Traveling to Zagreb and Mirogoj Cemetery

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Elizabeth

(This is the 14th post of our Croatia-Budapest trip, June-July 2014)
Thursday, June 26

We meet Anna Clare and Earl at breakfast, and after eating our way through the hotel’s offerings, they tell us they’ve decided to head to see the caves, back where we came from. So after some discussion, we agreed to meet up in Zagreb at the upper Cathedral at 6:30 pm. for dinner. This discussion is where I first began to get a hint of the fact that we would be operating on different itineraries and possibly different meeting-up schedules, one significant difference between those who live in the country (or near to it) and those who are tourists on a trip, counting every minute, trying to cram in as much sightseeing as possible.

So after breakfast, they headed west and we headed east, towards Zagreb.

One of the benefits of having a car is the ability to take some detours and see different sights, so about halfway to Zagreb, we took a left off the freeway and drove for a while through the countryside.

I noticed these tiny roadside chapels everywhere, and stopped to peek in a few.

Either she is overcome by the spirit, or she is exhausted from all the housework she’s done all day.

This small church caught our eye, with its graveyard in front, every plot freshly planted with flowers right on top of the plot. We know we are headed to Mirogoj–the grand cemetery in Zagreb–so this is a preamble of sorts.

We both noticed the off-center window, which looks much older than the rest of the church.

What looks like black granite corner blocks are really just black paint.

Across the lane from the church was this pristine yellow house–every town has one, and somehow they all have planted flower boxes.

Back on the road, we see this sign as we leave this small town:

I love their signs.

After some consternation, as well as some sturm und drang in the car, struggling to make sense of the maps and our printed out Google directions while watching our freeway exits go flying by, we arrive at our hotel, check in and are thrilled by it. It’s probably the nicest hotel so far, and I look forward to relaxing in it, tonight, but first it’s off to Mirogoj Cemetery, one of Europe’s finest old cemeteries, or so the guidebooks say.

Before we left I had looked it up on Google Maps, activating the photos feature so I could determine if it was something that Dave and I might like to see. I don’t know if I’m channeling the Adams Family or something, but I’ve always liked the history and ambiance of these old places. Dave and I have visited other cemeteries, using it as a green respite from the urban spaces on vacations.

This is looking towards the backside of that front dome, at a large area for gathering the mourners and/or visitors. While we were there, a funeral gathered, the bells clanging for ages it seemed, and we saw from a distance the casket proceeding to its resting place, followed by a handful of mourners in black. The bells tolled for a long time.

The cemetery was originally a plot of land from a Croatian poet, who leveled the land, redirected some of the mountain’s streams, yet in the process was left cash-strapped. So the city of Zagreb purchased from his estate after his death, keeping the name Mirogoj, after one of the founders of this section of his land.

The cemetery was divided according to religion (Catholic, Jewish and Protestant) and three different classes, was officially opened in 1876, when Miroslav Singer, a fencing instructor and gym teacher was the first buried here.

This highly polished slab of black marble is the tomb of the former president of Croatia, Franjo Tudman.

Small memorials left for him to one side: one plaque with the country’s map, and the other with their ever-present shield, although done in black and white and not the usual red/white checkerboard.

To the side of the feet of this beautiful sculpture you can see some lettering in the Glagolitic alphabet (more on this in the next post).

The town fathers planted chestnut, lime, maple and spruce trees, among others.

I want one of these in my backyard right now. . . but without the graves. Just a little table and a couple of chairs and a good wifi connection, please.

We arrived at the World War I Monument, or should I say, a monument to those Croatians who died in World War I.

A highly decorative tombstone. The flowers and angry faces in the medallions in front are all inlaid mosaic.

We saw these candles everywhere, even near the cathedral in the center of Zagreb.

I told Dave I wanted one of these.

Underneath the slab, it appears, is a small chamber. And the coffins rest on the rails, out of the dirt.

