2019 Three days Ljubljana, Slovenia

After making the police report about Audre's stolen suitcase, we walked to our hotel. It was cold in Ljubljana! We spent three full (cold and grey) days in Ljubljana and only one was for sightseeing. One of the other two was for buying necessities (like toiletries), getting eyeglasses and contact lenses, as well as going to a doctor and getting our prescription medicines. All of that stuff had been in Audre's suitcase. The other day was for buying walking shoes and necessary clothes for Audre. Fortunately, Decathlon has an outlet in Ljubljana; Audre found enough.

On the positive side of the equation, our hotel in Ljubljana was delightful. Urban Hotel (Štefanova 4 · 1000 Ljubljana, T. +386 59 110 057, e-mail: info@urbanhotel.si, web: www.urbanhotel.si) at about $148 per day, including breakfast for a comfortable and modern room. When we walked in, the woman at reception was delightful. It turned out each staff member was gracious and very helpful. Our room had good wifi and a desk. It had enough storage and a comfortable seat (for one). Our view was of the small Argentine park and it was very quiet. The breakfast was excellent—both hot and cold and full of interesting things to try. We had our first borek; it was good.

We had a wonderful free tour of the old part of Ljubljana (https://ljubljanafreetour.com/free-classic-city-tour/). It was a dry but cold day--47˚ F (and we didn’t have the clothes for that temperature, standing around outside) Our guide, Bojan, was so good that he kept all of us entertained and we all stayed with him for over 2 hours, shivering. The information he gave was useful as well as informative. We learned about Slovenian history, politics, architecture and culture. Now we know that there was a prolific city designer and architect named Plecnik that created the beautiful bridges and buildings of Ljubljana around the turn of the 20^th century. Bojan told us about the poet, Preseren, that contributed the words to the national anthem. At the end of the tour, he suggested a restaurant where we could have genuine Slovenian goulash (not tasteless Hungarian goulash). We went to Gostilna Sestica (Gostilna Sestica [meaning “6”], Slovenska cesta 40, Ljubljana, tel 386- 02-242—0855, e-mail: info@sestica.si, web: www.sestica.si ) opposite the Neboticnik Skyscraper (a tourist attraction). The place is large and it has a fireplace which on that cold day was burning brightly. First, we warmed up by the fire. The publicity says is one of the oldest gostilnas in Ljubljana and “its culinary beginnings go back to the year 1776.” In addition to being famous for goulash, it is also famous for tripe soup—some people get a half portion of each and combine the two. We shared one goulash for €9,50 and it was huge, full of meat and tasty.

We found two excellent restaurants in Ljubljana and two we did not like. The Brit at the table next to ours on our first night suggested we go to his favorite restaurant, Atelje, which we did for our second night’s meal. It was an innovative, world-class meal. Atelje in French is Atelier and it is an apt name. But before going Dimitri stopped by to discuss the restaurant’s requirement that we order two 5-course menus (€50 each). We always share one appetizer and one main course, so having two 5-course meals would be way too much food. In the end, we had two of the 5-course meals and neither of us would have wanted to miss one morsel!

Have a look at all of our Slovenia photos by clicking here and take a look at the list of dishes and the pictures of the dishes at Atelje.