Slovenia: Ljubljana – My First Taste of the Former Yugoslavia

For me, the countries that made up the former Yugoslavia suffered from a huge image problem for a long time. Growing up in the 70s and 80s when Eastern Europe was communist, gave many people a tainted view. Communist countries were associated with oppression, thought of as grim, grey, dangerous places run by dictators. They were countries shrouded in secrecy thanks to the Cold War, no one really knew what they were like or what was going on there.

In Britain in the 1980s, there was a tour operator called Yugotours, who ran package holidays to Yugoslavia, which seemed to be the only communist country that could be visited with relative ease at that time.  Even so, from what I can recall as a young teenager, Yugotours holidays had a reputation for being cheap, using substandard hotels and the packages being pretty low quality. So Yugoslavia didn’t exactly come with a glowing recommendation.

This was further compounded when the wars broke out in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the news was full of images of a country being destroyed by bombs.

So all of those elements completely overshadowed everything else and it never even occurred to me that these areas could have any sights worth seeing, a former communist, war torn country with low standard accommodation, infrastructure and services.

However, as I got older, communism had collapsed in Eastern Europe, the various countries of the former Yugoslavia recovered from the war of the 1990s, the Dalmation coast in Croatia began to gain popularity and got rave reviews for its beauty and I watched a travel documentary about Slovenia which gave me a bit of insight into this small country bordering Austria.

I began to think that there might be some sights worthy of attention in the countries that made up the former Yugoslavia, and in 2016, finally I got an opportunity to visit.

I had done a lot of travelling in the former Eastern Bloc countries over the past 15 years, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and even Russia and I generally loved them.  They were countries full of fascinating historical sites, beautiful cities and spectacular natural attractions. So there was no reason why the countries that made up the former Yugoslavia would be any different.

I was travelling to Slovenia, my first former Yugoslavian country, from Prague and it was going to take me all day to get to Ljubljana by train. I first took a train to Vienna which was fine. I had two more trains to go and then I’d be in Ljubljana.

Vienna Main Station was easy to navigate and I’d paid €5 to upgrade to first class which gave me access to the airport style lounge with free drinks and snacks, a much more pleasant way to spend an hour and a half than waiting on the platform.

It’s a nice journey through the mountains to Villach, although I could only enjoy this to a certain degree since I was watching the timings for getting into the stations. At one point we were 3 minutes behind. This generally would be no big deal. Except when you only have 7 minutes to change trains and I had to get from one platform to another with my heavy suitcases either carrying them up and down stairs or in the lift if there was one. I did make my connection.

The final train was going to Zagreb and stopping off in Ljubljana. When we got over the border into Slovenia, the train ground to a halt. Then a man came round to our compartment and kindly informed us that the train was “finished”. So we all had to get off this train and I had to lug my suitcases to another platform and onto this wreck of a train covered in graffiti. When I found first class, it looked no better than second class, just as well I got my money’s worth in the lounge at Vienna Station! This was not a great first impression of the former Yugoslavia for me. Had my past assumptions about good reasons not to visit the country when it was still Yugoslavia been correct and were they still true today? Was all of Slovenia going to be like this? Broken down and covered in graffiti? I hoped not. We were half an hour late getting into Ljubljana, the taxi the hotel had sent for me had decided not to wait.

The lifts were interesting at Ljubljana Station. I got into the lift, went up one level, the door opened, I didn’t get out quickly enough, the door closed and I went down again. At the lower level the door opened for a couple with a pushchair to get in, they weren’t quick enough either, the door closed and up I went again. But next time I was ready, standing right by the door and charging out as soon as they opened and a lad on a motorbike rode into the lift. I’d never seen that before either. Was he taking his motorbike on the train?

After ringing the hotel to send me another taxi it was getting late, I’d been travelling well over 12 hours. Definitely bedtime for me.

The next morning I walked from my hotel into Ljubljana city centre. After my initial trepidation about my first time in the former Yugoslavia with its broken down trains and graffiti, I had to admit that my hotel was very nice. And now as I walked into the city centre, I found Ljubljana to be a very pleasant city.

There was some sort of sports promotion going on in one of the squares encouraging people to try out volleyball or do chin ups at a bar and suchlike. I bypassed that. I walked up to the Triple Bridge that had been pointed out to me on the map by the hotel staff. This bridge connects the medieval part of the city with the new town and is the most frequently crossed bridge in Ljubljana. It has an unusual design with a pedestrian footbridge either side of the main bridge, hence Triple Bridge.

I found another square with more market stalls, the people on these stalls were advertising Belgrade and giving out free samples of alcohol. I had no intention of visiting Belgrade on this trip, I simply didn’t have the time, but I tried the free alcohol. Judging by the stuff I tried, that wasn’t a compelling reason to visit Belgrade either!

