Thursday 12th August

 

12.08.04 Day 40

Ljubljana seems to be the definition of 'chilled out'. As much as it is possible for a city to be laid back, that is where Ljub is. Its inhabitants get up about 11am, they ride or rollerblade to the nearest cafe, where they sit in the sun and laugh merrily until 2:30pm, when stalls and shops begin to close and the streets empty in time for the afternoon siesta.

Museums, if they open at all, don't open till midday, restaurants (the ones that aren't closed for refurbishment over August) run from 10am till 6pm. Trying to find somewhere to eat at 8:30pm was crazy, and we ended up in a lovely, huge Italian pizza restaurant with just a other tables taken. "Where is everybody?" In fact, the city has a 'Truman Show' feel to it. The people walking down the street seem as if they go from one end to the other, back and forth, all day long, while the cyclists and roller bladers are there just so there's someone to cross the road when the light goes green. And the people in cafes sit there all day and laugh in that over-exaggerated way at pretend jokes, justto make the city seem populous.

So we followed the map in a classic box-ticking tour of the citys (not especially grand) sites as the sun rose above the buildings and the temperature rose above the comfort level. Hitting the old town just as everyone else got up was a welcomed re-emmersion in the bustle of a city, after an hour of deserted streets. The squares were nice enough, all very juicy looking fruit stalls, flowers, clothes and summerware surrounded by clean, pretty, but not stunning facades. The odd monuments scattered around (Slovene poets, French occupations...) were a bit non-descript, except for the 1960's communist effort which was largely conglomeration and concrete.

Lunch was, for me, a pleasant fare of cold sausages and jaffa cakes (all left overs!) followed by the tackling of the castle upon the hill. This was a very surreal experience as, from the outside it appeared to be just like Prague, Cesky, and Salzburg, yet when we got there it was free entry to wander as you pleased, and a distinct lack of other people too.

The only thing we paid for was a '3D' video of Ljubs history (slightly wasted as I'd just read it all) - an interesting peak, though, is that they devised only 19 words of the final sentence to the troubles that followed their independence and the history that I read said nothing about it.

Another interesting comment about the city is the size. It seemed that almost every other street we walked down had open wooden hills at the end, and the view from the castle tower showed a capital city that could be crossed on foot, in just over an hour. The city lives on a flat plain (originally Marsh land in 3000BC) both completely engulfed by Slovenian rolling wooded mountains. Finally, it was under Habsburg rule from 13ss, until Napoleon's conquest in 1806, and then was the seat of location for the congress of the Holy Alliance (1819) when it was returned to the Austro-Hungarian empire until they were defeated in WWI. The Treaty of Versailles (etc) created the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was occupied by Italian then German troops in WW2, and then Ljub was part of the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia until they voted, and fought for, their independence in 1990/91.

Fact! 

We decided to walk into the town centre which took a lot longer than I'd thought, but only after another fantastic breakfast - cereal with biscuits and chocolate in, mixed with yoghurt, followed by a cheese roll with ham and cheese in and coffee. I'm getting into the whole continental breakfast thing.

The day was a scorcher - surely not as hot as Budapest but I managed to get heatstroke and had to retire to bed for an hours nap in the afternoon. Anyway we saw buildings such as the opera/ballet house, art galleries, the museum, some churches, the town hall etc. None were terribly exciting - most we couldn't get into until the afternoon, by which time we were hot and tired. No wonder we walked past so many buildings - the map was misleading as the city is a lot smaller than expected.

The market was good especially the huge fruit and scent of the flowers but most of the stalls were empty. The casino was very different from ones we'd seen, as there was a modern art exhibition, a funky 3D presentation and the weirdest toilets I've seen in a while. And it was nice that there weren't too many people. I'd sum Ljubljana up as being a funky little city. Absolutely tiny, no important business types rushing about, no trams, not really any taxis and no crowds but a very relaxed and upbeat population. Somewhere it said that Ljubljana feels young and there does seem to be more young people than old as they're roller blading, talking, out shopping or sitting in a cafe. The cafes and people just sitting in the street or squareswatching the world go by, listening to the latest American/English music from the cafes are what defines the city. They want to do as the west with their fashions, modernism, music and food. We haven't worked out whether Slovenia was a rational choice as there's a lot of Austrian and Italian influence (by the way, best Italian restaurant I've ever been to - so many different courses of pasta dishes). So a quiet, almost sleepy capital which has a nice vibe to it. You can see it in a day but it would take longer to experience it and get into the Slovenian ways of doing things. Not bad for a small country. I like it. Not a lot but a little (It's nicely harmless).