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Published: September 19th 2019
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The blog title comes from a statement on museums from one of the many we visited on Wednesday. I love the idea!
On Tuesday, we decided to use the city bike program to get around. We found the nearest location (only a block away) and successfully entered our codes, took our bikes and headed off into the heart of Ljubljana on two wheels! We dodged other cyclists, pedestrians, the occasional dog, and construction work, arriving safely at the triple bridges, where we returned our bikes, and headed to the funicular that would take us up to the castle.
The Chinese have discovered Ljubljana, and there was a large tour group waiting for the funicular, so it took awhile. Slovenia and Croatia have been targeting China recently with travel promotions, and it is apparently working really well!
It was getting very warm, and we were glad to be waiting in the shade.
Once we got to the castle, we visited the tower, where my dislike of heights made it a bit dicey at first, since there are gaps in the wall around the top! The Castle has been renovated over the centuries, and was nearly torn
From the day before when it was above 80!
Vigo's has the best ice cream ever....we went twice that day! down in the last century. It has now been completely redone, with several cafes and is a popular wedding venue. We walked the grounds, and found a wine bar on a terrace in the shade, with views of the city below, and ordered glasses of "orange wine", a local favorite. "The difference in technique is quite simple. Normal white wine is made from the crushed juice of the grape, with the skins discarded. Orange winemakers retain the skins, as they would for red wine, and the fermenting grape juice is left to macerate with the skins, which add colour and tannin."
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/sep/06/orange-wine-holiday-italy-slovenia It had gotten even hotter as the afternoon progressed, and we stayed on shaded streets once we were back down in the city. We walked along the river through the oldest part of town, and returned on the same route, stopping for dinner on the main street. We went back to the stand to get bikes for the way home, but had to wait a few minutes until someone returned theirs. I rode to the grocery store while Bill waited for his bike, and we rode home together, only getting slightly lost!
Wednesday morning brought temperatures
The oldest wheel in the world!
It was found near here in 2002 and is around 5,150 years old! The way it is constructed, and the knowledge of expansion and contraction shows a level of craftsmanship that would indicate that the wheel was invented here long before this time. a good 30 degrees cooler than Tuesday, and some rain. We knew it might rain, and had planned a museum day. We walked to the Ethnographic Museum, a few blocks from our apartment, and were really amazed by the quality and depth of the exhibits. We next got some bikes, and rode along the river to the City Museum, another amazing place, with beautifully curated exhibits. Our last museum stop was the Slovenian History Museum, which had many artifacts and a special exhibit on loan from Russia about Siberian Shamanism. One interesting fact was the existence of "two spirit shamans" who were transgender. The shamans of this category were believed to be especially powerful.
The Slovenes "have traditionally had a very negative attitude towards foreigners"...a change in attitude occurred in the 1960s with the arrival of many foreign students, attending the Universities here. But "sadly since the 1990s we have again been witness to an increase in xenophobia"
We went for dinner to same place we'd eaten on Tuesday, but sat inside due to the cold. We chatted with a pair of women from Victoria, who were about to leave on a week's long walking trip across the
Neanderthal Bone Flute
It was found in 1995 near here and is made of a 43,100-year-old cave bear femur. Karst region to Trieste!
After a bike ride home in the dark, we have booked another part of our trip: a stay in Zagreb, Croatia.
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