Housekeeping. Polishing the slab.

This was our favorite little building. There are no names on it, so it couldn’t be a tomb, and given the crosses and the shape, it is almost certainly a place of worship.

From 1879 to 1917, two arcades were built on either side of the main section (which houses a church), designed by Herman Bolle, a German architect. Another plan was drawn up for the central dome, portal and chapel (the currently existing) but that wasn’t built until 1929. Many famous Croatians are buried here, including Kresimir Cosic, a reknowned basketball player, one of three foreigners inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Dave was struck by the beauty of the domes, found about every 20 or so feet in the arcade. Here are a sampling:

Another beautiful statue.

A fresh display of red and white carnations.

Notice the radio transmitter? Through a series of clues, we were thinking that it would turn on the “candles” at this boy’s feet, as each of them appeared to be electronic. If this is the case, we in America are woefully behind in our appropriate graveside accouterments.

Detail of above.

More interesting writing.

Okay, enough dead people. Now it’s the moment to Turn in the Car, a big deal for tourists in an unfamiliar city. No worries, we have the address, so with Dave giving directions, I drive there. No worries, I’ll stay in the car, double-parked, while Dave goes in to confirm. No worries, that place has moved, but a nice English-speaking man looks up the new place on his phone (turns out they moved 9 months ago, just two weeks after we booked the car and printed out our confirmation and where to turn it in). We drive there, and after a series of typical-tourist-wrong-turns, we finally arrive. And boy, are we huffing as we go in because we are late (thinking of another day’s rental) and it is too far to walk back to the hotel (thinking of taxi fees). No worries! The place is run by teenage boys who won’t charge us an extra day and would love nothing more than to drive us back to our hotel, no charge.

It’s now nearing the meet-up time for Anna Clare and Earl, so we walk up towards the cathedral.

As in Ljubljana, we found lots of Art Deco-ish applied decoration to the buildings.

As well as classical decorative flourishes.

This promiment equestrian statue of Josip Jelacic, a prominent 19th-century governor, was overwhelmed and obscured by World Cup apparatus (you aren’t surprised, are you?)

The rankings.

The merchandise booth (I already have my T-shirt).

The Jumbo-tron, complete with American, because right then America was playing. Yay! America. And Coca-Cola. And cowboy hats.

We move on up towards more traditional sights, like beautifully painted classical buildings.

And eggs. The traditional art here is interesting, but not in this gallery, which although it contained lots of paintings on glass, did not captivate us like the museum (seen the next day). Plus it smelled dank and basement-like, so we were in and out of there quickly.

I wonder if this is related to the first man buried in Mirogoj, or to the sewing machine people? I vote the latter.

Their traditional dress.

And we couldn’t go far without seeing a statue of Tito, here larger than life on his pedestal.

We make it to the cathedral, and one spire is under renovation (but they’ve thoughtfully provided a drape).

It is beautiful decorated on the front. We sit on the bench off to the left, waiting for Earl and Anna Clare, but able to view humanity. We were going to go in an tour the cathedral, but the bells tolled for mass, so we decided not to go.

Christ and his apostles watched over the faithful as they streamed in.

A beautiful arch over the front door.

All of a sudden the front doors opened, a man stumbled out, threw up, then collapsed on the ground. A few worshippers were following him, catching him as he fell.

A crowd gathered, including a nun (she came a minute after the photo was taken). One of the women was a doctor, I heard her say. They helped him off to the side, to a bench behind us, so he wouldn’t be trampled as the churchgoers left the service.

