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| Beautiful Christmas lights in Prešeren Square, Ljubljana |
Before jaunting off to Ljubljana we enjoyed the usual round of pre-Christmas social activities, and it warmed the cockles of my heart to see the local businesses decked out in their Yuletide finery. The week before Christmas we took a stroll down to The Holly Bush in Frensham for a quick festive drink, before hosting our own drinks party at home, where conversation was lively and I tested out my espresso martini making skills on a captive audience (verdict: DELICIOUS).
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| The cosy interior of one of our local pubs, The Holly Bush |
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| Sloe gin & lemon tonic, with strawberry, blueberry and raspberry |
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| Preparing the buffet table for our guests |
Things were not off to a great start for this year's Christmas trip, with #dronegate wreaking havoc at Gatwick Airport. This is the UK's second largest airport, and one we only use occasionally (we are now closer to Heathrow). However it was the only place we could get a direct flight to Ljubljana, so rather than spend the entire day queuing and changing planes, the schlepp over to Reigate would be worth it - or so we thought.
Given all the upheaval of the day before, when hundreds of flights were cancelled because of drone sightings, we thought we should arrive even earlier than the mandatory two hours ahead of flight time.
It was looking good, with our flight scheduled to depart only about 45 minutes late, then it was supposedly going to depart at the original scheduled time, then late again, then on time again... finally boarding time arrived and we were literally about to step onto the plane when the runway was closed down. The announcement indicated a delay of at least three hours, and no guarantee the runway would actually re-open that night. Deep joy.
Weirdly, and thankfully, only about an hour later we were back in business, flight boarded, and on our way to Slovenia.
Of course we have subsequently discovered it was all a complete faff - there were no drones, and the hundreds of thousands of people inconvenienced over 2-3 days during the busiest travel period of the year, would like an explanation.
Eventually, however, we arrived in fair Ljubljana, reaching our Air B&B apartment at around 23:00, having been on the go since 09:15 that morning. Great location - right opposite the Central Market, and in a tiny street that had Ljubljana Castle towering on the hill behind it.
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| View from our apartment's living room - the Ljubljana Central Market |
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| What a welcome! As well as a refrigerator stocked with wine, beer, hummus and marmalade, plus fresh bread and fruit, our host's mother had baked us *Christmas cookies* |
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| Our apartment building (circled in red), and the cobbled street leading directly to Ljubljana Castle (circled in blue) |
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| Šarka is a gold standard Air B&B host - just check out this information board for her guests! |
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| Colourful traditional woollen capes on sale at the market |
I blame #dronegate for the fact that within 24 hours I came down with a raging sinus and chest infection.
Kevin had been coughing for about four weeks prior to our trip - only a viral thing - but I had managed to avoid catching it, despite working incredibly long hours for several weeks before we left for Slovenia. This has happened to me before - three years ago I had to abandon our Scandinavian Christmas, having met up with friends in Helsinki for a few days, during which I stoically trudged around seeing the sights participating in social activities... before deciding one night I was going to die, and taking an early flight home the next day.
Anyway, after somehow managing a walking tour of Ljubljana and a day-trip to Lake Bled and Bled Castle, on the third day of our Slovenian adventure I had to face the fact that I was officially *SICK* - having had a night with barely any sleep because I was certain my head was about to explode from the sinus pressure.
Thankfully our delightful Air B&B host directed me to a local medical centre, where I was seen by a thoroughly charming English-speaking GP who promptly prescribed me a two-week course of antibiotics (telling me I really, really needed to take them) and some anti-inflammatory pain medication... all totally free of charge, courtesy of my EHIC (European Health Insurance Card). In a few months' time that reciprocal arrangement will no longer be available to us, reason number 7,234 as to why LEAVING THE EU IS A STUPID IDEA.
Despite feeling rubbish for much of the time, constantly coughing up gunk and blowing my nose almost without cease, I was motivated to keep going because of the lovely architecture and interesting history of this tiny country (population 2 million).
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| The river Ljubljanica winds its way right through the city centre |
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| Colourful buildings in the University precinct of the city |
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| Yes, that's a sculpture of a kangaroo in front of the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre. It's a drinking water fountain - in the warmer seasons you may refill your water bottle from the kangaroo's dripping mouth (ew!) |
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| The funicular 'cube' that takes visitors from the city up to Ljubljana Castle. The funicular stop was located just near our apartment building |
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| Charming cobbled lane in the posh part of town, with the castle towering above |
Slovenia was part of the Roman Empire, and suffered Barbarian invasions into the Early Middle Ages, at which time it became part of the Holy Roman Empire - and thus it remained for nearly 1,000 years, under Habsburg rule for the last 600 years of that period. In 1918 the Slovenes joined Serbs and Croats in forming Yugoslavia, which after World War II became a socialist state. Finally, after the collapse of the USSR, Slovenia became an independent state and eventually joined both the European Union and NATO.
