Not Ljubiana, Lubjana, but Ljubljana!

Ljubljana lies between the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea surrounded by the Alps and the mainland hills. A river called Ljubljanica runs through it, and in the centre of the city lays the Castle Hill with beautifull Castle on it. Before the Slavs settled here in the 6th century A.D., a city was a Roman province called Emona, and even these days you will find many Roman ruins in Ljubljana.

A capital with over 850 years of tradition offers lots more than one should think so. One thing is the sightseeing (famous scyscraper, the castle, Ljubljana dragons, Tivoli park in the core of the city and a vivid architecture in the centre of the city), the other thing that will astonish a traveler are the people.

The people in Ljubljana are almost always friendly to foreginers (often so friendly, that they offer help all by themselves), and this is the real treasure of Ljubljana. Like American writer Steve Falloi said: "... Ljubljana mantains a human face long lost by other European capitals."

Ljubljana is, as our majors like to say a city of culture. Among other things, Ljubljana holds its Summer festival, which lasts all summer long, a festival of street theatres Ana Desetnica, festival Trnfest and many other cultural evens throughout a year.

If you want to party in Ljubljana, there is one kind of party the natives like the most - to party in pubs. Ljubljana has over 300 pubs, bars, ... and among them you will certainly find the one you will enjoy the most. Usually clubs close around 2 a.m., but some of them are open through the night. The best rock club is definately Orto klub: interesting interior, good clientele, excellent music and live acts twice a week.

If you come to Ljubljana, you will not be hungry, or thirsty. A famous place you can eat is called Figovec, a place where our most famous poet France Presern ate in his time serves delicious food, their specialty are national meals of Slovenia. Everybody says if you come to Ljubljana, you have to try pizza there, and this fact is also very true. Try pizzeria Foculus on Soteska street or Trta on Grudnovo nabrezje. For killing your thirst, you must try two national beers: Union from Ljubljana and Laško from town Laško; or any wine from Slovenian vineyards.

In Slovenia (therefore also in Ljubljana) the official language is Slovene (slovenscina), but most population speaks at least a little bit of English. Certainly, you won't need to teach yourself Slovene to travel around the country, but you can try to learn how to order a beer, everybody will love you for that (find out more about how to learn Slovene here (if my journal still works).

Ljubljana isn't that far away, it is only 249 km from Venice (Italy), 430 km from Munich (Germany), 395 km from Vienna (Austria) or 491 km from Budapest (Hungary). You can come here by car, by train, by plane or eventually ... by foot. For all hitchhikers: hiking is still very popular in Slovenia, and you will pick a ride in no time!