The ambulance came about 6:45 p.m. and about the same time, we saw Earl walking briskly toward us, Anna Clare a minute or two behind us. We were happy to see them, and listened as they told about their adventure of being stopped on the Slovenian freeways because they didn’t have their pass. We were surprised they didn’t know about it, since they lived here, but I have to remember I was one of those dorky over-prepared tourists (I read two guidebooks cover-to-cover) and had read about it in one of them. I suggested to Earl that he might want to get a guidebook and read about this country where he lived (while on a church mission), but he was insistent that all the signs should be in English. The fine he was asked to pay was somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 euros (about $200); because of his anger, they told him just to buy the pass and he wouldn’t have to pay the fine (whew!). I don’t blame him for being upset, but I still think it’s my responsibility as a guest in a country to do my best to figure out how they do business here. There will still be plenty of areas where we get it wrong (like dropping off the rental car late).

After that exciting story, it was time for dinner, and we used Rick Steve’s book to find Nokturn, and were glad we ate here. Dave and I shared the above salad, while Anna Clare and Earl shared the one below.

I ordered this pasta, which was really great (I don’t even remember what we had for lunch–I think it was whatever leftovers we found in the car) and I was hungry. I shared it with whoever wanted a bite, but they were more interested in their large pizza:

We relaxed and celebrated the fact that we were able to meet up successfully.

We wandered back to the cathedral, and lights were beginning to glow. That’s Earl, walking back to report to us that an organ was playing (he’s carrying the leftover pizza in his hand).

I went over to the doors and listened: Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue, a piece of music I’d heard many times in my own home, E. Power Biggs on the organ, and my Dad would always turn up the stereo so the final cadences thundered through our speakers. I don’t know whether it was fatigue or tourist stress or the linking up of a fond memory or a brief bout of homesickness or whatever, but I could feel the tears stinging my eyes. We bid our farewells and headed back to our lovely hotel.

Next post: Two Sets of Tourists Tour Zagreb

Ljubljana’s Orthodox Church

Posted on September 7, 2014 by Elizabeth

(This is the 13th post of our Croatia-Budapest trip, June-July 2014)

(Dave and his sister)

After a hearty breakfast, where no leftovers from the evening before were consumed, we walked over to the Serbian Church.

I’d downloaded a picture of one of my circle blocks from my quilty blog onto my mobile phone, hoping to talk the church-keeper into letting me take photos for my “art project” of quilting. That was typical behavior for Dave and I–we’d try to think up whatever we would need, web-wise, and download it onto our phones while on the free wi-fi of our hotel rooms, as we kept our roaming signal turned off while we traveled. I showed it to him, and he smiled, pointed to me and said “your art.” He gave me the okay for taking photographs, and soon Earl, Anna Clare and Dave joined in. I think our time there was well-documented. I’ve interspersed photos of the quilt circles I made when returning home, showing the inspiration and the finished project.

(pattern found *here*)

(free pattern, found *here*)

Block is in upper left archway. (Free pattern found *here*)

It was breathtaking, and I’m so glad we were able to see it and photograph it.

Next: travels to Zagreb

Ljubjana, Rainy Ljubljana

Posted on September 6, 2014 by Elizabeth

(This is the 12th post of our Croatia-Budapest trip, June-July 2014)
Wednesday, June 25

Happy Slovenian Independence Day!

What this translates out to mean for tourists is: limited openings, noon closings, no market, no easy food, and especially for us: the rain we’ve been trying to dodge for two days has finally arrived. On top of all that, we are supposed to meet Dave’s sister and brother-in-law at 1 p.m., so whatever we choose to do has be done quickly, as we need to be back to the hotel a bit early to meet them.

No, this was not one of our stops on the sightseeing musts, but it was interesting to see the set-up they had for recycling– a full block full of these little huts where you could drop your goods.

A quixotic sculpture in a garden. Those brilliant red-orange bits are letters of the alphabet.

Our first destination was the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, about two blocks from our hotel. An elegant, cream-colored edifice with wide welcoming steps held a wealth of surface decoration inside.

But there were signs that no photographs were allowed. So this is a clandestine shot with my iPhone, trying to get a photo of that circle up there on the arch. I had just started making circle quilt blocks and was hunting for ideas and designs, and I had hit pay dirt on this ornately covered church. But I resisted photographing it, determined to do it legitimately somehow.

