Konec Tedna v Ljubljani (Weekend in Ljubljana)

I had originally planned any visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia as part of a longer trip where I'd be either taking an excursion from Venice and/or doing a multi-city tour involving Zagreb or some other city in the general vicinity. However, after looking into the various options, a simple trip to Ljubljana ended up being a better use of my time. Travel between Venice and Ljubljana is slow and cumbersome, meaning I'd probably burn a vacation day just moving from one city to the other, and Zagreb doesn't have enough appeal for me (assuming I visit a more compelling Croatian city like Dubrovnik at some point in my life). Anyways, for this weekend trip I still managed to squeeze in an excursion to an interesting resort town in Slovenia (Bled) without it taking too much time.

Day 1

I arrived in Ljubljana in the late afternoon, so I had enough time to check out a few sites around my hotel. On the northwestern side of the city is Tivoli Park, a large public park containing an art gallery, sports arena, pond and various sculptures.

In Tivoli Park, the Jakopic Promenade leading to Tivoli Castle was lined with various photographs of Slovenia. Tivoli Castle houses the International Centre of Graphic Arts, although it was near closing time when I arrived but the photos on the walkway made up for that.

Across the street from Tivoli Park is Saints Cyril and Methodius Church. Unlike the mostly Catholic churches in the area, the interior was like the Eastern Orthodox churches that I saw in Kiev, where there are very few pews and most worshippers will stand during mass. The walls were beautifully decorated with murals but there was not enough natural light shining through the windows so my photos turned out a bit dark.

Ljubljana is close enough to the Alps that I felt a crisp mountain breeze, although maybe that's just what small cities in the area are like in late February. It was chilly out but the fresh air still made it worth strolling around the old town in the evening. I noticed enough luxury goods shops and higher end restaurants in the area to give me the impression that the city gets a lot of tourists on excursions from Venice during warmer seasons.

A shot of Ljubljana Castle illuminated in green during the evening. This was shot from Republic Square. The building at center right is the building for the Slovenian Philharmonic.

Day 2

I spent the morning of Saturday in Bled, a small town in northwestern Slovenia. The town is a popular tourist destination because of its nearby lake (Lake Bled) and lakeside castle. The bus trip takes about an hour and 20 minutes, and provides a view of the Slovenian countryside (mostly farmland) and a few other small towns along the way.

In Bled, St. Martin's Parish Church is close to Lake Bled and Bled Castle. The interior was modest compared to churches in Ljubljana, but there was an interesting decorative effect used in the murals whereby gold leaf was used in displaying the halos around saints' heads, giving them a bright glow even in darker conditions.

A view at ground level of Lake Bled and Bled Castle at the top of the hill. On the left is a very small island in the lake which hosts the Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church. There were also a lot of swans and mallard ducks in the lake, but they tended to crowd around anyone that looked like they might have food.

Bled Castle contains a small museum describing the history of locals in the area. Pictured are mannequins wearing the typical clothes from the 8th and 9th centuries. The castle also had a chapel, a wine cellar and a blacksmith's shop.

A view from Bled Castle facing east.

A view from Bled Castle facing southwest. My camera could not capture the greenish hue of the water in the lake, so the actual view was more colourful than pictured.

I didn't go to the island on the lake as I thought it would take too much time, and there wasn't much else in Bled for me to see, so I went back to Ljubljana to spend the afternoon seeing its old town. It was cold enough that there was wet snow intermittently falling, but it melted right away.

The interior of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas.

A view from Ljubljana Castle facing northwest. The pink building center left is the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation.

A view from Ljubljana Castle facing south. The old town can be delineated from the rest of the city based on the red roofs of the older buildings.

The site of Ljubljana Castle was at one time a Roman fortress, although the current structure was built in the 15th century. The museum in the castle displays artifacts relevant to all of the structure's various iterations, including Roman coins from 1st century BC to 5th century AD.

Ljubljana was originally a prehistoric town, but was later re-founded as a Roman military encampment (called Emona) which was destroyed by the Huns in 452 AD. Just outside the old town is a long wall that represents one of the few remaining structures of Emona.

Day 3

After visiting two castles and several churches around the city, I dedicated the last day to visiting a few museums and ensuring that I caught a glimpse of all of Ljubljana's artistic bridges along the river.

A shot of the Triple River crossing the Ljubljanica River. The river is more scenic in warmer seasons when the trees are in bloom.

The Town Hall contains three courtyards and this room, each containing contemporary artwork or photography.

The City Art Museum Ljubljana is small and contains contemporary art, most of which would fall under the category of weird or lazy (see my Lisbon post for more details). There were several artworks that were simply blank canvases either torn or smashed (there was some social statement behind this but the exhibit only explained it in Slovenian). Pictured are the least weird/lazy artworks at the museum.

Dragons are frequently used symbols in Slovenia and one of the more famous bridges in the city is the Dragon Bridge (pictured). Other noteworthy artistic bridges include the Butchers' Bridge and the Cobblers' Bridge.  

The Slovene Ethnographic Museum contains four floors, with one dedicated to Slovenian history/culture, another to a random assortment of cultures around the world, and the other two floors housing temporary exhibits (one on doors and the other on Indian tapestry at the time of my visit). Pictured from the Slovenian exhibit is a cupa (a traditional fisherman's canoe).

Those are the highlights of my trip to Slovenia. I felt like I could have chosen better museums on the last day, but the National Museum of Slovenia and the National Gallery of Slovenia weren't rated that high by tourist sites and I was looking for something a bit different anyways. The castles in Ljubljana and Bled offered more interesting exhibits as well as great views of their surrounding areas, and I got to enjoy a more relaxing weekend by strolling around a very quiet but scenic old town during the tourist off-season. My next trip is to a more northern destination and I'll post details in about two weeks.