Ljubljana -Senior backpacker goes to Slovenia (8)

In Slovenia all the roads seem to lead to Ljubljana. So if you want to move from one place to another, you may probably find it easier to go to first to Ljubljana and then take a bus to your next destination. That's why I came here three times, but two of which were just for transit. I waited for a bus at Ljubljana when going to Bohinj from Kamnik as well as returning to the airport from Trieste. Excluding those transits, I made only one half-day tour around Ljubljana, an old capital of Slovenia while I was in the country. But it was a really precious moment for me, because I was so fortunate to be guided by two attractive young lady and gentleman.  

Ljubljana Station
 Our rendezvous was at the entrance of the Ljubljana station building where there was a clock. Getting off the train from Kamnik, I was quite upset as I could find no gate in the station to get out and had difficulty to find a way to the meeting place. The capital's station was very quite with so few station staff, which was quite a contrast to Tokyo's busy stations. 
 I met  Maja and Žiga there for the first time, who had a special interest in Japanese culture and dedicated themselves to disseminate it among Slovenian through their Genki Center, the Japanese related center for education and culture. Maja was a founder, while Žiga was an expert on Japanese tea ceremony.

  

PREŠERNOV SQUARE
We walked toward the central square, Prešernov trg, which linked the new city with the Old Town. At the square I first noticed the statue of France Prešeren (1800–49) , a Slovenia’s great poet, looking gently toward a terracotta figure taking a peep from a window on the 2nd floor of the opposite side building (refer to the photos below) over the square. She is said to be his Beatrice named as Julija Primiča. On the northern side of the square, there stood the 17th-century salmon-pink Franciscan Church of the Annunciation.     

   




   

Just south of the statue is the Triple Bridge (Tromostovje) which was built as a single connection in 1842 with the two sides added in 1931. We crossed over the Ljubljanica River to enter into the Old Town to explore the joyful open-air markets. There used to be a fisher market and butcher market around here. 

   

   
Ljubljana Castle
 Then we rode up to the Ljubljana Castle by funicular. 
 This castle was constructed in the 15th century by the Hapsburg to defend against Turkish invasions, which were the most frequent in the 15th and 16th century. In 1809 Napoleon brought freedom and nationalism to the citizens of Ljubljana, which triggered the civil war with the Habsburg. After the French left, the Habsburg had used the castle for jails until the end of the Second World War. Until 1963, political opponents of Ljubljana had been confined in a cell of the castle. In the 1970s the renovation began and today the castle is a popular tourist site. 
 We entered the watchtower which was located on the southwestern side of the castle courtyard, and climbed to the top through a double wrought-iron staircase. Sweat beaded on my forehead, but the views from the top was worth an effort.  

    

    

Wine Tasting
 Back to the Funicular starting point on Krekov trg near the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, we strolled along the Old Town streets and I felt some pleasant and romantic atmosphere at every corner that this town had to offer. They took me to "Sushi mama", a Japanese Susi-bar for dinner and we all enjoyed delicious Susi dishes together with Japanese sake. This was my first and last Japanese dishes to eat while I was traveling for two weeks in Europe. Next we moved on to the special beer shop "Zapopent.si", as they knew that I was brewing home beer and interested in different kinds of beer. Maja gave me a bottle of Brown Ale as souvenir, which I carried all the way back to Japan and tasted at home. Next we moved to the nearby Wine Bar& shop Movia for wine tasting.  

 
 

 

 Movia wine comes from the Movia estate in Goriška Brda, the borderland between Slovenia and Italy, 13 km to the northwest of Nova Gorica. The Goriška Brda is one of the most important wine-growing areas in Slovenia where they say that a combination of a Mediterranean climate and the vicinity of Alpine peaks creates the most preferable conditions for the production of dry wine. Although I don't know much about wine, but I can say that it was the best wine tasting ever in my life. We talked a lot over glasses of wine until midnight. I was impressed especially by the following remarks; the one was that Slovenian work so hard as much as they care about their family. I felt that this more balanced mindset was also important to the modernized Japanese society, which had been eroded excessively by technology and commercialism. And as just one month ago UK voted to leave EU on national referendum, I was interested in how they felt about Slovenia being a membership country of EU. What surprised me was this view that Slovenia had struggled to develop its unique strength in industries under the pressures from its neighboring powerhouses. 

 Beautiful old Ljubljana, delicious wine and pleasant talks, I had a very happy moment. Thanks so much!

(To be continued; the next is "Trieste" )