Several days ago, I arrived in Ljubljana, Slovenia, a destination I’ve wanted to visit for literal years and had never found a way of visiting. Fortunately, there was a direct train from Zagreb (not indexed by Google Maps or any other English-speaking internet site, but good ol’ DeutscheBahn ended up having a way to purchase a ticket!). Unfortunately, said train did not appear on any timetable I could find – I slept in the morning of the train and headed to the station around 11am for my ~1pm train; thankfully, it was displayed on the tracker!

With a fair amount of time to waste before the train, I attempted to find lunch near the train station; it turned out it was Anti-Fascist Struggle Day (an excellent holiday!), so I opted to sit at the one outdoor cafe that offered both shade and misting water to wait out my train in the heat. At about 12:30, I headed into the station to grab a snack and find the platform; it turned out everyone was attempting to do the same, as there was no clear marking whatsoever. I must look authoritative, since several people came up to ask me if I was sure this was the right platform (I wasn’t!).

Finally, a train rumbled up to the station – it must have been 6 feet from the ground to the car floor, covered in graffiti, coach numbers haphazardly written on paper in plastic sleeves taped to the windows. I boarded and quickly discovered that my ticket coach assignment literally did not correspond to a coach on the train; so, I settled for the next closest coach and took my seat assignment with a quiet couple. As with all things former Yugoslavia, it wasn’t the world’s most pleasant experience but had redeeming qualities that overall made the experience worth it. The heat was immense – no A/C, seats assigned within closed cabins, chairs made of fabric and faux leather that was soon wet with sweat; however, the windows opened fairly wide and due to lax safety regulations, we were allowed to stand pretty much wherever we liked (and/or lean out the window if you preferred). Ticket and passport control both consisted of a visual check to ensure we had both a ticket and a passport; I shouldn’t have worried about the seat assignment situation! After about two hours, we arrived in lovely Ljubljana. Thankfully, the platform was much closer to the train platform, so exiting the train was much easier!

After arriving, I made the quick walk to my hotel and then proceeded to cool off slightly before heading to my next stop: the Nebotičnik, Ljubljana’s “Skyscraper” – yes, singular! Atop it, I enjoyed the incredible views while also having a small sandwich and an “iced coffee” (it turns out that iced coffee in Slovenia specifically means coffee-flavored ice cream with espresso and whipped cream).

Then, I started meandering into the small town itself, noting a couple sites of interest including the “triple bridge” (quite literally three bridges right next to each other), the National Cathedral (a beautiful pink building) and the lovely tree- and cafe-lined streets stretching along the riverside in either direction.

As I wandered, I stopped to get out of the heat in a lovely wine bar (GaultMillau rated!) called Wine Bar Suklje. They offer a variety of different wine tasting experiences, all tailored to showcase Slovenian wines. On this first night (I returned the following night as well!), I tried the Slovenian wine taster and a glass of Slovenian rosé. I quickly discovered that the Slovenian whites are the move (the reds were fine but a bit too minerally and pepper-forward respectively for me) – I ultimately decided that my preferred wine was the Sauvignon Lozice, which is produced by the wine bar’s home winery in the Plešivica hill region.

I was also craving Asian food at this point in my trip and decided to head to the Michelin-rated Restaurant Shambala. On this first night, I ordered an “Indonesian lemongrass chicken” and the Thai red curry (“Wayne spicy”, thank god for Wayne!). The lemongrass chicken was not at all what I expected, but the red curry hit the spot despite being not completely authentic. Around 9pm, I started hearing a live version of “Carmina Burana” and realized that the restaurant was near the open-air theater; super cool to get a free performance with dinner!

The following morning, I woke up eager to start exploring the city and to see a variety of it’s museums. To start, I headed to the western side of town, which is home to the Castle to the north of the river and a variety of Ljubljana’s best museums to the south.

From the hotel I stayed at (the Intercontinental Ljubljana), you have to cross the famed “Dragon Bridge” to get there, which was a cool sight to see.

The Castle was lovely; unfortunately, most of the signage wasn’t in English, but it provided lovely views, a quick funicular, and some interesting commentary via the audio guide.

As I discovered at the castle, Ljubljana has a long history of puppetry (there is a museum dedicated to it in the castle!). The Slovenian Puppet Theater is also located adjacent to the castle.

