreed and we set off for a walk in the park. We wandered through the park for a while before finding a quiet spot where we sat down and Tim surprised Megan by proposing! Thankfully Megan said 'Yes'!

After returning to the hotel to thaw out, we made our way to the Vinoteka Movia wine bar, where we celebrated our engagement with a bottle of Slovenian champagne and a beautiful platter of meats and bread. Apparently Slovenia produces a lot of very good wine, although most of it is consumed within Slovenia. Our champagne was very good. The wine bar was really cool - it was decked out as a wine cellar, with stone walls and low ceilings and dozens of bottles of wine staked along the walls. We then had a drink at the Corso bar/cafe on the river bank before returning to the hotel to phone family with Christmas wishes and news of our engagement.

After eventually getting hold of everyone to pass on the news, we returned to town for a beautiful dinner at Sokol, a very popular restaurant specialising in Slovenian dishes. As we were having a late dinner, it was a little quiet inside, but we really enjoyed it. We then walked along the river by all the Christmas market stalls. There were still loads of people out on the streets and in the squares, eating, drinking (mainly mulled wine) and celebrating with their friends.

All through the city centre there were amazing Christmas lights - on buildings, hanging in the streets, on trees, literally everywhere. We joined in the Christmas Eve celebrations with a few drinks in the square and we enjoyed the beautiful Christmas lights and live music before calling it a night around 1am. A very long but very enjoyable day.

Church of
Annunciation
Preseren
Square















Dragon
Bridge

















Christmas
markets












Tim by
the river














Megan in
Old Town















St Nicholas
Cathedral











Megs and giant
snow angel -
Preseren Square

















View from
Castle Hill










Megan on
Castle Hill












Where Megan
said Yes -
Tivoli Park











Preseren
Square by
night











Town square
lights













Markets
at night











Telling the
parents the
news