Ljubljana (Loob-lee-yana) is one of those few cities I’ve traveled to that has a charm like no other. It’s a city that I appreciated on a different level compared to most European cities I”ve seen so far. My first impression, was calling it a big, small city. Because it’s not on the sizeable scale such as Paris or Rome, nor is it a city I would classify as small.
The city has a population of about 275,000, thanks to Google, with romanticism like you would see in Venice films, Austrian architecture, graffiti on walls like a large city, the backdrop of mountains like a mini Denver, but the charm of a small city. When I arrived in Slovenia, my first day was quite unusual. Refusing to hitch it across the border, I took a bus to Ljubljana and a second bus in reverse down to Novo Mesto to meet my couchsurfing host. But the first impression riding through the town was just WOW. It made me feel good. Like the town had a certain kind of spirit I connected with.
After Novo Mesto, I refused to pay for a bus and hitched my way to LJ, what I wrote on my sign. My driver was kind enough to treat me to a brew before we parted ways. My stay, was with my host’s sister, who is a local student in the city and brought me into her dorm to stay, sort of bringing me back to my college days in Central Florida. While she was busy, I took a nice stroll around to Metelkova, a Yugoslav barracks turned (I can’t put into words). Lets just say, tons of graffiti ART, ensemble of creative mashups of mosaics and of course metal. Photos explain better.
I say the city has romanticism like a Venice film because of the river that runs through the center with boats passing under the unique Triple Bridge. If you walk from the start to finish of a sunset with clear skies, the buildings look incredible. Fortunately, if you are sunset chaser when the opportunity stands, take a hike up to the Ljubljana fortress in the center of town to catch an incredible sunset over the mountains. You even get an incredible panorama of the Julian Alps not to far to the north.
In short, Slovenia is what I consider a crossroads between western Europe and the Balkans and Ljubljana sits right in the middle of that. Something interesting to experience and highly recommend travelers make a stop. 🙂