Then, I headed to the Ethnographic Museum of Ljubljana, headed back across the bridge. To get there, you walk through a lovely neighborhood that felt more like “real Slovenia” than the manicured old town, with its own beautiful church.

The church was interesting, although slightly austere.

Then, I headed to the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, which truly was a world-class institution with many more artifacts on display than I expected. While the collection is global (the photo below are some of the masks associated with the ‘Pygmy’ culture of Oceania), much of the permanent display understandably showcases Slovenian cultural history.

As always, the woodworking (incredible chairs, cribs, headboards, trunks, sleds, etc.) and the clothing was especially interesting to me.

That being said, they had displays of so many components of Slovenian culture and life – everything from dormouse hunting traps to marriage rituals to a variety of traditional weapons, etc.

Next, I headed to the Metelkova Art Center, which is a set of graffitied buildings as an outdoor “art display”. A travel blog I read warned that I might “see needles or evidence of drug use and to use caution exploring the area even in daylight” to which I thought, I live in San Francisco – try me. It was… very tame. Lovely art, conceptually interesting, certainly some provocative signage (which alluded to topics related to drugs, violence, etc.), but uh… it’s an art exhibit literally in the same complex as three of the major national museums. It isn’t sketchy, the scariest thing I saw was an entire flock of pigeons taking off at once about four feet away from me. Perhaps a little PG, but worth seeing.

Then, I started to make my way back into the center of Ljubljana for lunch. On the way, I continued to note the lovely architecture. Of interest was the Central Market, which was both a fruit / veggie market and sold your classic super touristy items.

My hotel had notified me that there was a street food festival happening downtown, and I stumbled upon it – sadly, most of the options did not appear to be Slovenian and it was way too hot to eat outdoors. That being said, the live coals and full roast pig did look delicious!

I ultimately decided to try Valvas’Or for lunch (air conditioned indoors, although I seemed to be the only one taking advantage!), and it was slightly overpriced for the value, but delivered on food. Truffles seem to the hot item in Slovenia as well, so I went with the Adriatic prawns on a bed of truffle mash with a saffron sauce and then the truffle pasta with speck (a lovely addition!).

After lunch, I made my way back to the hotel to relax and plan a bit before dinner. On the way, I stopped in both the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, aka the Pink Church, and the Ljubljana Cathedral, which was beautiful.

As mentioned, I had a pre-dinner drink at Wine Bar Suklje (I think they were excited to see me again, as they’d been understaffed and slightly overwhelmed the previous day). There had been a windstorm, so I left extra time to walk to my dinner: Druga Violina. The restaurant not only has fantastic reviews, but also has an amazing philosophy: everyone on the waitstaff and kitchen staff has special needs. The name literally translates to “Second Violin” which has been reimagined in a much more positive framing than the United States idiom “second fiddle”. Their philosophy is that any orchestra needs a second violin – of course, it isn’t as prominent as the first, but it is absolutely essential to the sound and performance. The food was truly incredible; I tried the Štruklji, which were made with both wheat and buckwheat flour and filled with cottage cheese, the Carniolan sausage (aka Slovenian kielbasa), and the Prekmurska gibanica, aka a chocolate layer cake (although very different than the classic imagining; the layers are extremely thin, with almost a powdered chocolate). I also had a lovely red wine and the local blackberry liqueur. All of the staff were professional, polite and patient with me (especially when I tried to be “helpful” by following the instructions on the menu to write my order, which apparently they don’t use anymore).

Then, I headed to my (theoretical) last stop of the evening: the lovely craft cocktail bar (seemingly Ljubljana’s only!) Kolibiri. The bartender and I made friends and I had a couple lovely beverages and a couple freebies, all while listening to a live concert beginning around 9pm (that theater is amazing!).

Against my own best wishes, I knew I should head to bed early, so I started walking towards the hotel and ran across what appeared to be some kind of rally. Soon, I learned (via conversation with the folks around me in a variety of different languages) that the President would be speaking, a couple Slovenian pop stars would be performing, and there would be some kind of dance performance as well. It turned out to be a rehearsal for an upcoming event in Ljubljana. Hilariously, I got a selfie with the President (she was super cool, she was like, “They told you who I am? Are you SURE you want to use flash?” before making her military team do the lighting for us), so that pretty much topped my experience in Slovenia.

Overall, an amazing first couple days in Ljubljana!