Ljubljana-an enchanting city

The rain had gone away



The sun came out and we were up early.  Sue was washing her hair so I decided I had time to explore our new neighbourhood before breakfast.  This church is St. John the Baptist which we could  see out our hotel window if you leaned a little.



After breakfast we began our walking tour into the old city.  Our street was partitioned off from an archeological dig where artifacts 1600 years old have been found

We walked to the  old market square in the pedestrian only old part of the city so let's have a look around.

We were enchanted with this beautiful city and its buildings.  Below is the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation

Below you will see Slovenia's famous poet, Preseren, and his muse.  The square is named after him. and he faces where his real muse used to live.

This is the lovely park by the university.



You can certainly see the influence in the architecture of hundreds of years of rule by the Hapsburgs from the middle ages until 1918



i loved walking by the beautiful river.  The old city is pedestrian free.  Service vehicles are allowed between 6 am to 10 am and there is a little bus that picks people up who really need a ride.  I liked the businessman who was using a kick scooter.



Our local guide was a bit annoyed when we had to have a look in this church-Franciscan



of course there was a market-and here we are in the flower market-we had a couple of hours to wend our way through the streets and find our way back to our hotel.



and we got to get a close up look of those dragons. There are actually four dragons and the bridge was built in 1900 and is an example of art nouvelle architecture.



my favourite kind of streets…

We had to sample Ljubljana's traditional cake

I actually managed to bring one home and the recipe for my baker friend, Sandy!


We picked out where we wanted to have dinner-note the heaters right in the tables!



I had fallen in love with this beautiful city.  Sue and I were already plotting a return another time.



But our day was far from over so stay tuned for our trip to Lake Bled

From Split to Ljubljana, Slovenia mainly in the bus and it was finally raining...

We had been very lucky with our weather especially hearing about Vancouver's rainy weather but the forecast was rain and we did get it.



I thought it might be time to review the map to see that we had quite a drive from Split to Ljubljana.




Our first stop had quite the views...



We were near Skradin in Krka National Park


Here you can see a view of the town (which is apparently charming, a favourite of Bill Gates)





Here is the bridge over the Krka River that goes into the sea near Skradin.



not surprisingly in Croatia there was a kitty sighting (this one reminded me of my own time cat, Patches)



tangerines and dried figs for sale-figs were such a staple in Croatia I found myself buying some here the other day.  That day we were sampling those figs on the bus.



We veered away from the coast and as you can see the rain had begun-here we are crossing into Slovenia.  I think this is the crossing that was actually shared with Croatia but we had to be checked by both country's agents even though both are members of the European Union.  I may have mentioned that security has been tighter since one of the Paris bombers  posing as a Syrian refugee got into Croatia from Serbia to reenter Europe.  

In this case people were happy to have another stamp in their passports and at least we didn't have to get out of the bus.   Alex, our driver, often had an ability to charm customs agents.

We passed through a prosperous mining town, Zuzemberk, with its own castle.  I guess you noticed that it was pouring.  

 Slovenia had a fairly peaceful exit from Yugoslavia compared to Croatia's or Bosnia-Herzegovina's. Slovenia was traditionally the most prosperous country of postwar Yugoslavia with industry etc.  It actually was the first Eastern European communist country to become a democracy and then it negotiated exiting Yugoslavia in 1991, having voted to do so a year before.  It was soon recognized by the European Union etc.

Despite the rain, it was very pretty and  the countryside and buildings  reminded of its neighbour's, Austria.

It was still raining as we entered Ljubljana, the largest city with around 300000 inhabitants, and it is the capital of Slovenia.

Hard to see but this is the Dragon Bridge.  I just realized why it felt so familiar right away. It is used as an example on the Waterlogue app that I use on my iPad and iPhone that makes photos into watercolour type pictures.  

Here is the view from our very nice hotel and yes, still raining…



We had a bit of a break and dinner that night was at a castle.  Our bus dropped us off but we were going to walk back if we wanted or taxi back.    We took a funicular up to the castle.



Yes, it was still raining but rather lovely in the courtyard…



The castle has a very interesting and long history and is well used now.  In the restaurant we had a very nice dining experience.

Then rode the funicular back down and were taxied back to our hotel as it was still pouring.

Good news was that although it was cooler than by the coast (we were back in a continental climate) the rain was supposed to go away the following day, Monday,  but of course we were totally prepared for the worst.  If you live in Vancouver you are well versed in rain.  

Stay tuned for sunshine!

Dubrovnik to Ston to Split, Croatia

Time to leave again

I took this picture from our hotel Saturday morning before we left Dubrovnik

We had a lovely drive along the Dalmatian coast and our coffee break stop was in this charming town, Ston, initially important for its salt flats, a key to wealth before refrigeration

It was well fortified to protect it from those Turks…It was an important fort in the Republic of Ragusa, of which Dubrovnik was the centre.  Those walls are second only to the Great Wall of China as the world's longest defensive walls.

Such a pretty little town…



I really enjoyed our stop here.



and yes, we had a sample



One more look at that wall


On the road again we had a tangerine stop and they were delicious.  Here are our guide, Ned, and our driver, Alex collecting them for us.


and eventually we reached today's destination, Split around 1 pm.  Split is the second largest city in Croatia, the largest city of Dalmatia,  and the gateway to many beautiful islands.  Again it has many layers of history from being to a Greek colony to part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, then Venice became its ruler, Napoleon took over, then Austria etc. etc.

We had time to  wander before touring the Roman Emperor Diocletan's Palace-he was from this area and retired here...he was the last non Christian emperor...

The street along the waterfront in the old city is Riva and is in front of the palace but at one time the palace was right on the waterfront and is actually a whole complex not just a building

.

We had a wander, shared a wrap for lunch and of course dessert was gelato...above is Repulic Square dating from Napoleonic conquest.


Then we had a tour within the palace's walls.  Above is a map…

Above is in the "basement" and those oak logs are 2000 years old

A statue of Diocletianus who was not overly popular due to his killing thousands of Christians, many on this coast-Original statues of him were destroyed as a result of this.

Now we are above ground.. 

Incredible stone work...

We had a lovely a capello concert

You can hear a bit as well

There are many structures within the palace compound built through the centuries-there is an exclusive hotel with only seven rooms.  People still do live in houses here and there are shops and restaurants.

St Dominic's Cathedral from the Middle Ages 

So Christians got their revenge on this emperor eventually...

 And you can still find a couple of Roman soldiers who will be happy to pretend to chop off your head for a small fee...

Definitely a fun place to visit although we had lots of company!!!!  My friend, Donna and her husband actually stayed in the hotel on the palace grounds when they were here.  

A little more time to explore and then we were off to our Hotel Atrium which was very modern and nice but the streets were noisy due to the big soccer game between Split and Zagreb



I think that was actually the view from our hotel room.



I think we had our best  meal of the trip in a restaurant near our hotel recommended by the hotel concierge.  I think it cost us each about $20 Canadian dollars, no dessert, but we each had a glass of wine.

There were happy sounds in the street as Split tied the game in the last moments.

The forecast for Sunday was rain and colder weather for our journey to Ljubljana.  This made Sue and I think how fun it would be to head south to Greece rather than back to dark and often rainy November in Vancouver.