Day 21 - Ljubljana

Slept in till 7 this morning. My roommate was already gone. The college kids didn't keep me up. They were partying two thick floors down. Started wandering the city. Had breakfast at a cafe that claims to be the oldest house in town (1528). The prices didn't seem too marked-up for that privlidge. They had music videos playing on the tv (silently), but different music playing on the radio. All music in English. I no longer have random songs going through my head like I did earlier in the trip when I wasn't hearing songs I knew. It mostly stopped raining during breakfast.



The Ljubljana city flag has a dragon perched atop a castle. This is the Dragon Bridge, with two dragons guarding either end. We'll get to the castle later. That dome in the background is the cathedral. Here's the front door. There was a service in progress.



Down (up?) the river a ways is the Triple Bridge, which was originally a single bridge and then two smaller bridges were built along either side. It connects into a large circular square (-: with another church. Lots of churches. But this one's pink.



The city's medieval section isn't as tight as Dubrovnik's, but it still has nice curvy streets. Lots of clothing shops. I think the only things they sell in this town are food and clothes. Between the Dragon Bridge and the Triple Bridge is a long building housing a bunch of butchers, a bunch of cheese shops, a bunch of wine shops, a bunch of bakeries, and so on, all grouped with their competitors. But here's a photo of an apartment building with a church steeple in the background.



I then climbed the hill to the Ljubljana Castle. There's layers and layers of old and new, retrofits and museum-type raised platforms. Metal stairs, wood floors, bare slabs of rock, crumbling stone walls, locked glass doors. A whole maze underneath the main square that most visitors didn't even go down into. But I eventually laid down my tolarjev and climbed the stairs of the tall tower to see the view.





Walking down the hill through the forest, the smell of wet soil, the sounds of birds chirping, and then the growing roar of cars coming through the tunnel under the castle hill, back into the city. I do believe my stomach thinks it's time for lunch. What'll it be? Pizza or a burger? (-;