LJULBJANA: THE TRUE MEANING OF LOVE

No, this is not a typo! For those who don't know yet, Ljubljana is the capital city of the tiny - yet lovely - country that is Slovenia. The capital counts about 190,000 citizens and its land, a little over 2 million people. Surrounded by Austria, Italy, and Croatia, it is easy to imagine how these neighbouring countries strongly influence Slovenia's food, architecture, and natural scenery. Although I have already visited all of those border neighbours in previous travels, I did not know much about Slovenia except its capital's name. I had no idea what to see, eat, and expect as a general feeling of the city. Well, let me tell you that deliberately deciding not to do any preliminary research was probably the best decision I have made for this trip. I kept a blank slate, and it opened the door to infinite possibilities of enchantment. As of now, I have decided this will become my new way of travelling! No preparation, no anticipation, no deception!

To be completely transparent, I did not plan to visit Slovenia just yet. I had booked a flight to Budapest (again!), where I planned to spend a portion of my Easter vacation with my girlfriend. Unfortunately, we broke up a few months before she was supposed to join me in Europe and cancelled her flight ticket (but more on that on my next post). And there I was, left alone with no desire of going back to Budapest just yet. I have already been there in December and going there again in May for an electro-swing concert starring Parov Stelar. But, I was still looking for another destination where I could spend my four-day Easter weekend and get my mind off of the deception caused by my recent break-up. And so, I have spontaneously decided to embark on a journey to Ljubljana. Visiting this city was also the perfect way to reconnect with my friends Ursa - who lives there and with whom I spent so many crazy moments during my student exchange in Lille back in 2009.

My arrival time at the Ljubljana Train Station was initially planned around 3:00 am. My hostel is located minutes away from my arrival point, and I had previously arranged with the reception desk to have someone meet me upon my arrival to unlock the main door and point me to my bed. Murphy's Law being true to itself, I was late for a full 120 minutes. My Project Manager instinct should have anticipated heavy traffic on the way since it was a four-day weekend. Of course, the commute being longer than expected made sure I ran out of battery on my cellphone. As a result, I had no way of contacting the receptionist to warn her of my lateness. The poor girl had waited 60 minutes at the door, hoping I would finally show up. Luckily for me, she had left a note on the main door inviting me to let myself in and officially check in on the next day. She kept the main door unlocked and shared the codes on each subsequent entry. I have to admit she took a bold risk. But, it served me well, so...

The following day, I had arranged with a group of colleagues from work - who were also passing through Ljubljana on the same weekend - to meet in the morning and take part in the free walking tour. I know what you're thinking: a free walking tour is so cliché and right on the beaten tracks for non-adventurous tourists. You are right! But, in reality, it's also an excellent way to quickly get some key reference points around the city for the coming days. After the tour, we decided to break bread at the Open Kitchen Food Market (Odprta Kuhna) every Friday from March till October. We spent the whole afternoon walking around town and discovering the jewels the Lovely City has to offer. We went up the Castle Hill - predominating the City Center - and enjoyed the sun up there for a while. An ex-colleague who relocated to his hometown has played the tourist guide for us over the weekend. That, of course, included a dinner at the famous 'Gostilnica 5-6 kg' - named after its renowned signature recipe of roasted baby pork weighing between five and six kilograms on average. Our friend knew the owner of the restaurant and therefore secured a table for six with minimal effort. Some of you might already be aware of my life-lasting love affair with seafood. So, I went for the thick crust seafood pizza topped with a more-than-satisfying assortment of fish, giant shrimp and cheeses. Attempting to describe its taste would simply not do it justice. So, I'll just leave it up to your imagination.

Although everyone we spoke to insisted on the point that Slovenia was in Central Europe (and not Eastern Europe), given its geographic location West from Vienna, we could not help but acknowledge some of the similarities in culture and centers of interest. Namely, strong alcohol and hardcore EDM! So, our friend suggested going to an electronic music event, for which he managed to get us all free entry with VIP treatment. Hard to say no, right? This event turned out to be quite the happening in Ljubljana that day, as we could witness the crowd of people desperately trying to snatch the last few unclaimed tickets at the box office. The event was sold out! I am not incredibly crazy about electronic music. But, I have to admit that it was pretty fun to be there with a group of friends and experience what the locals are into. It gives a different perspective of what the country's culture is really about.

The next morning, we met my friend Ursa and her partner to get away from the city and explore more of the nature side. First stop: Bled. Although weather conditions were not optimal, we still made the most out of our visit. Some might even say that the misty atmosphere gave the lake an appeased spin that even locals were not used to. We walked through the village and up the castle, which gave us a fantastic view over the lake and its tiny island hosting a chapel right in the middle. After a nice walk around the lake, we went back to the village to try the local specialty - The Bled Cake! After a nice rest and a taste of local flavours, we extended our visit to another lake that was much more of rustic scenery. Bohinj Lake gave a new flavour to the trip as it brought us closer to the Alpine influence in the country. A few moments of mindfulness were in order before hitting the road again. Halfway between Bohinj and Ljubljana, we decided to stop for lunch in a shack where the menu proposed different meat dishes, pasta and seafood. I haven't had a decent plate of fried calamari ever since I relocated to Germany. Now was y chance to bank on that craving, and let me tell you that I was not disappointed!

The next day, I went for brunch at a lovely french-style cafe, where I sat outside to enjoy the morning breeze. One of my favourite things to do while travelling is to sit on a terrasse and drink my coffee while observing locals go about their daily routine. I suddenly feel like time has stopped. It did until a sparrow appeared out of nowhere on my table and drank from my glass of water! It took so much time to hydrate itself that I even had time to reach to my phone and capture the moment... Thug Life!

I spent the rest of the day wandering around town, taking a boat tour on the Danube (which was NOT worth it at all!) and going from one coffee place to another to watch some football games at it started pouring some severe rain over the city. I have to admit that I was utterly charmed by Ljubljana and did not anticipate it to be of such beauty. Whether it was food, the architecture or the natural scenery, the few that I saw from the Lovely City and its surroundings were a great representation of its geographic location - a perfect balance of the very best elements that Slovenia's border countries have to offer!