Date: May 12th, 2023
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Today was a moving day! I got up a little before my usual time to make sure my bag was all packed and I was all dressed to travel to our next destination: Ljubljana, Slovenia. Luckily, I had done most of my packing already so it was just making sure my day bag had all the stuff I needed to prepare for that couple hour-long bus trip. And soon enough, I was done and heading downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat before loading onto the bus. It was definitely a bittersweet moment going downstairs and seeing the hotel lobby, knowing that this would be the last time we were there. I had spent a lot of hours working down here so I’m definitely going to miss this place (and their extremely nice staff) but I’m excited to go on and explore. But before I knew it, we were all loaded up on the bus to Slovenia and we were on our way!
If I’m being honest, I slept through pretty much the entire bus ride. I was feeling just slightly under the weather so I figured it would be best if I took this bus ride easy and take a moment to rest. I had some moments when I was going in and out of sleep and I was able to see some of the sights but I was mostly passed out for this journey. From what I did see though, the Austrian countryside on the way to Slovenia was really really pretty. There wasn’t much to it but in my mind, it was just very serene and peaceful. Nothing but pretty green hills and little houses here and there. It was very nice.
Eventually, though we made it to Ljubljana! Crossing the border into Slovenia took us no time at all, and the trip itself was probably about four hours so not too bad. Unfortunately, it was kind of rainy when we were getting into the city but I didn’t really mind. We drove a little way into the city before we stopped at the hotel. All around us on the way in, I was able to see more residential areas compared to the more touristy areas I saw in Vienna so it was a nice change of pace. But our hotel was a nice, big fancy one right where the more historic part of the city started so I was very excited about that!
After we all got off the bus and into the hotel lobby, our teachers and the hotel staff divided up the rooms. I ended up being put in a triple with two other girls who were rooming together. I didn’t mind it because they were both very nice and super sweet to me, but I think I speak for all three of us when I say a slightly bigger room (that could actually fit our three beds and suitcases) would be appreciated. Oh well! We aren’t in Europe to sleep after all!
After everyone got settled into their hotel rooms and put away their stuff, everyone had to go downstairs to meet with our teachers. As it turns out, one of our teachers had a friend who lives in Ljubljana so they arranged for him to give us a walking tour! I was really glad to hear that- we only have the rest of the today and tomorrow morning in Slovenia so I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to see all the sights. But with a guide, I knew I was going to be just fine!
Anyways, we started our walking tour by walking down a road that had a bunch of small restaurants and little shops. We made a quick pit stop to grab some snacks since we didn’t want to spend up too much of our time grabbing lunch and then off we went exploring the city! We got to see a lot of cool, historic buildings and sights on our walking tour. One of the spots I really liked was the Dragon Bridge. I wasn't really able to get a good picture of it since it was really wide and there we lots of people around. But just know, it looked really nice!
While there, I learned that Ljubljana is nicknamed, the Dragon City. Our tour guide told us that this goes back to the old Greek myth about Jason and the Argonauts. At one point during Jason the Hero’s journey, he had to slay a dragon. If you trace back the journey he had to take to real-life locations, the dragon he slayed would have been located in Ljubljana! I love hearing about history, but hearing a little bit of mythology thrown in the mix there is always exciting! Anyways, here are a couple of pictures I took while strolling around!
But the walking tour went on for a while. Our guide was someone who actually grew up in Pennsylvania so he did his best to show us the historic spots that we shouldn’t miss while also throwing in a bunch of his favorite places. We got to see a really famous market and statues and all sorts of different things. Though I think the best part of the tour has to be visiting the castle!
The castle was within city limits and was actually about a ten-ish minute walk from the base of the city. Though it was a pretty steep walk uphill so it wasn’t the greatest. But it wasn’t too bad either. The castle itself was pretty small and it looks like most (if not all) of the interior design was swapped out to be most modern and showy. But the exterior looked like the original! Ad since it was sitting on top of a hill, it had a nice view of the city. We weren’t really able to tour it or hear much of its history but we were able to sit down in the castle cafe! Like the rest of the castle, it was super modern looking but it was very cozy and somehow able to accommodate our whole group of 24 people! And to my surprise, there was a jazz club underneath. Very nice place- in fact, it was the type of place I expected to see in Seattle or something. Not Slovenia. But it was really cool either way.
And I have to say, it didn’t take long for me to feel like Ljubljana was going to be one of my favorite destinations on this whole trip. I know that saying that when we’ve only been to two cities so far is a bit premature, but I can’t help it! The historic district is small but is peaceful and very pretty. Extremely walkable too. And even though the rainy weather made everything a little dreary, I still ended up really enjoying every single second of it!
Anyways, after we finished visiting the castle, we took the trolley down and decided to go get dinner. I was able to stop at a travel book store once we got back to the city and then I joined up with some of the people in our program to get some traditional Slovenian cuisine! The place where we ended up getting dinner was very cozy and the food was delicious. The bread there was super fresh and all vegetables were locally grown. A crowd favorite was definitely the mushrooms. They were collected by hand from a forest nearby was so that was cool. Our servers were friendly too and served me and the people at my table a shot of a “dessert liqueur.” It was just a shot of a dark-brown amber-looking liquid that was supposed to act as a bit of a palate cleanser. Admittedly, I could get past dipping my tongue into it so I had to pass. But I heard from everyone else that it was really good so there’s that.
Once dinner was finished, I decided to head back to the hotel. As much as I wanted to explore the nightlight, it was still kind of rainy and I was still feeling a bit under the weather so I opted to head back to my triple and take a nice long shower and get some work done for some upcoming internships I had for the summer. All in all, I was very happy with today and I really like Ljubljana. Even though it’s on the smaller side for the touristy areas, it was really beautiful and I wish I had a bit more time to explore the city and its history. Either way, I’m extremely grateful that I did get to go. And I still have tomorrow morning for a little exploring so maybe I’ll see a little more while exploring in the morning too!
So that's it for today's entry! Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time!
-DD
Picture Sources (in order of appearance):
Slovenian Street! - My photo!
Shop with cool design - My photo!
Lock Bridge - My photo!
Ljubljana Castle - My photo!
View from the castle - My photo!
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