The Opera House was on the way to our next sight.

As was the Hood Burger car.Just kidding. It was me that Dave was trying to photograph, for scale, in front of this building.

We walked by the Fountain of the Three Carniolian Rivers (Ljubljana, Sva and Krka Rivers), inspired by one of Rome’s many fountains. Here are the three facades, showing the three different rivers. Unfortunately, the obelisk was under renovation:

We also found out that the original of this was in a museum. We head to the castle that looms over Ljubljana, taking a funicular up to the top (like these other tourists did).

We enjoy the soggy views as we glide upwards.

To this. A re-developed plaza with several buildings, a few exhibits, a clock tower, a cafe which is not serving anything because it’s Happy Slovenian Independence Day.

Another dragon, this one perched up on the side of the portal that leads to the walking path down the hill, in case you don’t want to take the funicular.

What do tourists do on rainy days? Take pictures of one another under umbrellas and head into marginal tableaus, displays and the one interesting room in the castle that doesn’t charge you extra to visit.

The chapel.

I loved the decorative art on the surface. Above is the organ loft, complete with small wooden organ.

I also loved the decorative surface of this slightly-pineapple-quilt-block-looking floor, but with a twist, outside in one of the gun turret towers.

Now that we’ve seen an ersatz fountain and an ersatz castle, it’s time for real lunch.

Because we did not realize what Happy Independence Day in Slovenia meant, we headed to the market. That was a bust. It was getting towards the meeting time with the in-laws, so we stopped by a convenience market and picked up some cold cuts, a cucumber and two rolls studded with pumpkin seeds. We got extra to feed Anna Clare and Earl, for as we were standing in line, some guy flipped a switch, locking the door and barring entrance to the few tourists outside. To say that we felt lucky is an understatement, for we didn’t see much else open.

When we arrived back home, there was a note on our door telling us that Anna Clare and Earl had decided to detour to Lake Bled and see the sights and now wouldn’t be here until 3 p.m. Fine, we could deal.

We had a delicious lunch on our bed (yes, we ate theirs), then cleared everything off and took a rainy day nap, surfed the rainy day internet and rainy day waited. And waited. We had told them to knock on our hotel room door when they arrived, and finally at 4:30 p.m. I told Dave I wasn’t waiting around anymore. The rain had stopped and somehow they would find us.

When we went downstairs, we found out that apparently the clerk had told them we weren’t here, so they left without knocking. We wrote and slipped a note under their door, telling them we’d meet them at 6 p.m., hoping that the third time is a charm in Tourist Land.

With nearly everything closed, we peeked into any open doorway, finding this exquisite courtyard with friezes over every archway.

There was a an art exhibit about shopping bags, and I took a few photos of this student exhibit.

We found out later that this was either a) the Town Hall, or b) the city art gallery (Cafe Galerija). More street sights:

Every girl should have an iron purse.

Or a tomato purse. When I came home and looked them up on the web, they were running about 1500 bucks.

This looked to be another standard church statue (but in polychrome, not marble) until I looked at the little scene underneath.

The close-up of the statue was quite revealing. I guess it was “throw the priest out.” I like the lace on his robes.

We cross the river to get a good look at the University in this town, famous for its archicture by Joze Plecnik: a homegrown and prolific genius whose relationship to Ljublana has been compared to that of Gaudi’s to Barcelona. Above is Cobblers Bridge, which encapsulates his style: “simple, clean lines adorned with classical columns.” We checked at the Tourist Office for tours of his house, but it was under renovation (closed).

Our first look at the National and University Library (the multi-colored brick edifice, just behind the fountain) and regarded as Plecnik’s masterpiece.

