Ljubljana – Tourists fuck off

28. + 29. August 2025

 

 

After Štanjel, we slowly made our way toward Ljubljana. We had, at times, been a bit unlucky with eating options. Traditional restaurants here are called gostilna—but they were always closed, or located where we weren’t hungry at the time. But then we finally had some luck! We found a really cozy gostilna in a village before Ljubljana. And there I ate štruklji! It’s a kind of boiled strudel, and I really liked it..

 

 

And I got to snack on a few fries from Ute, and to drink we had Coke—the first of the trip, and necessary because it was such a stifling day. Getting into Ljubljana wasn’t that easy at first either. Navigation devices will get you anywhere, of course, but with multiple lanes and heavy traffic, it’s not so simple to arrive unscathed at your destination. But we managed! Up to that point, though, my impression of Ljubljana hadn’t been that great—dull, industrial, functional buildings and so on.

 

After lazing around a bit, we finally pulled ourselves together—and my impression completely changed! I was practically love-struck with Ljubljana at first sight! It has a large center that is entirely pedestrianized, full of lively pubs, people walking around, bicycles, and folks sitting outside. There were also many old houses—simply charming! I’ll quote from (german) Wikipedia: “Ljubljana resembles an Austrian city on the one hand, but through its old town, Plečnik’s architecture that connects cultural spheres, the many cafés along the river, and its moderate climate, it has a special Mediterranean flair. The historic city center was closed to motorized traffic in 2007; the banks of the Ljubljanica (the river running through the city center) were redesigned with promenades.
”

 

 

Unfortunately, I didn’t take many photos, because I wanted to save that for the next day, when we planned to join a city tour and have more time to stroll around. But things turned out differently….

 

Ljubljana also has amazing ice cream, and of course, I had to try one right away!

 

 

It reminded me a little of Tbilisi, where I was completely fascinated by the old town. Unfortunately, there weren’t quite as many courtyards and passageways here. Just two pictures:

 

 

 

But something else remarkable I photographed was this milk vending machine, which was actually used by quite a few people. This gentleman, however, wasn’t one of them—he was collecting certain coins and basically exchanging his small change.

 

 

And then someone was selling interesting fridge magnets featuring various personalities. Where else would you ever find such a lineup of these men together in one picture?

 

 

We also spent some time sitting in a café, simply enjoying the discovery of such a pleasant city.

 

The next day we joined a city tour with Freetour. After Yerevan, Tbilisi, and twice in Dresden, this was now my fifth – and so far they have all really impressed me. Instead of a fixed fee, you give a tip, and I think that makes the guides put even more effort into it. Ours was a very dedicated Israeli woman who had moved here some time ago. She didn’t (yet) speak Slovenian, but she knew an incredible amount and shared it all with great enthusiasm and humor. The only problem came up rather quickly: rain…..

 

 

She told us so much, and with the rain coming down, I hardly took any pictures during the tour. Except for two funny things. The people in Ljubljana are real jokers! On one square they’ve marked a circle where the weather is supposedly different. If you stand inside it, more water falls on your head than outside! How can that be?

 

 

And then there was a gutter filled with countless little faces, each with different stories. Our guide said they were all actually little piles of poop that someone wanted to make look nicer. On the internet, though, it says that an artist was inspired by Rilke, who reflected on the countless faces of humanity. But then—why put them in a gutter?

 

 

 

 

And then we came across a very special church door. A great deal of history is shown here in relief, and at the very top Pope John II is peeking out of his window. There are two spots that have been polished shiny: one is the set of heads that serve as door knockers, and the other is a small head further down on the right. I don’t remember whose head it was, but if you rub it, you can make a wish and/or gain good luck.

 

 

After that, the rain got even heavier, so we took shelter with a coffee in a recommended café. And yes, I also treated myself to a delicious little piece of cake.

 

 

I wasn’t the only one who thought these things were delicious—there were lots of sparrows hopping around too, always on the lookout for yummy crumbsn.

 

 

Then we had both a) read and b) heard from our guide about a place called Metelkova. It used to be a barracks complex and is now an autonomous political and cultural center. I immediately thought of my time in Hamburg and felt at home. And at the same time completely stupid, because I was just there to look. And on top of that, I was taking loads of souvenir photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under a large canopy, people were hanging out who didn’t exactly look like artists. Two guys were playing a game and listening to punk music. Otherwise, everything was closed. A few neatly dressed people were looking around. The graffiti made sense to me in that context:

 

 

So we fucked off and started retreating, and since the rain was getting heavier and we were hungry, we stopped at a place to eat.

 

 

And then we went to a photo exhibition by Paolo Pellegrin—here’s the link to him: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/paolo-pellegrin/. The exhibition was amazing, but also depressing, as it only showed his photos of war, conflict, misery, and so on from around the world. How does a photographer process that? I find just viewing and reading about it in moderation stressful enough.

 

And then the rain just kept pouring, and I was basically done with sightseeing. On the one hand, that was a bit of a shame, but on the other hand, we were glad to have had the previous evening and the tour, giving us a truly positive impression. The next day, we drove home.

 

 

Usually, after a travel, I write a blog post called “After the Trip.” This time, I’ll include it here.

 

t’s been a long time since I truly traveled through Europe to get to know a new country. I didn’t know much about Slovenia. I like it when countries feel distinct and give you the sense of being far from home. Due to globalization and standardization, that’s becoming less and less common. There were moments in Slovenia when I felt far away—but too few to truly excite me. A country can also impress through beauty. I did find that here, but not often enough to make me really love it. Then there’s something like a “feel-good atmosphere.” That existed too, but it wasn’t all-encompassing. In the end, I felt undecided about how I viewed Slovenia. That’s how I felt about Slovenia itself: undecided between relics, history, (Western) modernity with influences from here and there. Somehow a mix, and hard for me to grasp. And so I still don’t really know whether I’d want to go back. There are still many places and regions left to explore.

 

Except for the hut-to-hut-tour—that one really appealed to me in terms of atmosphere—and all the rocks around Triglav, which left me genuinely amazed. Maybe I’ll go back there someday.

 

I think, however, that I’ll spend more time exploring the whole topic of “former Yugoslavia.” Long ago, when I was a child, we always drove straight along the motorway through it to get to Greece and Turkey. Then in the ’90s, there was the war, and I didn’t pay much attention to it. I didn’t really know the area.

 

What definitely goes on the positive side: traveling with Ute. This was now the third time, and I hope we’ll go on more trips together. Such a pleasant travel companion!