You know famous capitals like Bangkok, Budapest, Buenos Aires and Brussels but have you ever wondered what the capital of Slovenia is??
It’s Ljubljana, the prettiest little city you’ve never heard of. Tricky to pronounce and hard to spell. But lovely, walkable and oh so tidy.
Loo-blee-anna is how they say it, more or less, and it’s where our cycling group landed for our 8-day bike trip in Slovenia last Spring.
Like all the best cities it has a river running through it.
Boats and bikes instead of cars are in the middle of this capital.
There are stylish locals on the streets
And glamorous foreigners caught in the rain
This must be a library. The upper windows look like open books.
It’s my favourite building on our city walking tour. They say it holds every book ever published in Slovenian.
Wandering the city, soaking up the atmosphere, seeing bikes everywhere.
We all noticed what a clean place this is, everything is tidy and well-maintained. A sophisticated recycling system and clean water policies are a pride of the whole country.
In fact Ljubljana won the Green Capital Award for all of Europe in 2016 and has become a model of eco-sustainability for cities across the continent.
Electric vehicles offer free rides around the city centre. This is certainly one modern and very green little country.
The statue in the centre of the main square is not an army general holding a weapon like you see in other countries. No, a well-loved Slovenian poet gets the place of honour, with his muse, looking a touch menacing, holding an olive branch over him.
This little country was forever ruled by invading powers and the citizens had no desire to glorify military leaders of an occupying empire. Not the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Prussians, or the French under Napoleon, or even more recently Yugoslavia, all had a turn ruling the Slovenians.
The poet statue symbolizes the enduring regard the people have for their own culture, the arts and the Slovenian language.
Very civilized don’t you think?
We leave Ljubljana and transfer to the resort town of Bled where this gang of 15 women in their colourful cycling duds are ready to start peddling.
Away we go “From the Alps to the Adriatic”!
May 30, 2024
The blue line shows the scenic route of our 8-day Slovenian tour.
Check out my last post for more details about biking in this lovely part of the world. Slow tourism at its best.
Thanks to my faithful readers for checking out the photos clicking along the rails on this travelling pink Caboose.
Au revoir. A bientôt.
Sorry. I can’t end this post yet.
I forgot the Lipizzaner horses we passed in their pasture (they’re born dark and turn white) and our 3 efficient young guides. And this nice mother/daughter picture. And the youngest/oldest double portrait of Jenny and Linda.
Just a few more souvenir photos for my travelling compañeras to bring back some memories.