“On the surface, the red-and-gray colors scheme evokes the red soil and the chunks of granite of the karst region, south of Ljubljana. But on a deeper level, the library’s design conveys the message of overcoming obstacles to attain knowledge. The odd-sized and -shaped blocks in the facade represent a complex numerological pattern that suggests barriers on the path to enlightenment.” ~ Rick Steves, Croatia

These doorknobs represent the winged horse Pegasus. We tried to open them, but the place is locked up for Independence Day (we assume).

Moses, facing the river.

We find an open courtyard and explore. We loved seeing the remnants of communism here, the hammer and sicle in the decorations above doorways and statues.

This was an interesting crossing sign. We look at the explanation below, thinking it might be a bus schedule:

Wrong. We’ve stumbled on a Faux Art Tour, and we realize there is masking tape, marking the way.

None catch our fancy like the two runaways, and it only leads to this wall, and what we suppose to be the art studios of the university. But we like the fact that it’s not raining anymore, and that we are feeling a bit of freedom the schedule, until Dave realizes it is after 6:00 and we have to hurry to meet the relatives.

Walking along the main drag, next to the Post Office we spot them ahead of us, but instead of turning left to our hotel, they are turning right. We start hollering and hollering, finally get their attention. Dave runs to catch up to them, and finally we have met up! It’s great seeing them, seeing them with their badges and as missionary smiles. We refresh at the hotel, and then head out to find dinner. We are wary, as we know not much is open.

But on our usual path to town, there is a place called Cafe Sarajevo ’84, and Anna Clare and Earl really want to eat here, so we did. Above is the chopped salad, covered with cheese.

A salad, without the cheese.

We all fell in love with the warm doughy rolls, the balls of honey-butter, and the flatbreads (below).

We shared two “three-part meals” and Earl wrapped up the rest of the bread and put it in his pocket for breakfast. Except, we mentioned, your breakfast is free, and comes the hotel. His face lit up in delight. We love that, too, Earl.

Next post: Ljubljana’s Orthodox Church, and quilt Circles

We’re Learning How to Say Ljubljana

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Elizabeth

(This is the 11th post of our Croatia-Budapest trip, June-July 2014)
Tuesday, June 24

For those of you who are keeping track, it’s Tuesday and this is Slovenia. . . Ljubljana, to be exact, and we have learned how to say it (mostly). But before we do anything else, it’s breakfast.

Juices, hot milk, cereals (both of the Looks-Like-Horse-Oats and the Other variety), fruits (prunes, for the tourists, of course).

The hot cocoa/coffee station. I had hot cocoa every day, a lovely treat.

Rolls, meats, cheeses, yogurts station. Americans don’t have many cold cuts for breakfast, but it’s pretty common over here.

Soft cheese and butter. I liked the random way the soft cheese ended up, after several travelers had taken what they wanted.

And my favorite station of this hotel: a place where you could hard, or soft-boil your egg. I used my timer on my iPhone to keep track, and had one every morning. Before we left for the day, we stopped and talked to the young man at the desk about doing our laundry. At first we were just going to load it all up and bring it down to the desk, as he assured us that was the best way. But we wanted to do our own, and asked him for a laundromat. He had no idea. Dave went upstairs and got his computer, and we did a search and on some traveller’s blog they had listed where the laundromat was. The front desk guy was surprised. We were happy. But first we decided to take advantage of the clear skies (when we had woken up it was raining, but had cleared away) and head into town.

On the wall across from our hotel’s main entrance.

The side of the slightly damp, but pink church. I saw a sign in the hotel’s front office which promoted free walking tours, so we hustled down here, but there didn’t seem to be any group coalescing anywhere. We we pulled out our guidebook and followed Rick Steves’ walking tour. Another time we checked in at the Tourist Office for another walking tour, but it was majorly pricey and we’d missed it by 45 minutes.

After realizing we didn’t have a tour, we did go in, but it was nearly time for mass, so quietly let ourselves out. The interior was unremarkable, but I loved the doorknobs.

In Preseren Square they have a car-sized model of the city; we saw this model-thing again in other cities.

