Ljubljana: A fantastic introduction to Slovenia

Well, Zagreb might have free public transportation in its city center, but Ljubljana has the free concerts and festivals in its main squares happening throughout the entire summer.

I did not mention it before, but yes, Zagreb did have completely free public transportation in its city core: this included all buses and trams and was introduced to decrease car traffic. However, this failed to compete with Ljubljana. When we arrived at 10pm, we found the city center alive with classical music only to find out that they were having a Ballet Festival lasting the entire week. We caught the tail end of the contemporary ballet performance that night, but on the following evening were privileged to watch a beautifully choreographed ballet opera to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. All this takes places right on the banks of their river and starts at sunset.

When the Ballet Festival is over, it is followed by the Jazz Festival, then the Ljubljana Festival, then some other festival etc. etc. etc. The free performances simply do not end and most of the time you actually have to choose which event you want to see on any given night. Couple this with the fact that the garbage man wear black dress pants, black dress shoes, a white shirt, a bowtie and white gloves while walking down the street with brooms and those dust pans on a stick, there truly can’t be a better capital than Ljubljana.

Like Sarajevo it is a relatively small capital city, but then so is Slovenia. It is a tiny country, about half the size of Switzerland with just over two million people. Pretty much from anywhere in Slovenia you will not be more than 50 km as the crow flies from the border of a different country, whether it would be Austria, Hungary, Croatia or Italy. They call it “Europe in Minature”, “The Sunny Side of the Alps” or “The Green Piece of Europe” and all of them seem quite appropriate, especially the last, given that with more than half of its total area covered in forest, Slovenia is one of the greenest countries in the world.

We were hosted about 8 km outside of Ljubljana and as a result got to spend an entire incredibly hot day roaming and enjoying the town. The cleanliness, the cute little streets, the great service, the smiling people, the fantastic food and the absolutely amazing ballet performance made it a fantastic day.