Ljubljana

No, Nikolas didn't just mess around with the keyboard. Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia, about 170 miles south east of Salzburg. The city/region has an interesting history, being passed back and forth between various empires and countries, most recently being part of Communist Yugoslavia until becoming independent in 1991. When I think of communism, I think of the USSR, but that wasn't Yugoslavia's experience with communism at all. In fact, Yugoslavia maintained neutrality during the Cold War, and so it had a very different experience than the Czech Republic. Perhaps it is this reason that Slovenia seems a little less 'rough around the edges.'

This was a trip with Peter's students, most of whom have never been to Eastern Europe. It was a great train adventure, almost five hours in all, even though it isn't that far away (train travel can be like that). We had reserved seats, and when we found them in the two Slovenian train cars at the end of the sleek Inter City train, it was a "Toto, we're not in Kansas any more" experience. The cars were old, clean, but old, a symbol of where we were heading. In the city of Villach, Austria, the two Slovenian train cars were unhitched and rehitched, this time to a long Eastern Block-type train which was headed for Ljubljana, then Zagreb in Croatia, and finally (eight hours beyond Ljubljana), Belgrade in Serbia.

We stayed in a youth hostel, something Peter and I haven't done since our respective college days. Things have changed since then. Hostels don't have the daytime lock out that they used to, and sheets and towels are usually provided. Hostels also seem to have upgraded a lot of their rooms to include bathrooms and fewer beds. Hostel Celica is rated as the Hippest Hostel #1 by Lonely Planet travel guides and among the top 25 ultimate places to stay in the world by Rough Guides. It was certainly hip.

Set within the walls of an old military barracks complex that was built in 1882 for the use of the army of the Austro-Hungarian empire and later used by the Federal Yugoslav Army, the hostel is in the former jail, and is the only rehabbed building in site. In fact, if you dare to explore the rest of the complex (the photo is not our hostel but part of the complex behind the hostel) it is like entering a movie set for an apocalyptic horror film, with grafitti everywhere and crumbly-looking buildings, and broken down cars and bizarre looking sculptural oddities. It is, in fact, a cultural center called Metelkova that has art exhibitions, art studios, musical performances, and numerous bars and clubs. I have to say, it was a little beyond weird for me, but on Friday night the place was hopping until late into the night.

Ljubljana's old city is beautiful with a meandering river and many bridges. There are some beautiful churches and a fabulously large market with just about anything you could possibly want to buy, from food to clothing to toys. We hiked up to the castle, which has been largely renovated and is a cultural center, and while we were up on the castle hill we took some time out to find a geocache and start our Pennington Pride travel bug on its adventure. The old city is compact and surrounded by 'new' city, much of which looks to be communist era. For more views of Ljubljana, check out our photos here.