Much better was the ice cream from an ice cream parlour where I tried lemongrass sorbet and paradise chocolate which was white chocolate ice cream with bits of pomegranate and dark chocolate flakes in it. Then it was time for the castle.

I spent my afternoon at Ljubljana Castle one of the main attractions in the city. A funicular takes you to the top of the hill where the castle is located. The castle was originally a medieval fortress, however the present castle dates from the 15th century onwards.

My entry ticket got me into all the museums and viewpoints so first of all I went to look in the Puppet Museum, which was quite interesting, the puppets on display were very cute. You even have chance to try your hand at being a puppeteer, I wasn’t very good. But I did enjoy the museum.

There was an exhibition about beekeeping in the castle, because Ljubljana had been voted Green Capital for 2016 and they were very proud of this and were trying to raise awareness about the importance of bees. I had no idea how important bees are, according to the information I read, a third of all the food in the world is attributed to the contribution of bees pollinating plants. I learn something everywhere I go.

The dragon is also a symbol of Ljubljana. This fearsome dragon ruled the castle and demanded one virgin a year as a sacrifice and when it was the king’s daughter whose time was up, the king said any man who killed the dragon could marry his daughter. St George turned up, stabbed the dragon, but then a huge hole opened in the ground and the dragon was swallowed up into that. So some say the dragon isn’t dead. What I want to know is, there are so many European countries that claim St George killed their dragon, how many dragons did he kill? If he only killed one, where did that happen? Maybe I’ll try looking it up one day and be even more baffled than I am now…

It’s said that on a clear day you can see a third of Slovenia from the castle. I went to the top of the viewing tower and it was a beautiful day, so I imagine I did see a third of Slovenia from up there.

In the Museum of Slovenian History which is located at the castle, they had a replica of the oldest wooden wheel in the world, found in Slovenia dating back over 5000 years. The real one is in another museum in Ljubljana. I had a look around the museum and saw the replica wheel as I wasn’t going to have time to see the original.

I did a time machine tour at the castle, which was quite entertaining, four actors told you about life in the castle throughout history. There was an actor who played St George who said that he killed the dragon, but was far too busy travelling around Europe fighting other fearsome creatures to marry the princess, so he turned down the king’s offer and went on his next dragon slaying adventure.

The last one was the story of a former mayor of the city, Ivan Hribar, who said he wanted to build a funicular up to the castle and also put museums and restaurants there. That’s what is up there now and the funicular too, but interestingly, the mayor really did have that vision for the castle, more than 100 years ago. He was immensely popular but someone decided he had too much power and wouldn’t let him be elected any more after several years. Then he was offered the title of mayor again at the age of 90, but he wouldn’t have had any power. He refused the offer and in protest wrapped himself in the Yugoslavian flag and threw himself off the Triple Bridge to his death. At least he was 90 years old! But not a very nice ending for such a popular mayor.

After the castle I went to have a look at the Dragon Bridge, which is the other bridge in Ljubljana that you have to see besides the Triple Bridge. It has a dragon at each corner representing the symbol of the city. I did pass a bar with some great blackboards outside, my personal favourite was about unattended children. Whoever ran the bar obviously had a good sense of humour.

I decided I wanted a pizza for my tea and I found a recommended pizza restaurant that proclaimed “Our doors are wide open 365 days a year except in the years of the Summer Olympic Games. Then our doors are open on 29 February as well.” I thought there must be an easier way of saying you’re open every single day than putting it this way. But seeing stuff like this written down does entertain me on my travels. There was a lot of choice in the pizza restaurant. I ordered a glass of wine, but I found it difficult to decide what pizza I wanted. I kept sending the waiter away because I still hadn’t decided. Eventually on his fourth visit to my table I placed my order.

And that was the end of my time in Ljubljana. It was a very pleasant city, but it didn’t blow me away. On the other hand, I hadn’t come to Slovenia to spend time in the cities. I’d come for the lakes and mountains and caves. Like St George, I was moving on from Ljubljana in search of my next adventure.

I travelled to Slovenia during the last week of September 2016.

I stayed at the Ahotel in Ljubljana which is approximately a 20 minute walk from the city centre. Breakfast and free parking is included in the room rate.

I visited Ljubljana Castle on a Time Machine Tour. My ticket also included entry to the castle, viewing tower, museums in the castle and return funicular journey.

I bought my inventively flavoured ice cream from Vigo Ice Cream which is located in the heart of the city centre at the corner of Stritarjeva Ulica (Street) and Mackova Ulica (Street).

I ate pizza at Foculus Pizzeria which has an extensive pizza menu including more than a dozen vegetarian options.

I travelled to Ljubljana by train from Prague with changes in Vienna and Villach (and an unscheduled change at the Slovenian border!)
For the Prague to Vienna segment I booked online with Czech Railways
For the Vienna to Ljubljana segment I booked online with Austrian Railways
You book and pay for your tickets online and print them at home.