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Published: August 6th 2022
This morning we’ve booked tickets to Ljubljana Castle which sits high on the hill overlooking the city, and dominates the skyline.
But first a coffee stop. We’re not sure what the impressive looking building at the base of the hill on the other side of the square from the coffee shop is. But it’s OK, we’ll soon find out because there’s a large QR code on the facade. Well that’s what it looked like, although in hindsight I suspect I might have looked more than a bit stupid pointing my phone hopefully at what turns out to be an ancient decoration that just happens to be made of small black and white tiles. Anyway there’s a small drinking fountain right next to it. This wouldn't normally be worthy of comment, but this one’s a statue of a kangaroo; the leftover water lands in its pouch. I get the giggles …. and some strange looks from the people drinking from it. We apologise that we’re from Australia…. I’m not sure I’ve ever apologised for being Australian before… oh wait on there was that time when I heard some Venetian gondoliers playing Waltzing Matilda to their two Aussie passengers.
We go
to catch a funicular up to the castle. It seems that its capacity is 28 people, not 27 or 29; there’s a screen showing the number of people on the station, and the gate slams shut as the 29th person tries to get through. The car looks big and heavy, and there’s only one flimsy looking rope responsible for carrying it up the steep hill. I didn’t notice anyone weighing any of the 28 people as they came in, and I’m not sure I’d want to be here if the other 27 happened to be sumo wrestlers. Fortunately some of our fellow passengers are toddlers, so we start to relax slightly.
We read that there’s probably been some sort of settlement on the Castle site since 1200 BC, and it’s thought to have been a Roman army stronghold when they occupied this part of the world. The present structure is believed to have been built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and then underwent a complete overhaul in the fifteenth century. Most of the current buildings date from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It’s a maze of towers, buildings and passageways surrounding a central courtyard, and is dominated by
the massive so-called Viewing Tower. As seems to be the case with a lot of these types of structures, it also doubles as a concert venue.
We’re not sure we want to chance it with the funicular twice in one day, so we take a leisurely and very pleasant stroll through the forest on the other side of the hill back down to street level.
I take the opportunity to read up a bit about the history of Slovenia. It seems to have been a bit at the cultural and linguistic crossroads over the centuries, and was at various times part of the Roman, Byzantine, Holy Roman, Napoleonic and various Austro-Hungarian Empires, as well as the Republic of Venice. At the end of World War I it merged with the Kingdom of Serbia to form the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War 2 it was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy and Hungary, and part of it was also transferred to the Nazi puppet state - the Independent State of Croatia. At the end of the War it then became part of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia’s President Tito had a few disagreements with Stalin. From what I’ve read about Comrade
Stalin I wouldn’t have thought that that would have been all that beneficial to your personal welfare, but in this case Mr Tito apparently remained healthy, and the only outcome was that Yugoslavia never signed up to the Warsaw Pact. As a result its citizens had a lot more freedoms than those of its Warsaw Pact neighbours; for example you didn’t get shot if you tried to leave. Slovenia was the first state to split from Yugoslavia, and became an independent nation in 1991.
Our hotel room’s a little unusual. Most of the surfaces are grey, including the entire padded wall behind our bed. When Issy video-called Scott earlier today he thought she’d been committed to some sort of mental institution. The wall between the bathroom and the rest of the room is all full length frameless glass, including a glass sliding door. It’s good clear glass, and we hope it’s strong because we’re both sure it’s only a matter of time before we head butt it when we get up in the middle of the night to relieve ourselves. We initially thought the glass was one way, but it’s not, so if you want some privacy you have
to pull across a grey (what else) curtain. This leaves us wondering why they didn’t just put in a grey wall and save everyone the trouble of having to pull the curtain across, not to mention reduce the risk of midnight head injuries. Anyway it’s spacious and comfortable, and only a few metres from the riverside action, and I’m sure there must be ambulances close by if we did happen to need them.
We wanted to eat traditional Slovenian food last night. The restaurant looked traditional but the menu was all pizza. It was very nice pizza, and I know we’re not that far from Italy, but we suspect that pizza probably isn’t traditional Slovenian food. We set out tonight with renewed determination. This is more like it - the menu includes sausages, boiled potatoes and venison stew, amongst other things. We don’t really know if this is traditional Slovenian food either, but we think the probability’s higher than if it was pizza. It’s also very tasty.
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Dancing Dave
David Hooper
Ljubljana Cathedral
Love this ceiling and the quirky pics in this blog. Gotta post some in our 'Cathedrals, grand churches, mosques & places of worship' thread in the Photography Forum. Check 'em out.