One of the joys of travelling is discovering new places about which you know very little. Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, was one of those places. I knew nothing about it, other than a conversation with a family of tourists we met in Munich, who told us Ljubljana was their favourite European city.
I was immediately curious about this hidden gem, and we were fortunate enough to visit it a few years later.
The centre of town is a pedestrian-only area, named Preseren Square after France Preseren, Slovenia's most-beloved poet. The lovely Franciscan Church sits on one of the corners of the square. A monument there is dedicated to Preseren, and it faces the window of his beloved Julija, the woman with whom he fell in love, and for whom he longed the rest of his life:
The Ljubljanica River flows through town and charmingly, has artwork posted upside down on its embankments, so you can view it right side up in the water.
With the river winding its way through town, Ljubljana is of course a city of bridges. The Dragon Bridge, guarded by four dragon sculptures, is probably the most famous and photogenic.
Next week I'll be revisiting this beautiful city, with photos of Ljubljana Castle and St. Nicholas Cathedral.
15 comments:
Love the Dragon Bridge pictures. This sounds like a great place to travel to. I'm always amazed at the places you travel to.
Oh, I LOVE this post and location! What a gem~ I especially love the upside-down artwork along the water :)
How romantic! What happened to Julija - did something keep them from being together?
I love how you always introduce new places for us to lust after. :)
Looks like a very lovely city! Look forward to reading your revisit of Ljubljana Castle and St. Nicholas Cathedral.
Have a wonderful day!
Angie
Eastern Europe is so beautiful! The sculptures are amazing especially the one of the dragon.
Valerie, it was as simple as this: he loved her, and she didn't love him back. She married a wealthy man instead, and Preseren married a woman who didn't understand him. He died still in love with Julija.
I know you love your stories bittersweet, and this one is definitely that.
Wow...that river view is so beautiful!
It's wonderful to discover Eastern Europe, so many treasures so little known.
Ljubljana seems like a lovely place and your pictures are beautiful Beth!
With the excitement of the Olympics, I'm so jealous of all your foreign travels!
This is a wonderful post, Beth! I love all your gorgeous travel photos! Love that first photo!
Like living in a fairy tale! Love the upside down art and the reasoning - very cool!
looks wonderful will add to wish list
You certainly don't hear too much about Slovenia. Ljubljana looks like a storybook village and is so charming. What a beautiful place to visit. I love the romanticism of the poet and his star-crossed love memorialized like that and the Dragon Bridge just sounds awesome.
What a gorgeous city! Another I must put on my bucket list...I love, love your travel posts :) AND your food posts (of course)!
Thank you for sharing your lovely photos of a beautiful city that I have not had a chance to visit. I've never been any further east in Europe than Germany. I tried to leave a comment on your posts several time but they seem to disappear in thin air. Hopefully the problem it fixed as I could comment on your sweet potato recipe.
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