After our relaxing stay in Lake Bled, we boarded a bus back to Ljubljana (roughly pronounced lyoob-lee-ah-na), the capital and largest city of Slovenia. Despite being the largest city, Ljubljana only has a population of about 280,000 and feels more like a large town than a city. The downtown area was converted to a car-free pedestrian-friendly zone a few years ago by the mayor at the time (who may once again be mayor).

Valerie found a great deal and got us a room at the convenient and swanky Grand Hotel Union, the very first hotel in Ljubljana, built in 1905. After setting in, we took a quick self-guided walking tour of the city. At the center of town is the river with several pedestrian bridges: the Triple Bridge, Dragon Bridge, Cobbler’s Bridge, Butcher’s Bridge, etc.

The Triple Bridge, in front of city hall, was redesigned by Jože Plečnik, probably the most famous architect in the city’s history. Rick Steves recommended that we visit his house/workshop, so we did. From the excellent guided tour (free because it happened to be museum day!), we learned that this Plečnik was an easily offended anti-social workaholic. The son of a carpenter, he designed his own wood furniture to be uncomfortable (to encourage himself to work harder and to discourage others from visiting him). I have no idea how a man who so disliked talking to people was so beloved by those same people.

After the workshop, we took a guided walking tour of the city organized by the Tourist Information office. We learned a bit about Baroque architecture before visiting the castle on the hill via a tourist train (actually a tram shaped like a train). For those visiting the city, the tour is totally worth the 9 euro price. After the tour, we ate at a local pizzeria (Foculus) which was happy to make us a delicious cheese-less pizza before heading back to the hotel. Overall, I really liked the relaxed and youthful feeling of Ljubljana.