First off, I have two recommendations for anyone planning to travel to Slovenia.
Slovenia turned out to be a different kind of place for me for many reasons. The people were exceptionally nice and the stops were beautiful. Everyone and everything was laid back in a way I could understand. It's an unexpected treat to be so enamored with a country and it gave me a much needed second wind for the rest of the trip.
My first stop in Slovenia was a small village called Lipa. I got here because I met a guy at a hostel in Istanbul who invited me to visit. For three days, I lived on a farm sharing a house with three guys and one visiting girlfriend, all of whom were around my age. They were originally from the city and moved out there a year ago to learn organic farming. Pretty cool stuff.
This visit was a first for me in so many ways. It was my first time living on a farm, picking wild asparagus in the woods, and even chopping onions for dinner. My housemates were amazed to learn I'd never chopped onions before.
By the end of the three days, I'm sure I thoroughly disappointed Guljo, the guy who invited me over. Not the free field hand he was looking for, he found himself a useless city girl instead. But it was a lot of fun for me at least. I'm content anytime I get to take good pictures and the scenery in Lipa definitely exceeded expectations. It was a stunning little patch of rural Slovenia.
My next stop was Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia. Here, I spent two days in an apartment full of college girls. I got here through the invitation of a really sweet girl named Suvi, whom I met at a hostel in Sarajevo. She's studying abroad here from Finland, working on a masters degree in journalism.
Here's us at a Thai restaurant (her favorite cuisine).
Suvi showed me around the city and took me to the bar district Metelkova. Wow, this place was interesting.
A couple of the bars had live music and rather than charge cover, they let you pay whatever you felt like paying. One outdoor bar served pizza slices, for which they asked you to pay whatever was fair. And although people began crowding around the bar waiting for a slice, the bartender kept track of the order in which they showed up and handed the slices to each person when their turn came. Marx would be so proud right now.
Suvi and I agreed, Metelkova was something special. We stayed up late dancing and chatting with chill Slovenian locals. I don't know what time we got home, but I did notice the sky was turning light blue when I looked out the kitchen window. As an old lady, this was seriously going to mess up my sleep schedule.
Photos from around Ljubljana:
My final stop in Slovenia was the coastal city of Piran. No friend's place to crash at here, I settled into the first hostel I found in town. This place is super cute but also very tiny. I got most of my site-seeing done in one day. I spent the next few days hand-washing and air-drying all my clothes as I was long overdue for a complete cleansing of my whole wardrobe.
The weather in Slovenia was freezing cold the whole time I was there and I learned most of Europe is expected to stay this way for the rest of summer. Some say this is a result of global climate change. Sucks that I'll be seeing more shitty weather until the end of my trip. But hey, in the grand scheme of things, I don't really mind. After all, I'm in Europe right now without a care in the world. I feel truly blessed. :-)
- When you want to move between cities, see if anyone is driving that route on prevoz.org. It's a car sharing website (similar to Sidecar in San Francisco). You'll end up paying much less and getting there way faster than if you take public transit. And it's the most liberating feeling in the world to be able to secure a ride to just about anywhere you want in a matter of minutes with a cool person you can chat with along the way.
- If you make your way to Ljubljana and are interested in a good night out, definitely see Metelkova. It's more than just a bar scene. I'd describe it as a microcosm of Communist utopia. But I'm just a naive American who is easily impressed by any amount of anti-corporate behavior. Make the judgement for yourself and have some good drinks and conversations while you're at it.
Slovenia turned out to be a different kind of place for me for many reasons. The people were exceptionally nice and the stops were beautiful. Everyone and everything was laid back in a way I could understand. It's an unexpected treat to be so enamored with a country and it gave me a much needed second wind for the rest of the trip.
My first stop in Slovenia was a small village called Lipa. I got here because I met a guy at a hostel in Istanbul who invited me to visit. For three days, I lived on a farm sharing a house with three guys and one visiting girlfriend, all of whom were around my age. They were originally from the city and moved out there a year ago to learn organic farming. Pretty cool stuff.
This visit was a first for me in so many ways. It was my first time living on a farm, picking wild asparagus in the woods, and even chopping onions for dinner. My housemates were amazed to learn I'd never chopped onions before.
By the end of the three days, I'm sure I thoroughly disappointed Guljo, the guy who invited me over. Not the free field hand he was looking for, he found himself a useless city girl instead. But it was a lot of fun for me at least. I'm content anytime I get to take good pictures and the scenery in Lipa definitely exceeded expectations. It was a stunning little patch of rural Slovenia.
My next stop was Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia. Here, I spent two days in an apartment full of college girls. I got here through the invitation of a really sweet girl named Suvi, whom I met at a hostel in Sarajevo. She's studying abroad here from Finland, working on a masters degree in journalism.
Here's us at a Thai restaurant (her favorite cuisine).
Suvi showed me around the city and took me to the bar district Metelkova. Wow, this place was interesting.
A couple of the bars had live music and rather than charge cover, they let you pay whatever you felt like paying. One outdoor bar served pizza slices, for which they asked you to pay whatever was fair. And although people began crowding around the bar waiting for a slice, the bartender kept track of the order in which they showed up and handed the slices to each person when their turn came. Marx would be so proud right now.
Suvi and I agreed, Metelkova was something special. We stayed up late dancing and chatting with chill Slovenian locals. I don't know what time we got home, but I did notice the sky was turning light blue when I looked out the kitchen window. As an old lady, this was seriously going to mess up my sleep schedule.
Photos from around Ljubljana:
My final stop in Slovenia was the coastal city of Piran. No friend's place to crash at here, I settled into the first hostel I found in town. This place is super cute but also very tiny. I got most of my site-seeing done in one day. I spent the next few days hand-washing and air-drying all my clothes as I was long overdue for a complete cleansing of my whole wardrobe.
The weather in Slovenia was freezing cold the whole time I was there and I learned most of Europe is expected to stay this way for the rest of summer. Some say this is a result of global climate change. Sucks that I'll be seeing more shitty weather until the end of my trip. But hey, in the grand scheme of things, I don't really mind. After all, I'm in Europe right now without a care in the world. I feel truly blessed. :-)
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