The terra cotta bas relief just above the green doorway in the yellow building is of Julija, the unrequited love of the poet Preseren’s life, or so the tour guides say.

We were interested in the Centromerkur building, or Galleria Emporium as it’s called now, a beautiful building with a graceful glass fan over the front entrance.

Inside a graceful stacked column and the grand staircase gives an idea of what it used to be like.

I thought the plastic purses were interesting, but they were all out of our price range, so we headed back outside to enjoy the sun.

The Hauptmann House was the only building on the square to survive that 1895 earthquake. A few years later, the owners repainted it in the Art Nouveau style using bright colors, as his family sold dyes.

The Cooperative Bank, just up the street from the Galleria and the Hauptmann House is beautifully painted and decorated.

We liked this fountain of chubby horses. They look like a bunch of toddler-aged horses, playing in the water.

We crossed over the Triple Bridge to the Castle-side of town, and turned left and headed toward the Riverside Market. This is looking down the river to the Butcher’s Bridge (and beyond that is the Dragon Bridge).

Fascinating sculptures on the Butcher’s Bridge, all nearly ruined by those hideous Locks of Love (when will these ever stop?) attachments.

The weight of the bridge can’t handle too many, the city cuts off a bunch every week, which are unfortunately replaced by more.

We thought this looked like a bubble-gum-blowing sheep. Apparently the sculptures were meant to be temporary, but people liked them so much, they stayed.

The market has a decent display of vegetables, plants, and wonderful baskets, which quite frankly, I wanted to bring home with me. Apparently Saturday is the bustling day here, as the market tables only covered half the square.

This was a vending machine, which sold fresh unpasteurized milk, among other things.

And next to it was a small scale, where market-goers could check the weight of anything they’d purchased, so they could verify what the merchant had charged them.

Clever broom stand.

I loved the woman’s orange hair.

But we were hungry now after walking around downtown and thought we’d try to find some burek, a filled pastry. Well, actually, I thought we should have bought some on our way in, and when we went to look and just see what our options were, most of them were gone. So we snapped up a couple from what was left, got a salad from another vendor, and a “Ljubljana Cake” from another stall. We made our way to an area with tables and chairs and started eating.

It looked like a public space, but apparently not. The owner of the bar/coffee shop came and chased us out of HIS tables and chairs. We figured out that you could only eat where you’d purchased your food, so we settled into the tables in front of where we’d purchased our salads (and were not chased out). The cake was a “meh” but we liked our cheese-filled bureks. I wondered what the meat-filled ones were like.

The two twin yellow towers bordering the market square were those belonging to the Cathedral of St. Nicholas.

The doors were created for Pope John Paul II’s visit to Slovenia in 1996, and contain elements of the city’s history, as well as notable events from Slovenia’s history. This is the main door (and the side door is below).

The interior was beautiful–Italian Baroque, so the guide book says, and we enjoyed seeing it.

A smaller organ loft?

In the chapel for St. Joseph was this beautifully embroidered cloth on the altar. We’d not seen chapels dedicated to Christ’s father, so thought it interesting.

A pieta on the outside of the church, in a small niche. We walked along the Castle-side of the church, and headed toward the Dragon Bridge.

I think you can figure out why it is named this. The dragon has been the symbol of Ljubljana for centuries, and this bridge was one of those earthquake projects mentioned before.

We cross the Ljublanica River and head back towards our hotel.

More interesting urban art.

Looking ahead towards the Triple Bridge.

The riverside colannade, and the area where we tried to have lunch the first time (but were unsuccessful).

Looking back toward the center, going a different way home this afternoon.

We meandered, checking out the buildings.

At one point, the city’s reconstruction committee declared that all the corner buildings should have a domed spire. We saw this on many buildings downtown.

Dome, but no spire.

