02-OCT-2008
Ljubljana Cathedral
We arrived in Ljubljana after a 6.5-hour drive from Budapest on Thursday morning. This was longer than the drive should have been; our GPS system got us quite lost in eastern Slovenia, and we ended up traveling a fair distance on a single track dirt road which paralleled (we now realize) the paved highway... but the weather was beautiful, and the Slovenian countryside gorgeous -- mountains, vineyards, and small villages. This photo shows the Ljubljana Cathedral in the center of the old town.
03-OCT-2008
Dragon Bridge
One of the guardians of the Dragon Bridge -- itself one of the several bridges over the Ljubljanica River, which winds through the old town and around the castle hill. The Ljubljanica, while pretty, is tiny compared to the Danube, and the bridges are only a few meters long. The dragon represents the one Jason slew while pursuing the Golden Fleece.
02-OCT-2008
Ljubljana's main square
This is the Franciscan Church of St. Mary in Ljubljana's main square. There are also a number of Serbian Orthodox churches in town, similar to the ones we saw a few weeks ago in Szentendre.
03-OCT-2008
Ljubljana Market
The Ljubljana market -- vegetables, fruits, and flowers -- is open daily, with an additional fish market on Saturdays. Although in the end we didn't buy any, Richard and I spent some time looking at flowers (especially the dried straw flowers which I have also seen for sale in Budapest) and at the fish (which we really haven't seen since we left Ottawa). The next time we go to Slovenia, we bring our cooler and ice packs to fill with fresh fish to bring back...
03-OCT-2008
Ljubljana Market II
Squash are in season here; Janet has already brought out her butternut squash soup recipe. For reasons we don't know, in Hungarian butternut squash are called "kanadai sutotek" -- Canadian squash!
03-OCT-2008
Ljubljanica River
Strolling along the Ljubljanica River -- a town where, in stark contrast to Budapest, nearly everyone gets around on bicycle or on foot. The waterfront is lined with small restaurants and cafes, including one which served us our first salmon fillets in over a month.
02-OCT-2008
Bird's eye
View of the red roofs and steeple towers of Ljubljana on the walk up Castle Hill. Tracing church architecture from Budapest through to the Slovenian coast was interesting -- Baroque in Budapest; Venetian on the coast; and a mixture in intermediate areas. The castle itself was under restoration, and inaccessible except from the outside.
03-OCT-2008
Slovenian-Croatian border
On Friday afternoon, we drove to the Slovenian coast, where the architecture was definitively Italianate and the seafood plentiful. This photo was taken from the Portoroz airport, on the Slovenian-Croatian border.
03-OCT-2008
Piran
We had dinner in Piran, a small town on Slovenia's small coastline. Clams, mussels, scampi, and fish -- a delight after six weeks in landlocked Hungary! From the Piran harbor, we could see Trieste and Croatia, as well as the lights of Venice. Piran is an old, small town with narrow winding streets suitable only for motorbikes. With the warm winds off the Adriatic, it is both grape- and olive-growing country, and has an Italian flavor in architecture and culture.
03-OCT-2008
Piran Harbour
View round the Piran harbor just before sunset, looking southwest towards Croatia.
03-OCT-2008
Sunset over Venice
In Budapest, the sun disappears behind the hill in front of our house before we really get to appreciate the sunset. In Piran -- well, the only thing the sun had to disappear behind was the Italian coast.
04-OCT-2008
Grape harvest near Celje
On Saturday, we were invited to help with the grape harvest on a friend's grandfather's farm about an hour's drive east of Ljubljana. This shows the view from the vineyard, overlooking the village and an artificial lake (created by a dam for steelworks in the 1960s).
04-OCT-2008
Hard at work
Richard and Spela picking white grapes at the end of a row. While the girls, women, and Richard picked grapes, the boys carried the grapes from the vineyard to the cottage on their backs, while the men pressed the grapes to begin the wine-making.
04-OCT-2008
View from the vineyard
It was cool out, but not too cold, and with a dozen of us working, we finished the picking within a few hours. Richard and I were treated to two wonderful Slovenian meals -- dumpling soup, beef, roasted potatoes, homemade horseradish, tomatoes, onions, paprika, bread, beans, and homemade desserts -- and last year's white wine and this year's red 'most' (young, cloudy wine) -- and strong Turkish coffee.
04-OCT-2008
View from the vineyard II
It is also apple season here, and we have come back to Budapest with a large bag of wonderfully crisp apples.
04-OCT-2008
Evening
Janet and Spela watching the sun set behind the hills.
04-OCT-2008
Evening II
Richard and I drove back to Ljubljana in the dark, this time not getting lost once.
05-OCT-2008
Hartberg, Austria
On Sunday we drove back to Budapest via Austria, stopping for lunch in Hartberg, where a wine festival was in full swing. We bought sandwiches from a street vendor and wandered through the old town. Our route was chosen to maximize our views of the Alps, and made for a beautiful if long drive.
05-OCT-2008
Church in the old town
Free parking on Sundays, and roasted chestnuts for sale -- what else could you want?
:: Hike near Vrsic pass ::
:: Slovenia, Easter 2011 ::