It was with a heavy heart but a sense of adventure that we left Italy and climbed aboard a Slovenian Train in Trieste and headed for the capital of Ljubljana.
Surprise! The train didn't go all the way to Ljubljana. We had to transfer to a bus that at first told us they didn't have time for us to disassemble our bikes, so they could be stored in the baggage compartment.
Back in the days of the Cold War, it was the northern-most (and wealthiest) province of Yugoslavia.
For centuries before that, it was a part of the Austrian Empire.
Our first view of Ljubljana wasn't too encouraging...charmless big city sprawl.
But that soon changed.
Surprise! The old city of Ljubljana is a piece of Austrian history straight out of the Baroque era.
It's car free, which makes walking the cobbled streets a quiet pleasure.
Cosmopolitan stores line the streets and make window-shopping a major past-time.
The week after we left, Bob Dylan had a concert here.
The Ljubljana River runs right through the heart of the old city.
The banks of the river are lined with outdoor cafes, restaurants, and ice cream and pastry stands.
Our first night we had an excellent dinner, our first taste of Slovenian cuisine. Roger had venison in sour cherry sauce; Carol had three kinds of game, each with a different sauce.
Surprise! Our last night in Ljubljana we had an even better Slovenian meal. Carol had grilled salmon and a dark local beer; Roger had a marshmallow-soft veal steak.
The ice cream looked just like Italian gelato but, unfortunately, tasted like ice cream.
By the way, this was our first clue we were no longer in Italy.
This is a street sign in the heart of the old city. No sense trying to figure out what it means, We exhausted ourselves just trying to pronounce it.
Fortunately, most Slovenians speak excellent English. The reason, we were told, is nobody who isn't a native can fathom how to speak the language.
1) Of the seven letters the English language uses least, five are the most common in Slovenian (v, j, k, y, and z). Roger believes this originally was an effort to even out typewriter key usage world-wide.
2) Three letters "C", "S", and "Z" can have a diacritical mark called a hacek over them...which changes the pronunciation to "Ch", "Sh", and "Zh."
3) Only in Slovenian is the letter "J" a vowel.
4) Words (like the town name on this sign) can have invisible vowels. The invisible vowel is pronounced somewhere between a soft "e" and a soft "i." You have to be Slovenian to know where the invisible vowel goes.
5) Which syllable gets stressed in Slovenian is utterly unpredictable. This means that Roger and Carol always put the em-PHA-sis on the wrong syl-LAB-le.
People have been living around Ljubljana for thousands of years. Archeological digs have found artifacts dating to 3,000 BCE.
This fortress, which sits atop a hill overlooking the old city, dates back to 1150. Back then, its walls were wood. Over the centuries, the wood was replaced by stone, and the castle occupied by the Carniola dukes.
When their line came to an end, the fortress was turned into a prison (1800's). In the last century, the city bought the property, renovated the fortress, and turned it into the city's cultural center.
The Ljubljana flag, seen here flying over the castle tower, contains the image of a green dragon.
Legend holds that the dragon used to live in a swamp not far from the present-day city. Slovenians believe this was the dragon slain by St. George.
The dragon eventually became the symbol of the city. Today, he stands guard over a key bridge that's the entry to the old city.
By the way, Carol got to hold hands with Yosef Broz (aka Tito) in Congress Square...across from the Parliament building.
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