Lovely Ljubljana

Hey folks,

please apologize my absence during the last week, but first, I've been busy studying for an exam and then I've been busy relaxing in Ljubljana. :) The Slovenian capital is actually the perfect place to do so, as it is not that big that one would feel obliged to go sightseeing all day long but still big enough to have a lovely time for a few days. David and I mostly strolled through the picturesque historic district (which actually reminded me a lot of Graz - there is even a castle rock too), went shopping a bit and ate tons and tons of delicious food. :)


What to see

Triple Bridge

For a start I would definitely recommend a walk through the city's old town. There are many lovely Jugendstil buildings such as the Cooperative Business Bank building or the famous dragon bridge, in addition the city center is characterized by Jože Plečnik's architecture. If you want to be surrounded by more green, you should definitely check out Tivoli park and walk up to the former Hotel Bellevue, which is now an abandoned (but still appealing) ruin, but must have been glamorous in its glory days. In addition I would suggest to go up the castle hill (either by foot or with the rack railroad). The exhibition about Ljubljana and Slovenia in the castle is not that exciting, but the view from the viewing tower is definitely worth the entrance fee. Furthermore, go down the chapel. If you are lucky, like we were, you will find an artist sitting behind a desk, who writes names and Latin quotes in a beautiful medieval font on bookmarks (against a small voluntary donation). 

Dragon Bridge

Slovenian Ethnographic Museum

Love locks Butcher's Bridge - every city seems to have one nowadays

Street Art

Tivoli Park

Cooperative Business Bank

The pavillon before Hotel Bellevue. I imagine a string quartet playing in there while people drink champagne and dance in front of the hotel in a warm summer night. ;)

Where to eat and drink

Salmon sandwich at Pritličje

Ljubljana is a great place for food lovers. There are many lovely and reasonably priced restaurants and cafés in the city center. Our favourite was "Centralna Postaja", a cosy bar and restaurant where you can get the best burgers and chicken wings. We actually went there twice because it was so good and even David, who is usually a strict vegetarian, couldn't resist ordering the chicken wings. If you rather want some healthy stuff, you should check out "Stadra" in Gosposka ulice. It's a very small and earthy kind of restaurant, but the food is good (many vegetarian options as well), there are many students from the university nearby which can help you if you have language problems ordering and the owner is a very polite and nice person.
If you like cake you should definitely stop at "Lolita", an incredibly sweet café with a huge selection of cakes and other sweet treats. I tried the chocolate cake with orange and anis as well as the hazelnut-chocolate cake and both were delicious. Other nice coffee places are "Pritličje" at Mestni trg (try the sandwiches!) and "Kavarna SEM" near the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum.   

Chocolate-hazelnut cake at Lolita

Where to shop

Although Ljubljana is rather small it offers a range of lovely small stores, which should fulfill your wishes if you're in shopping mood.
If you like vintage clothes you should go to Divas Vintage Galerija. It's an elegant vintage store, where you can also get designer clothes and many beautiful hats. If you want to check it out first, there's an online shop as well.
If you are a paper and design lover, you should definitely visit "babushka Boutique" (they also have a blog here). It's a beautiful little gift shop where can get all kinds of lovely paper goods, small gifts, tableware, some handmade jewellery etc. In the city center there's a similar shop called "SMILE concept store", which is very lovely as well, but in my opinion slightly less lovely than "babushka". ;)
If you are into humanities and social studies, you should go to Azil Knjigarna (on Facebook here) on Novi trg. It's a very nice bookshop with a broad collection of art, politics, philosophy books etc. as well as a good collection of graphic novels. Many of the books are in English too. In addition there is a café right next to it, if you want to read the books you've just bought immediately.
One last shopping tip, in case you like thrift shopping, would be "CPU Ljubljana". The store is a bit outside the city center, but it's worth the walk. You can get almost everything there (clothes, accessories, furniture, decoration, crafting supplies etc.) and that for very reasonable prices... :)

Shopping at Babushka boutique

I wish you a beautiful day!

Yours,
Steffi

All images by Stefanie Reichl/David Auer