Travel Awards: Slovenia

Slovenia/Slovenija

I didn't know much about Slovenia when we went there. Definitely didn't know how to pronounce the capital city name: Ljubljana. I knew that my cousin was serving a mission somewhere in the country and that a friend of mine had told me it was beautiful. And I trust my friends implicitly. Plus, Croatia and Slovenia are counted as one country in the Eurail Select Pass. So why not?!

As we approached the train station there, I remember thinking, "Dangit. This looks ugly." Apparently I have high standards for train stations?  Regardless, my first impression couldn't have been further from the truth. If ever there was a more pristine, charming city, I have not yet come across it. Look at this place!

Triple Bridges

Ljubljana is pretty small, as far as European capital cities go--population 272,000 (compared to Copenhagen's 560,000 or Paris' 2.2 million). After my experiences in London, Paris, New York, and other big cities, Ljubljana's quiet and slower pace was almost surreal. All Emily and I did was walk the city and admire its beauty.

  It looks like a fairytale city, in some ways; kind of like the type of city a theme park would build for a mini-Europe attraction. And yet 100 times more magical because it's real!

 

 

 I hereby award Ljubljana, Slovenia:

Cleanest & Most Charming City Award

 As a side note, our trip to Slovenia wasn't entirely uneventful. Being chocolate fiends deprived of real (European) chocolate and having a craving that had to be filled by whatever happened to be at the train station shop, Emily was charged with the duty of finding us some snack chocolate. Her choice? "Rum Kokos." Before you judge Emily on her Word of Widsom-breaking candy choice, I ask you to consider our innocence. Having grown up without ever tasting even a drop of alcohol, and also being American and, thus, under some vague impression that alcohol must be cooked out of food prior to sale to the general public, we popped a couple of the Rum Kokos into our mouths. They were disgusting--with a taste neither of us had experienced but that smelled suspiciously like alcohol. Beginning to put two and two together, we checked the ingredients.

Because of yet another naivety-induced experience later on in our trip which I will mention in another post, I only award Slovenia as host to:

Biggest Naïve Accident

Honorable Mention