After so many centuries of occupation, foreign rule and absorption within other countries, Slovenia was lucky to have retained its own language and cultural traditions. This independence is very strongly valued.
The small city of Ljubljana (just under 300,000 people) has some wonderful and historic architecture, despite a significant proportion of the city being destroyed by an earthquake in 1895. It's a pleasant city to walk around.
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| Rugged up for a stroll on Christmas Day. Those pockets are crammed with fresh tissues |
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| Kevin blowing the froth off a local lager on Christmas Day. The outdoor tables at this restaurant have electric heaters built-in underneath, and we each have rugs over our knees! |
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| Beautiful, grand entrance to a building near the river - I loved the gorgeous aged patina on those doors! |
I was very happy to discover Ljubljana also has a fairly solid abundance of art nouveau buildings, and I was able to forget my horrid sinuses for a while as I concentrated on drinking in the buildings' ornate beauty.
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| *Ah* how fabulous is this apartment building entry? Kevin and I were particularly impressed that the people who graffiti'd the building took the trouble to use a coordinating colour! |
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| The fabulous Hauptmann House, originally built in 1873 but rebuilt in 1904 (following the 1895 earthquake) in the Viennese Secession style, fashionable at the time |
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| Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity, built in the early 18th century |
Given my appreciation of Georgian, Victorian, Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts and Art Deco architectural beauty, it may surprise you to know that I am every bit as excited by the 'eyesore' buildings of the Communist era. I seek them out whenever I visit a former Communist country. Berlin is particularly good for this kind of thing.
The aim of later-era Communist architecture was to provide functional buildings that portrayed modernity and strength, without significant cost. That's why most buildings of the 1960s / 70s / 80s are boxy and Brutalist in style. By that stage the Eastern Bloc was finding it hard to balance its books, and great hulking cereal boxes (such as the two pictured below) fit the brief.
I've never agreed with the wholesale tearing down of the symbols of former regimes. They are part of history, and if anything, they serve as a reminder of the mistakes of the past. I'm glad there are still signs of this significant period of the 20th century throughout Europe.
It would appear I'm not the only one with such an interest - the Museum of Modern Art (in New York) currently has an exhibition on the architecture of the former Yugoslavia (Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980 - link to article here).
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| Republic Square - TR2 and TR3 towers |
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| Monument To The Revolution, created by Drago Tršar in 1975 |
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| The National Assembly Building in Republic Square (constructed between 1954-1959, and adorned with statues by Zdenko Kalin and Karel Putrih - these represent the working people) |
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| National Assembly Building (detail) |
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| Monument of Edgar Kardelj, also created by Drago Tršar in 1975 |
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| Dog walker crossing Republic Square |
We were very fortunate with the weather for our day trip to Lake Bled, which ended up being a private tour as Kevin and I were the only people signed up for that day! It was a gorgeous, sunny, crisp winter day.
This is a mega tourist attraction and we were happy to be taking advantage of the really quiet time of the year. The tour includes a short trip in a traditional wooden boat out to Bled Island - one can only imagine the horror in peak tourist season, with hundreds of people swarming over the island and all taking their selfies.
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| Lake Bled, looking towards Bled Castle, with the Julian Alps in the background |
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| A restaurant and guesthouse right opposite Lake Bled. With animal-abusive horse-drawn carriage, complete with moronic tourists who perpetuate this industry |
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| Church of the Assumption of Mary, on Bled Island |
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| Lake Bled viewed from the island. This stairway dates from 1655 |
Our tour included a visit to Bled Castle, which is straight out of a European book of fairytales and dates from 1011. The castle offers beautiful views of the region, wine and honey tasting (this area prides itself on high quality honey), a chapel and a museum.
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| Bled Castle lower courtyard and watchtower |
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| The chapel at Bled Castle |
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| View from the watchtower at Bled Castle |
As mentioned at the start of this post, the weather conditions were fairly mild in Ljubjlana and our Bled tour guide confirmed that the weather has changed significantly in the past few decades. Where once they would get snow regularly in December, these days it's rare - late January and February are now the norm for snow.
As much as I enjoyed Ljubljana and Bled, I don't feel the need to return anytime soon. I am happy to have had an introduction to Slovenia, and the people were generally very friendly. However for me, eating good food is a significant element of travel. In Slovenia I'm afraid this is an issue for a vegan-leaning pescetarian, and I really struggled to find anything worth eating.
Just by chance our walking tour guide mentioned a vegan burger place just about 50 metres from our apartment, and we did rely on it for two meals (burgers, and things on bread generally, are not my favourite food - I only eat them when there's no other choice). But as far as 'dining out' like grown-ups, options for vegans and vegetarians are few and far between in Ljubljana.
