Ljubljana Walking Tour

Ljubljana is known as the city of dragons.

The river and the castle above the city.

Views from the castle.

Amanda, us, Harvey and Carol

Saturday, September 21st

Today we had a walking tour of Ljubljana with our Adventures Abroad tour leader and a local guide named Dragon who was excellent. He knew the city and had a great sense of humour. He told us why the city is called the city of dragons, it all has to do with myths and legends. Apparently not all dragons are bad. When we got to the Three Bridges he explained that back in the day there was only one and it was very congested, so they hired an architect to rebuild it but instead he built two new bridges, one to the left and one to the right as pedestrian bridges. Today all three are foot bridges only. As we walked about the old city centre pedestrian area he pointed out buildings and statues and other points of interest as we worked our way through the area to the funicular that took us to the top of the hill where the Ljubljana Castle is situated. There have been people living on this hill for thousands of years until the age of the Romans when they started the first of the castles. Today the castle has been renovated and updated so that some of it is very modern and some parts that withstood the ages have been left intact. It houses a couple of museums, a prisoner of war jail and a jazz club. Most of us climbed the tower that overlooked both the castle and the surrounding area for an excellent view of the city. The tour ended back by the three bridges and we had some time to ourselves as Amanda went back to the hotel to meet the last three members of our group how arrived today. (One couple’s flight left Toronto late, like us, and they had to spend 23 hours in the Frankfurt Airport because they missed their connecting flight and without a German visa they were not allowed to leave the airport!)

Shayna and I walked to the Open Kitchen area for lunch and found that the square was empty! Apparently it is only there on Fridays. So we sat and ate a bit of fruit we had and people watched for a bit. Then we walked to another tourist hotel to meet up with her friend’s Carol and Harvey. We sat in their lobby and had a drink while catching up and comparing tours. Then we went back to our hotel to meet up with the group and head out for dinner at a lovely large restaurant called Sestica. I had octopus and cuttlefish on risotto that was black. It didn’t look appetizing but was actually very good. We sat at a large table and everyone was sharing travel stories. We sat in the lobby of our hotel with Mary and Fran, two Americans, and talked about their fears for the upcoming election. Then off to bed to pack and get ready for tomorrow’s departure.