Slovenia? Where is Slovenia?

The picture of this girl carved into the wall of a building overlooking Ljubljana's main square, Prešeren Square, is a depiction of the real life muse of Slovenia's most famous poet, France Prešeren. But it reminded me of the reason I wanted to come to Ljubljana in the first place, Veronika overlooking the main square (and dont be a fool like me making up a wrong pronunciation in your head...it's pronounced Yoo-Blyah-Na)

I had read a Paulo Coehlo book called "Veronika Decides To Die" which is about a 24 year old girl who lives in Ljulbljana and sits evey day overlooking Prešeren Square in meloncholy. She gets bored and decides to die by overdosing on sleeping pills.

After taking the pills she reads a magazine article called "Where Is Slovenia?" about how most people do not even know where Slovenia is located. She starts writing a letter to editor pretending that she is so outraged about people's ignorance of Slovenia that she decides to committ suicide. The story really starts from here, because the overdose does not work. Anyhow, it had me wanting to visit Ljubljana.

In case u r wondering the same thing as the magazine readers(or didnt pay attention during the World Cup), Slovenia is a small country of about 2 mill located between Austria, Hungary Croatia and Italy.

In the most recent past it was one of the 6 republics in tbe yugoslavic federation. It was the first republic to separate from Yugoslavia and it did so relatively (see previous blog entry for relativity....) peacefully and democratically in June 1991. The same night, the battles began and continued for the next 10 days until a peace treaty was signed. Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 and Euro was introduced in 2007 and became part of Schwengen in 2007. As my tour guide said, "And that is the last important thing to have happened in Slovenia". You can understand this as you observe the cafe culture. The streets and squares are lined with cafes with people relaxing, reading, chatting or just simply hangig out. I really liked it here but only wished I had more time in my schedule to meet locals or even travelers. But it was such a splendid city I had to give it it's own blog entry so that no magazine article ever again has to ask, "Where is Slovenia?"

Notable highlights of Ljubljana:

*A dairy vending machine with cheese, milk, yogurt, etc. Apparently quite commonplace in Slovenia. My tour guide looked at me like I was nuts for asking if they were common.



*The university library. It was designed by what sounded like Slovenia's only architect, Jože Plečnik (quick, someone get my David Kennett over here!) It was designed with a fun exterior to get people inside. But the interior is deliberately dark and heavy, symbolic of the effort of learning and studying. Then as you walk up the stairs to the second floor, you have a great reading room that is illuminated by the huge windows, again symbolic of enlightenment that learning brings about.


*Appropriately named "Butcher Bridge" where lovers go to lock locks onto the rails and throw the keys into the water, thus symolizing their their love is locked forever.


After Ljubljana, I didnt have any real plans. I stayed at a very small, intimate hostel in Ljubljana and didnt meet any interesting backpackers. After some brief and uninteresting conversations, I decided to skip Lake Bled (even thought Brooke Roberts had a convincing facebook comment) and instead head to the Soca Valley to indulge in some water sports, and pretend to break in my new hiking boots.




I managed to get to the town of Bovec (after being locked on a bus at a rest stop for 45 minutes because I did not put my boots back on quick enough), and was thankful to have booked a hostel room in advance, as it was a holiday weekend. The town was super small, charming as all get out, and in a valley surrounded on every side by the Julien Alps. I dont really know what the Julien Alps are, but it sounds exotic and I want to impress my readers. Anyhow, I was anxious to get in the whitewater of the Soca River, and within 2 hours of arrival, I was en route to do some Hydrospeeding.

Hydrospeeding is basically boogie boarding down rapids. You lay face-first, grabbing a hard plastic sled of sorts, and go with the flow down the river. It is scary, and our guide made sure to stress this. So much that I was tense for the first half of it. But once I relaxed and just went with the flow, I had the time of my life! There are plenty of rocks that your knees hit, but in the moment it is worth it. Of course, the next day I realized that despite ignoring grey hairs and small wrinkles around me eyes, I am quite old. I hobbled around like an old man, complaining about my knees.

The next day I went whitewater kayaking, but it wasn't very exciting. To be honest, I have paddled through more current and waves in Pittsburgh rivers and the ocean before a big storm. Anyhow, it was still amazing to be on the seafoam green waters in such beautiful surroundings.

I did do a bit of training by walking up and down a steep, rocky path 7 times. I felt disciplined, but am pretty sure that Kimberly and Sean are leagues ahead of me in breaking in their heavy duty hiking boots.

During my time in Bovec, I smoothly fell in with a group of local Slovenian and ex-pat Argentenian guides. I had a blast gallavanting with them, most notably being taken to a WWI bunker in the dark (after midnight) and being told that I was not allowed to use my flashlight. I also was invited to a traditional Argentinian meat roast. Of course I dont eat meat, but I got to meet Fabian's son, and also some other tourists, guides, and locals. It was a great trip, and everyone I met in Bovec was so friendly and sincere. I was sad to leave, and kept putting it off but I had already purchased a ticket on the overnight train to Budapest. By the end of my 3 days there, I was bumping into people I knew on the street and really felt at home.

Apparently my Spanish impressed my Argentinian friends, and Fabian offered to drive me to Ljubljana for my 2am train to Budapest. Check out this sweet ride!