In this humble country you have
- The beautiful city of Lubljana with food and wine that is on par with Italian food (I can honestly say this after living in Italy for the past 3 years), incredible architecture which was fortunately not all destroyed during WWII, amazing tourist friendly people (something you will not find in Milan, Paris or Helsinki), incredible restaurants which pour out into the cobble stone streets and very few American tourists.
- The birth place of Jazz in Maribor
- The most beautiful lake with incredible photo opportunities in the city of Bled
- Delicious sea food, refreshing salt water swimming & beautiful white stone architecture, free public transportation and cheap parking in the coastal city of Piran.
The city of Lubljana provides all of the incredible foods and wine of Italy with meat portions comparable to those found in the US and an evening party scene for every age group.
Life lessons learned on this trip:
1. You may be pet by the local children....
My Slovenian cousin (Gregor), fluffy dog (Leila) and I were sitting on the large stone steps enjoying the dinners we had just purchased from the open market kitchen when a family of four walked by. The mother looked at me with semi-concealed horror as her 4 year old son motioned to me and tried to pull her toward my group. Thinking he wanted to pet the dog, I had Leila lay down to be at his height and I encouraged the woman to let her son pet my dog. With a look of total shock, she let her son go as she watched me wearily.
Understanding the Slovenian chatter which had been exchanged between the two, Gregor began to laugh uncontrollably and pulled out his camera. I motioned to Leila but instead of running straight up to her, the boy ran up the stairs and behind me. The boy's father, who was carrying a smaller boy on his shoulders, strolled over to see what was happening when my eyes shot open. A tiny hand ran its fingers through my hair and I suddenly realized why his mother had responded in such a fashion when the boy originally requested to approach my group. Later Gregor translated the dialogue for me and explained that the boy thought I was an alien.
2. Leave the party before you say goodbye
In Italy whenever you arrive at a party you have to greet every single one of your friends with 2 or 3 kisses before you may order a drink or food, and at the end of the evening you say goodbye to every single friend in the same fashion. As you can see, this entire process may take up to one hour of your time, so in Italy you can never simply "stop by" a party for less than 60 minutes. If you try to skip even one person, they will be upset with you for no less than one week, trust me, it is not worth it.
This being said, after living in Italy for 3 years Ive grown accustom to this method and therefore made the fatal mistake of trying to exit the Slovenian party in this fashion. What happened? I would say goodbye to everyone then, when I would go to say goodbye to the hosting couple, they would greet me with a drink -.- and insist that it was rude to leave without one more drink. So there I would be talking to people for another hour as I waited for the beverage to run its course so I could drive back to my hotel without earning a DUI. This went on for 4 hours, until finally a kind soul pointed out what I needed to do to properly leave the party.
So, learn from my mistake. If you end up at a party with a group of Slovenians this is how to say goodbye when you want to leave:
- Quickly grab your purse and coat
- Walk 50 meters away
- Turn and yell / wave goodbye
- Keep walking quickly until you are out of sight
When I went to buy my ticket for the Skocjan Caves I had my camera slung over my shoulder. Seeing the no camera sign I asked if that meant no flash or no camera at all? The woman said, "No cameras are allowed in the cave, you should go put that back in your car." As a Generation "Y would I want to partake in anything that cannot be photographed" I left my 5th appendage and joined the tour group. After a 20 minute walk down to the entrance of the cave, our tour guide told us that there would be a place for taking pictures in the cave at the end of the tour. Extremely upset with the other woman who had photo blocked me and chopped off my favorite limb, I pulled out my iPad and "very maturely" challenged my Slovenian cousin to see who could take the most pictures in the cave without the tour guide catching us. I made it through 80 minutes of the 90 minute tour before I was caught.
My recommended itineraries for Slovenia:
Semi-Relaxed:
Day 1
Arrive at Lake Bled in the afternoon, check into your hotel then take a boat to the church on the island.
Day 2
Morning: Walk (I wore 3 inch heels, you do not need boots, just don't do sandals) or rent bikes and cycle around the entire lake & visit the castle on top of the hill.
Afternoon: Drive south to Lubljana check into your hotel, walk around the city and eat downtown preferably at the open kitchen markets set up across from the river from the pink church
Evening: Hike up the hill to the castle to watch the sunset (I did this in 6 inch heels, you do not need hiking boots for this walk)
Day 3
Morning: Leave Lubljana for the Skocjan Caves, eat lunch in one of the local wine villages
Afternoon: Drive to Piran, check into your hotel then walk to the end of the pier for swimming and dinner.
Intense:
Day 1
Check into hotel in Lubljana for 3 days.
Drive up to Maribor for sightseeing, chill music and dinner.
Day 2
Wake up and drive north to Lake Bled, bike around the entire lake
Drive back to Lubljana to change from beach clothes to jeans and hiking boots then drive south to visit the Skocjan caves.
Eat dinner at Gostilna Gombač Saša Gombač at Lokev 165, 6219 Lokev tel: +386-576-70 if you eat pork, this region is known for their prosciutto. Make sure to also try the wine. (closed Tuesday & Wednesday)
After dinner go to the Predjama Castle, before driving home.
Day 3
Visit the morning markets that are strewn across the cobble stone streets of old town Lubljana (keep in mind that there are several clumps randomly placed throughout the city so if you do not like what you see at one clump, don't settle for sub-par creations.) --Sundays have free parking downtown all day.
Checkout of your hotel & head to Piran. Park in the 7 story parking deck then take the free shuttle (or walk) to the pier on the south side of the pier you will find stairs leading to the water for swimming & fine dining. On the north side of the pier you will find a dive shop, ladders climbing up out of the water for swimmers and cheap bars.
Check in to your hotel and then head out for a night of seafood and sunsets.
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