Blogs from Ljubljana, Upper Carniola, Slovenia, Europe

Of course breakfast. Most comprehensive spread we have come across and it continues to impress. We share breakfast with a cast of maybe a hundred others so it is a little’Coles Cafeteria’ at times but we manage to find a corner and relax. The selection includes more bacon than I’ve ever seen before but that sort of thing is expected. Other more esoteric items include some lovely baked beans cooked with cumin seed in a manner quite like the Egyptians served for breakfast. There’s also an aged cheddar wheel with crumbled cheddar, why someone asked, why not I reply! Rich strawberry and chocolate cake is also there, the same ones that we had late a couple of nights ago for supper. Even I ask why to that offering. Even the coffee is pretty good. I’ve found ... read more

Some good, some not so good. You win some, you lose some. There are up and there are downs. You win on the swings, you lose on the roundabouts. Plenty of good food lately. My breakfast muesli and yogurt was great and the tomato soups we have had here have been consistently very good but … We experienced the opposite end of the spectrum tonight with a burger served with sachets of sauce and mayo and beer in a plastic cup! Why? Left Bled and our first real view of Ljubljana was near the central railway station. Bled is delightful, scenic and attractive not many railway stations are. Bled is upmarket and touristy, the zone around the station is not. Quite a few homeless and the area is quite ‘scungy’. The graffiti here is edgy and ... read more

This morning we decide to visit Tivoli Park which is only a few hundred metres across the river from our hotel. We walk through the very attractive Congress Square which is surrounded by classical architectural icons including the Slovenian Philharmonic Building and the University of Ljubljana. A few hundred metres further on is the eye wateringly ugly and completely contrasting Trg Republike. The ever reliable Google Maps describes this as a “plaza to showcase socialist modernist architecture in 1960, fringed by landmark towers”. Hmmm. The two “landmark towers” are on one side opposite the National Assembly Building of Slovenia. The architects who designed this lot clearly did their training at a kindergarten where all they were given to play with were a bunch of dark grey Lego bricks. There’s not a curve or any shred of ... read more

We’re up at the crack of dawn for our early morning flight to Trieste. The lady at the check in desk tells us that downtown Trieste is famous for its coffee. This is nice to know, but if we find ourselves in downtown Trieste later in the morning it will only be famous in the Sheehan household as the place we ended up in when we missed the turnoff to Slovenia. We can see Venice out the plane window just before we land, well we think it might be Venice. It’s ridiculously hazy. Our flight took off an hour and a half late because Rome Airport was closed earlier this morning, allegedly due to “fog”. I didn’t know you could get fog when it was nearly forty degrees. We check over our hire car carefully for ... read more

Off the beaten track in Trnovo Our tour started on Trnovo Bridge, built between 1929 and 1932. Jože Plečnik's project of the Gradaščica channel embankments' reconstruction. It was designed with respect to the features of the Trnovo Church, the Bridge forms an extension to the church square and the pyramids adorning it imitate the shape of the Church's spires. We entered the church of St.John the Baptist where modern art sat well with ancient and traditional aspects of the church. A tiny park with sculptures of Slovenian impressionists was tucked away not far from the church. We strolled along the stream that divides the Boatman village and the Fisherman village. It was interesting to hear how houses were built with two windows at the front but the entrance door was always to the side. As the ... read more