We were making plans for this day because we were supposed to meet Dave’s sister and brother-in-law the next morning and tour the sights together. So we thought it was important to get the laundry done today so it wouldn’t interfere with our touristing. Of course, hindsight is 20-20 and with what we know now, we should have gone up to the castle on this sunny day and enjoyed the sights, saving the laundry for the time when it was raining (and for when expected meetings didn’t materialize). But this is travel, isn’t it? Trying to judge the best use of limited time. So we grabbed our suitcases, got into the car, and armed with TWO maps, and screenshots of the city, headed off.

It was in a strip shopping mall, just across from the most humungous shopping mall I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot. It’s open Pon-pet and it’s one of those days, so we’re in good shape. I also liked the named for Saturday (Sob) and Sunday (Ned).

Washers, with the blue circles on the wall.

Dryers, with the orange-red circles on the wall.

And we think this means “broken,” or “don’t use,” or “forget this machine.” Soap is always tricky, but we figured out that soap was automatically added to the wash. If we got it wrong, we had very well-rinsed clothes.

Dave babysits the wash while I check out the shops. Nothing much, but I did pick up some clown candy, Ki-Ki, for our granddaughter, for she has that as her nickname. Although one washer stops and we have to restart it, we finish with the laundry and happy that we’ll have clean clothes again.

We head across the street to BTC, or BTCity, mainly because these are our daughter’s initials and we want to try and bring her back something. BTCity is a series of free-standing malls (I think there were seven), with other giant box-type stores around the perimeter. The website tells me that there are:

more than 450 stores
more than 8,500 parking spaces
Market BTC
Atlantis Water Park
Sports Centre Millenium
Casino Rio
Multiplex Colosseum and XpanD
type of pubs, cafes, pub, restaurants, pizzerias, pastry shops

Truthfully, I wished I’d visited the Market, but we drove around, unable to figure out this place. I think most of the parking spaces were filled, or so it felt from the amount of cars everywhere. We were looking for something with the BTC logo on it, and finally stopped in at the mall office, but couldn’t find much more than a shopping bag. They did give me a Frequent Shopper Card with the logo on it, but I was supposed to sign up for an account, which I wasn’t going to do. So the nice young woman behind the counter filled in some phony name and handed me the card.

I did see a sewing shop, but knew I wasn’t going to carry a sewing machine home on the airplane, so we kept going. We hoped to have dinner earlier this night than the previous nights of 9 p.m., so decided to head back to town, dropping out laundry (and car) off at the hotel and heading back toward the pedestrian center.

We pass another shop, but I didn’t go in either, given my experience of buying foreign fabric: paying double the cost for American-made goods. I now wish I’d gone in there, as we never had another chance. This, too, is travel.

We walk along the main drag, checking first one restaurant then another, but by seven p.m. we were seated at Julija’s, at an outdoor table.

We share a salad, then I have the goulash over polenta (below).

Dave has the stack of vegetables with fish. Our table was next to a table with a young woman and a middle-aged man. I never could totally figure out their conversation, but she was from Slovenia (as she talked about where she was on Independence Day, which was the next day, Wednesday, and when we found out that nearly the whole place shut down) and he had a British accent. It seems that he knew her parents somehow. At one point they were discussing the new Google self-driving cars, and he noted that it was a remarkable invention. She agreed but said that it would only work in America, because “Americans are basically lazy.”

(for dessert, some strudel and some ice cream, drizzled with honey)

Ouch. As Dave and I walked after dinner, I asked him if our export of our youth culture had so permeated what others thought of us that they couldn’t get past the stereotypes. But is it a stereotype? I don’t think I’m particularly lazy, nor my husband, nor my family. But why has this image percolated into her brain? I liked it better when I couldn’t understand the people next to me, I think.

When we returned from dinner a jazz band was going full steam downstairs, the sound echoing up into our hallway with our room’s window directly over the place where it was playing. We walked up the stairs with a tall young man, and I said “No sleep tonight.”
He said “Oh, it’s Ljubljana. This won’t last long.”
I asked him why not and he replied that “Slovenians like to go to work in the morning, so they don’t stay up late. Not like my country,” he said. “I’m Serbian, and we go twenty-four hours a day, never stop.”

