Prior to my trip, the destination I was looking forward to the most was Slovenia. I had heard many wonderful things about it and also watched a couple of traveling shows that were filmed in Ljubljana and it just seemed to be exactly the type of place I wanted to visit. I had planned to visit Slovenia after a hectic few days in the Czech Republic, and as soon as I arrived into the Ljubljana train station, I felt like I had entered a city that was frozen in time. It was almost as if the gloominess and grey skies that welcomed me were reminding me that I was in a country that was formerly part of a communist regime.
The train station isn’t an accurate portrayal of what modern day Ljubljana is truly like. The compact city is very walkable and from the train station, it is only about 15-20 minutes from the inner city, where the majority of the tourist sites are. By the time I made my way to the inner city, the weather had brightened up a bit and I was able to stroll around leisurely.
It should come as no surprise that the Old Town is very small. You could probably loop around the entire Old Town in about 20 minutes at a very leisurely pace. Coming from the North, the first thing I noticed was the Franciscan Church. The bright pink church faced Prešeren Square, which housed a number of monuments as well as the famous Triple Bridge.
The bridge is one of the divides between the Old Town and the main square, which is in a newer, more modern part of town. On this side of the bridge, the architecture changes drastically.
It is also on this side of the bridge where the Ljubljana Castle and Funicular are located. They don’t advertise this on the pricing chart, but if you only wanted to take a ride on the Funicular, it will cost €4. The rain made the windows of the Funicular really clean!
The Castle provided the best view of the city, even on a gloomy day. Fortunately it wasn’t crowded and I was able to roam around quite freely.
Two other famous bridges that are built on top of the Ljubljanica River are the Dragon Bridge and the Butcher’s Bridge. Although not as crowded as the Triple Bridge, both of these bridges still act as important links between the Old Town and the modern city. The impressive dragon statue guarding the Dragon Bridge and the padlocks on the Butcher’s Bridge gave each bridge a unique feature.
The city is beautiful and the contrast between old and modern made it a wonderful place to walk around and explore. Unfortunately, the good weather didn’t hold up and rain caught up to me again. It did not slow down as it continued to rain the entire 3 days I spent in the country.
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