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| The Black Burger at Organic Garden |
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| Kevin enjoying some mulled wine on Christmas Day |
Most of the veggie/vegan places in Ljubljana are casual cafés that are not open for dinner. The vegan options in other restaurants are, truly, laughable. Take the place where we dined on Christmas Day evening. I had been drawn to it, following hours of research online, because the restaurant claimed to have a vegan menu (I had been warned via travel forums that many of Ljubljana's restaurants would close early on Christmas Eve, and many would not be open on Christmas Day. We were advised to book ahead if we wanted to be sure of getting a table.)
The reality was that this restaurant offered only four vegan starters, two of which were risotto (nooooooo!!!!!!), and one that sounded like a slurry of 'buckwheat porridge', avocado and something else very wet (I've wiped it from my memory - it was too disgusting to contemplate).
The fourth option was what I ordered as my starter - basically a few slices of cucumber, about three tiny pieces of a cherry tomato (not even a whole cherry tomato), five artistically placed salad micro-leaves, and a wad of mushed up something, that had been formed into a hockey puck shaped mound. No dressing, no sauce, and this dish constituted a tiny serving that probably only came to about 100 calories.
There's not actually anything wrong with risotto when done well, but for many years it was one of the only options you were offered as a vegetarian / vegan in the UK, and I speak for all veggies when I shout WE ARE SICK OF IT! (particularly as I've rarely met a decent risotto in the UK)
As it turned out, I had to order one of the risottos as my main course because there was no other option. The less hideous of the two was described as a basil risotto with walnuts and smoked tofu. Sounds like a weird combination, right?
*Yep*
No taste of basil - just a smear of green puree amongst under-seasoned rice. I mean - how do you remove all traces of basil flavour from a basil risotto?! No evidence of the tiny cubes of smoked tofu actually being smoked. And no walnuts - instead, hazelnuts which had not had the skins removed, and therefore were incredibly bitter. No seasoning. All in all, a bland plate of nothingness for which I was expected to pay €13.
I did not eat it, and in fairness, the restaurant did not charge me for it.
The final nail in the coffin of this special Christmas Day dining experience was the fact that we were assaulted by a continuous 'Stars on 45' medley of the worst and crappiest songs of the 1980s. This was playing for the entire duration of our meal. Now this was a really hip but quiet restaurant in a nice hotel. It was Christmas Day. If ever there was an excuse to play nice Christmas music, this was it. They didn't.
We returned to our own hotel, where I ordered a sandwich through room service.
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| Ljubljana Castle illuminated above the city |
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| One of the colourful stalls at the Christmas Market in Ljubljana |
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| The entire city of Ljubljana is illuminated at Christmas. On the left is the Town Hall |
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| Pretty shop window |
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| Looking towards The Triple Bridge, Prešeren Square and the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation (the pink building on the left) |
If you enjoy church bells, then Ljubljana is the place for you. Around Prešeren Square there are numerous churches and when they all sound their chimes, it's something special:
On Boxing Day we were up some hours before sunrise to catch our pleasingly cheap train to Vienna. It was a lovely journey through the Slovenian and Austrian alps, with one change at Villach.
The difference between the Slovenian and Austrian trains was significant. Our train from Ljubljana appeared to be a relic from the 1960s. No refreshments carriage, and a toilet like something from a third-world country. At least we had our own little room as there were very few passengers (the fares were super cheap because what idiot wants to get up at 05:15 on Boxing Day to walk 15 minutes in the dark at -5ºC to catch a train? Exactly.)
In contrast, the Austrians provided us with a very glam set-up, complete with dining car including vegan options, USB charging points and a pristinely clean, super modern bathroom from this century.
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| Retro style train from Ljubljana to Villach. When we changed trains to the Austrian rail network, the difference was startling |
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| A beautiful pink sunrise with snow-covered mountains (please excuse the reflections from the train window) |
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| A ghostly reflection of Kevin as we passed through Techelsberg am Wörther See, Austria |
I always breathe a sigh of relief when I return to countries where I've got a fighting chance of reading signs, ordering food and asking directions. Thus to be in a German-speaking country after experiencing the unfathomable, vowel-less Slavonic language, was a relief.
This was my first visit to Vienna since 1986, and it was Kevin's first time.
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| Late afternoon sun strikes the top of the Jesuit Church |
Once again we had a great location in which to be based - in a quiet, cobbled courtyard not far from the St Stephan Cathedral with its Christmas markets, and a whole swathe of cute little arcades with glamorous boutiques.
We purchased a 48-hour hop on / hop off ticket and made full use of it, concentrating on central Vienna for the first day, and venturing out to the palaces on the second.
