Being the wonderful college student traveler that I am, I took the least expensive root possible on my journey. This mean just $100 for a roundtrip ticket from Prague to Ljubljana! This also meant 11 hours each way and 3 train train transfers in Austria. After spending most of Friday on the trains, I finally arrived in Slovenia. I checked into a hostel, which used to be a prison and was voted World's Most Interesting Hostel in 2006. It was located about 10 minutes from the city center on foot and just down the street from the trains. I soon discovered that everything was walkable in this compact and quaint city.
You may ask why Ljubljana? I say, why not! Ljubljana, a city of 300,000, is the capital of Slovenia, a country of just over 2 million residents. Pronounce the same like this: LOO-BLEE-YAN-AH. It was the first republic to break away and declare it's independence from Yugoslavia, and it has always had its eyes on the West. For those of you who didn't have to take Map of the Modern World, Slovenia is bordered on the west by Italy's Trieste region and on the north by Austria. On my first night in the city, I walked around and took in some of the sights. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, I sat down at a café besides the Ljubljana River to have a traditional Slovenian beer, of course. I was later informed that Ljubljana is the only major city with a river named after itself. Before I called it an early night after a long day on the train, I happen to catch some fireworks over Ljubljana Castle. Awesome!
On Saturday morning, I went to the tourist information center downtown to see what there was to do in Ljubljana. Unfortunately the weather all across the center of the continent was terrible, so I had to brave the rain and wet weather to experience the city. I signed up for a tour in English, thankfully many young Slovenes speak English because it is compulsory in school and Slovenian is as impossible as any other Slavic language. My tour was a small group, with a couple from California and another couple from Scotland. The tour guide was really well-spoken and informed, and she was just a college student near my age. The tour was just 10 euros for 2 hours and seeing all of the city. Slovenia has adopted the euro, but lucky for me prices are still reasonable since it's not "Western."
After walking around the Medieval town center, we saw the City Hall, University of Ljubljana, the Roman parts of the city, the places where Napoleon set up shop under French occupation in the 1800, and, of course, Ljubljana Castle. The sights rivaled those in Prague or any other European capital, there were just less of them since it's such a small city comparatively. The castle is situated on a large hill, so you could see all of the city and surrounding region from the top. On a clear day, we would have been able to see the Alps and into Austria!
Dragons are what Ljubljana is known for. According to legend, a dragon lived in the swamplands to the south and Jason of the Argonauts slayed the dragon in ancient times. Slovenes thought the was a dragon in the swamps because of the common sights of spontaneous combustion and quicksand in the marshland. The city still uses this emblem everywhere, and there is a famous bridge with statues too. After lunch at a little bar, I stopped at Zvezda for the most amazing Irish coffee and chocolate-strawberry cake...for just 6 euros total.
Later in the day, I decided to take the 2-hour train to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, which was also part of the Former Yugoslavia. I used the time on the train to dry off from all the soaking wet weather. When we crossed the border, we had to have our passports checked and stamped on both the Slovenian and Croatian sides of the border since Croatia is not in the European Union yet. They are expected to join by next year finally, but it means customs and borders until then. I quickly found an ATM and withdrew the minimum amount since Croatia has its own currency, the kuna. I withdrew 100 kuna, which was about $19. This lasted me for a few stops in cafes and dinner. Zagreb is not the most beautiful city, as Croatia is known for its Adriatic beaches in the south, but I figured I would stop in to see a new country while I could. Some of the famous sights include Zagreb Cathedral and St. Mark's Church in the Old Town on the top of the city hill. Zagreb wasn't too exciting, but I made the best of the day in the torrential downpours.
All-in-all, I had a fantastic weekend journeying by myself in the Former Yugoslav Republics of Slovenia and Croatia. It was certainly worth the 26 hours and 9 train rides. I wish I had more time in Ljubljana, as it was definitely one of my favorite cities in Europe thus far. The city was beautiful, the people were friendly, and the prices were reasonable. There's always next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment