Ljubljana part 2

Today I spent the day walking around Ljubljana. It is a really nice little city.

My hostel is very close to the center of town, just 10 minute walk down some neighborhood streets and I am there. The morning was pretty brisk but not nearly as much as last night where it got to -2(c). The city is very pretty, clean and open.

The first thing I did this morning was go to a bookstore because I had already devoured the book that I brought with me that I thought would last the entire trip. Afterwards I walked down the cobblestone lanes to the center of the city which is a square with a monument in the middle with three bridges intersecting on one side. The square is next to the Ljubljanica River.

Across the river and atop a hill you can see the Ljubljana Castle. I didn't get a chance to go up to the castle (sigh) but it was a beauty to behold from the ground view so I can only imagine that it was even more spectacular from up there atop the mountain.

When you cross the three bridges you arrive at the Central Market. It was an interesting little market. All of the stalls were arranged by what they were selling so that similar craftsmen were located together. It started with glassware (mostly candle holders) which were painted to look like stained glass then it moved onto pottery and finally to wooden handicrafts. The items were pretty and relatively low priced and they weren't like the junk that you find in a lot of markets. Further down there were stalls selling fresh fruits. There were several stalls selling fresh sauerkraut and fresh fruit. You should have seen the beautiful green grapes, they were massive! After that came the area with the clothing and shoes, nobody was really selling exactly the same thing and it was nice, it seemed like an outdoor department store. The biggest bargain (which I didn't take because of size) were the candles and lanterns. For less than 2€ you could buy a decent sized colored glass candle holder filled with a candle (about the size of a mayonnaise jar) it was really cool, but the size and weight of those items deterred me from a purchase. The last area of the market had flowers. Beautiful roses and sunflowers, daises and others. They all smelled so good.

After the market I walked down a quaint little lane and window shopped. These stores were built in a place that I assume was a stable or something in years past. The ceilings were all curved up and it reminded me a bit of the stables at Camden Market in London.

This evening I went to the grocery store and had dinner in their restaurant. The food is good and relatively inexpensive. I had lasagne, some peas/corn/carrots and fresh bread. Now I am retiring to the hostel to get some rest prior to my excursion to Budapest early tomorrow morning.

I think that Slovenia is a beautiful country and think it would be a beautiful place to retire one day if it weren't for the cold. I am relatively certain that if it was a few degrees cooler here that they wouldn't be able to hold the hordes of tourists back.

That's all I have for now. I'll write again tomorrow from Budapest!

Take Care,
~Jenn