Ljubljana

Trip Preparation
Preparing for this trip was rather easy.  The city's tourism bureau has a great website, with an ample amount of information about the city and its attractions.  If you're planning a trip to Ljubljana, I highly recommend visiting this website.

Since I was traveling to Zürich for business, I used the Swiss city as my base of operations.  Two airlines fly between Zürich and Ljubljana - Swiss and Adria Airways.  Seeking adventure, I had decided to fly on Slovenia's flag carrier.  Since they do not have a US sales office, I booked my tickets through Travelocity.  The site charges about USD 25 for providing paper tickets, but it is worth the expense for flights outside the United States.

Finding a selection of hotels was a bit difficult, as Travelocity's offerings were poor.  There are not many chains that offer accommodations in the city.  At the high end are the Hotel Lev (formerly the Lev Hotel Intercontinental) and the Hotel Slon, which is franchised through the BestWestern chain.  I took the recommendation of the Lonely Planet guide book (LP3°, 100) and booked at the City Hotel Turist, which is described below.

Getting There
The Adria Airways flight from Zürich was short and uneventful.  I was able to sit by the window, which afforded me a great view as we flew over the city.  This vantage point gave me a sneak peak at the Old Town, including the Castle, as well as the Julian Alps that border the city to the north.

The Ljubljana-Brnik Airport is small and efficient.  I took about 10 minutes to go from airplane disembarkment and to the city shuttle van.  Immigration and customs were very simple; Slovenia is one of the few European countries that still stamps visitors' passports.  The only incident was the Swiss guy behind me that tried to crowd around the head of the passport control line.  Obviously, he was from the lower end of the "food chain" in his country, as most Swiss are polite.

I took an airport shuttle to the city, which was an economical way to get from the airport to the city.  It cost SIT 1000, which is 20% of the taxi fare for the same routing.  The shuttle dropped me near the train station, which is located about five blocks from the hotel.  If you are staying in a hotel that is close to the train station, I highly recommend using this service.

First Impressions
My first impression of the city came in the short walk from the shuttle drop point and the hotel.  It appeared to be a quiet city, probably because it was a Saturday afternoon.  Most of the stores close at 13.00 on Saturdays, so I can imagine most people were already home.  The architecture reminded me of that found in Germanic countries, certainly not a former Yugoslav country.  At this point, I had no basis of comparison for Yugoslav architecture.  My only perceptions were probably something more south European in appearance, similar to Greece.  There appeared to be a certain amount of construction occurring, especially in the restoration of existing structures.  The streets were clean and well paved; there was very little traffic on this afternoon.  My initial impression was that the city was a smaller, quieter version of Zürich.  

The city does a good job of identifying historical landmarks.  An historical building or landmark will will have a blue sign labeled Kulturni Spomenik, which means "cultural property".  The sign also is written in German, French and Italian.  Beneath it typically is a yellow sign that provides some basic information about the building, including the year of construction, architect and information about special features.  These yellow signs are written in Slovene and English only.  Since most of the country's visitors originate from German-speaking countries, I was surprised that these signs are written in English.  The example above is the sign posting for the Stolnica, which is the city's cathedral.

Accommodations
I checked into my hotel, the three-star City Hotel Turist, which is located at Dalmatinova ulica 15. The Lonely Planet guide book recommended this hotel as decent budget accommodations (LP3°, 100).  I made reservations by emailing the contact found on the hotel's website.  The exterior of the eight-story building appeared to be stucco, which was painted a light yellow color.  The lobby was not grandiose, and appeared not to have been renovated in quite a while.  The rooms were basic and clean, which suited me fine.  My single room had a modern bathroom, a television (with a mixture of British, French German, Italian and Slovene stations) and a comfortable bed.  What more could I have wanted ...

After unpacking and showering (I had been in the same clothes for over 24 hours), I decided to go adventuring.  My plan was to cover the west bank of the Ljubljanica River on Saturday afternoon and the east bank (Old Town) on Sunday morning.

I have separated the information into three sections, which are each on their own page.  Please click the appropriate link below:

• History of Ljubljana
• West of the Ljubljanica River (Left Bank)
• East of the Ljubljanica River (Right Bank)

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