And so this is travel, too. Learning not only about yourself, but about others’ as well. (As long as they speak English.) Back in the room, we can hear the jazz and with our windows shut, it’s not too big of a problem. We settle into our nightly routine of checking emails, touching base with our lives back across the world. I realize I am more than happy to be in one hotel for three straight nights, the string of one-night stays we’ve just done having worn me out. We relax, the music fades, and these tired tourists fall to sleep.

Next post: A rainy visit to the Castle and where are they?

Arriving in Ljubljana

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Elizabeth

(This is the tenth post of our Croatia-Budapest Trip, June-July 2014.)
Monday June 23

We found our way to our hotel (check the front Croatia page for hotel info) and since it was nearing dinner time, we dropped our luggage and walked toward the main part of the pedestrian downtown, walking over this poem (?) of brass script, embedded in the pavement.

Carrying our Rick Steves guidebook, we know that this statue caused quite a stir when it was unveiled, because of the nearly nude woman at the top. Preseren was Slovenia’s greatest poet, and the reclining figure was thought to be his muse, yet for the first few years they covered her up with a tarp each night. Now it appears that most folks don’t pay her (or him) much notice.

Ljubljana (loo-blee-ana) has quite a few buildings decorated in the Viennese Art Nouveau style, and judging from our pile of photographs when we got home, we seemed to take a picture of most of them. When Ljubljana was hit by an earthquake in 1895, the citizens took advantage of the rebuilding funds from the Austro-Hungarian Empire to remake the city, and we loved seeing all the decorative works. I only wish we’d had a bit more sun, as a lot of the photographs are rather flat-looking in the gray (and often rainy) skies.

This church is kitty-corner from the statue, and anchors the square. It was closed, so we kept walking along, looking for a place to eat.

Survey-takers in bright green caps and green socks/shorts.

We made our way to Julija, or Julia Restaurant, a popular place. Across the street is restaurant named Romeo (as in Romeo and Juliet), but we didn’t go there. I liked their wall of cracked tiles and beautiful blue plates.

Salad! It looks like a typical delicious salad, except for. . .

. . . the pumpkin seed oil they brought to dress it, and for us to use in dunking our bread. A regional specialty, we really enjoyed it. It’s kind of a deep greenish-red color, if that’s possible and while the pumpkin flavor briefly checks in, it’s not ever-present. And you can get it on Amazon!

Dave ordered Štruklji, a kind of dumpling filled with cottage cheese, and topped with bacon and a sprig of thyme.

But I had the winner of the night: pasta, asparagus and mushrooms.

We knew it was supposed to start pouring at some time this evening (having checked and rechecked our weather apps at the hotel), so we walked around that evening, enjoying the sights. this fountain is at the edge of a large, rectangular plaza in the University District. One of the realities of a new place though, is that you don’t have your bearings and we simply thought “nice fountain,” without recognizing how it fit into the landscape or the orientation of the map. We simply knew that we were walking along the river, which was in the pedestrian section of town and that we’d eventually find our way home.

Ljubljana has several bridges that span the Ljublanica River; this is the Cobbler’s Bridge, and is distinguished by its pillars.

This view is toward Preseren Square, and the Triple Bridge, which is yes, three bridges all together. One day we saw a young female tourist doing an interpretive dance to the accordian player and his singing group, complete with belly dancing moves, backward bending-over-moves and basic I’m-having-a-great-time moves. It’s where a lot of people gather.

I was interestested to see the lights of the zodiac on the ground, embedded in the pavement in front of the church. A crackle of lightning marked the witching hour and the first drops of rain started falling just as we made it back to our hotel.

Next up: Ljubljana’s Marketplace, and the Tourists Do Their Laundry and Find a Giant Shopping Mall