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| Elegant art nouveau buildings |
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| Those gigantic snowflakes are sugar-work. Demel is a famous pastry shop and elegant salon. They're pretty good at it by now - they've been doing confectionary art since 1786 |
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| A whole shop window dedicated to the fabulous German/UK short film Dinner For One which, strangely, is completely unknown in the UK. We have been watching it at Christmas / New Year every year in Australia and Norway for decades |
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| I loved this art deco window in the Trzesniewski traditional open sandwich shop |
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| Awww... this is just a small section of an adorable window display featuring dozens of teddy bears, some ancient with eyes missing and their fur loved off. Whoever created it is an artistic genius - there was so much detail and it was utterly charming |
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| Wow - modern architecture is probably not something you associate with Vienna, but this building took my breath away. It was like something from Blade Runner. A series of illuminated ceilings on multiple levels make it look like something from the future (those coloured bits are inside the building - not reflections) |
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| Christmas markets in the Museum Quarter, with the Natural History Museum in the background |
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| St Stephan's Cathedral with its gothic spires and beautiful roof covered in glazed tiles (there are 230,000 of them) |
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| Majolikahaus, designed in the Viennese Secessionist style by Otto Wagner (1898-99) |
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| The Gloriette at Schönbrunn Palace Garden |
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| Colourful apartment blocks near Vienna's central railway station |
This is a very safe city, and as affluent and elegant as I remembered, with its wide pedestrian avenues. I was also very happy to be in a larger city with more abundant dining options, because when you've been pounding the footpaths all day long to see the sights, you look forward to a decent meal.
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| Christmas Markets at St Stephan's Cathedral Square |
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| Drinking Glühwein and Himbeer Punsch (raspberry alcoholic punch) out of ceramic boots at the Stephansplatz Christmas Markets |
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| The Viennese sure know how to illuminate their buildings for Christmas! |
And - holy coffee beans - every single cup of coffee we had in this city was utterly superb. Plus, of course, the bread.
Loads of vegan options everywhere, and in fact our final meal in this beautiful city was at a vegan restaurant just a few metres from the Opera.
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| All café proprietors and baristas should be sent to Vienna for lessons on how to make a perfect Verlängeter (equivalent of a long black) |
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| Hooray! The joy of being in a country with plentiful vegan options ♥️ Being a relatively regular visitor to Germany, I knew to go searching for my nearest biomarkt (organic supermarket) in Vienna. The bakery section alone offered a wide variety of vegan goods, including croissants |
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| Not quite the world's best jam - that crown rests firmly on Norway's head. But Austrian jam is pretty darned good - and this store sells 135 varieties! It was difficult to pick just one to take home, but we finally settled on cherry |
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| Oh, scrummy! The fabulous Heindl - these stores are all over Vienna. Home of delicious chocolatey morsels such as the Schoko Maroni (chestnut mousse covered in dark chocolate), and other delicacies such as Mozartkugeln (marzipan and hazelnut-nougat cream) |
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| Kevin sampling one of those decadent Schoko Maroni |
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| The queue for the Café Sacher - home of the famous Sacher Torte. We decided we didn't want a slice that badly |
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| Alrighty, people - I am giving you a tip here. This absolutely INCREDIBLE dark chocolate liqueur is The Bee's Knees. My espresso martinis have been taken to a new level since bringing this home from Vienna |
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| This made me laugh! 'Easy' Japanese food for the conservative Viennese (don't be afraid!) |
Well, here we are in 2019 and I am lamenting these final days of EU membership. Our Christmas trip to two EU member countries was thus bittersweet, and we can't help but ponder how much more difficult travelling in Europe will be after 29 March. More to the point, I am weighed down by a terrible sadness that Britain has decided to sever its link with this wonderful institution that has fostered close relationships and kept Europe war-free for so many decades (former Yugoslavian countries notwithstanding - and they weren't EU members obviously during that time).
I keep hoping for some kind of last minute reprieve. I'm not alone in this, and it remains to be seen how the UK continues to function with half the population firmly against leaving the EU, and with two years of preparation and negotiations seemingly for naught - as we lurch towards less than satisfactory arrangements for our continuing, non-EU relationship with Europe.
In truth I'm also worried about the impact that Brexit will have on my residency application (my spouse visa expires in November this year). Fingers crossed that, because the UK will have lost a significant proportion of its EU residents, applicants from Commonwealth countries will be looked upon favourably.
I'll leave you with a couple of local photos, celebrating this time of year. Hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year, and for my friends and family in Australia, here's wishing you cooler temperatures very soon... I am glad not to be suffering through that hellish heat.
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| Christmas, English-style (decorated public phone box in Compton, Surrey) |
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| Winter sunrise on a frosty morning, from our garden |
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| These little beauties were created by my own fair hand! I organised chocolate truffle making as my work team's Christmas activity |
Until next time,
- Maree xo
