Ljubljana is about 2 hours northeast of Venice, Italy in a lovely country named Slovenia, which was  part of Yugoslavia until 1991. The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains and hosts hip clothing shops, high scale restaurants and beautiful art nouveau architecture. There is the Riverside Market in the center of town that sells local fruits, vegetables, breads and souvenirs daily. It is a wonderful place to walk around and get a feel for the people and their culture. Throughout Ljubljana, you'll see dragon sculptures, statues and designs.  Supposedly, centuries ago a local hero fought and killed a green water dragon and nowadays, the dragon symbolizes liveliness for the Ljubljana's. Due to the tourism slowly trickling into the area, things are still quite affordable.  But be forwarned!  Ljubljana is set to be the next Prague.....which translates into lots and lots o' tourists and higher prices.

Ljubljana was subject to a devastating earthquake in 1895 that destroyed just about the entire city.  As a result, the Slovenians rebuilt the city with pride, adding color and infusing their new city with the Vienna-inspired Art Nouveau architecture that is so prominent along its streets today.

 

One of the places we enjoyed lunch at was Ljubljana's oldest restaurant, Gostilna Sestica (www.gp-vic.si/sestica.asp), where they've been serving food since 1776.  Service was pretty poor, prices were good and the food was tasty.  It is definitely a place full of tourists...but had a cool ambience, none the less. 

Cafes offer up some delicious coffees, cappucinos and pastries....CHEAP!  Another score for us was finding a wine bar owned by Movia, a Slovenian winemaker.  The wine bar fed us fresh cheeses, marinated olives and lots of good wine.  Perhaps too good.  We were all hurting a bit the next day.......

If you plan on staying here, be sure to reserve a room at the Grand Hotel Union. It is centrally located, offers fantastic service and outstanding breakfasts!  And need I say again...affordable?

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