Slovenia

Slovenia, home

of the torn out storybook

fairytale pages

Ahh Slovenia. I feel like that is the only appropriate way to begin a blog or a story or an anything about Slovenia. I had heard about its endless beauty when I was in Rome, but I thought “pffff Slovenia? Alright lol,” (typical millennial am I right?) and did not think about it again until all of my travel plans went up in flames. I was supposed to meet my friend from university in Amsterdam, but a last minute bite from a tick and the subsequent diagnoses of Lyme Disease prevented her from flying. I suddenly had a month and a half of unplanned European time on my hands, and no idea how to fill it.

A friend I made in Rome told me to meet up with her in Vienna, but that was still a few weeks away, and truth be told, I was a little over Italy. So I pulled out a map of Europe (and by that I mean I Googled one) and looked at the countries between Italy and Austria. And there it was, Slovenia.

The trip started off not great to say the least. I went to the wrong train station in Florence, switched to the right one though I missed my train. Was able to catch another one that would make it to Verona just in time for me to catch my bus to Ljubljana, (Liu-blee-ana). I did not however catch my bus. I did arrive at the station just in time for me to have to run through the terminal, frantically searching for the international bus terminal. I was directed to a road behind a church, running frantically, and looking visibly stressed when I arrived just in the nick of time, though my bus did not.

A nice old man took pity on me and tried to help me read the elaborate bus terminal schedule, though it quickly became clear that my bus was not scheduled. After waiting a half hour, I went back to the train station to try and find help, to no avail. No one was helpful and I couldn’t help but think, how Italian. Instead of sitting down and crying like I wanted to, I said fuck it and bought a Flixbus ticket, having seen they had another bus scheduled to the Slovenian capital for a few hours later when I was frantically looking at the schedule. Checked my email for a confirmation, and found an email from my first bus telling me they were an hour delayed.

Moral of the story: always check your email, always book with Flixbus.

I arrived in Ljubljana around 8 o’clock, and it was love at first night. A beautiful city straight out of a fairytale, dragons and all. I don’t think I have ever looked at sidewalks and thought wow those are lovely! But they were. A river runs through the center of the city, willows looming over the embankments as people drank Aperol Spritz under heated lamps to protect against the early November chill. The river runs all the way to an Ancient Roman wall that was built in 15 AD.

On the highest mountain overlooking the loveliest city capital I have ever seen, is a real medieval castle. Inside they have galleries displaying modern art and photography, old military weapons, and a wonderful historical museum on Ljubljana Castle and Slovenian History.

I did not know what to expect from Slovenian food, though I had read online that it was delicious. They share a common thread with much of Eastern Europe like goulash, sausage with sauerkraut and Schnitzel, though they have their own delicious creations like cream cake (!!!!) and struklji. Not only were all of my meals delicious, but extremely affordable as well.

I took a day trip to Lake Bled with a different girl I had met in Rome, Aarisha, who had seen on my Instagram Story that we were both in the same city. Bled is an incredible azure blue lake with a small island and a monastery in the middle of it. It takes about 3 hours to walk all around the lake, across paths that veer into forests and over docks, always within sight of the lake. We got lucky with the weather, and it only rained when we first arrived and towards the end of our walk. What was most incredible was that there was hardly anyone else there. A few runners and a fisherman were the extent of our interactions, and when we stopped for a coffee at the town at the opposite end of the lake a waiter told me that in the summer you have to walk in a single file around the path.

Because I had planned on meeting my friend in Vienna, I decided to stay in Slovenia a few extra days and venture to Maribor, a city on the opposite side of the country, where it boarders Austria. I admittedly did not do much there, though I did see the oldest wine vine in the world. I mainly wanted to stay in Maribor though because it was close to Ptuj, the oldest town in Slovenia.

Just like the rest of the country, Ptuj is a charming city full of wonderful historical sights, authentic bars, cafes and lovely people. You can visit another castle here, and got through their museum as well, displaying the Royal Families rooms and ancient instruments. The star of Ptuj in my opinion though is the Roman hill across from the castle that looks over the residential area of the city and the river.

I cannot wait to return to Slovenia one day, hopefully when it is a little warmer so I can enjoy the white water rafting and hiking that the country is famous for. My whole trip I could not recommend it enough, and have since then been telling people that they just have to see Bled and eat cream cakes. You should too.