A magical week in beautiful Slovenia!

When Işık first asked me if I would like to join him on his business trip to Ljubljana, I have to admit I wasn’t terribly interested at first. Having just scraped by in the geography lessons at school, and further confused by the multitude of the various new states in Eastern Europe, I was convinced Ljubljana was in Estonia, and even bought a guidebook on that country, just in case! Slovakia was another source of confusion, but for some reason, in my deplorable ignorance, Estonia sounded more convincing. When I eventually realized my mistake (I am not that hopeless!), I went and bought one on Slovenia as well.

Then I did some research on the internet. I saw that this relatively undiscovered region of Europe, once part of Yugoslavia, is neighbors with Italy and Austria. It seemed to possess amazing natural beauty as well. Ljubljana, our destination, appeared to have an old-world grandeur as befits an ex-center of the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire. So I decided to tag along. And it turned out I’d made the right decision.

Ljubljana is a tiny town that can best be described as cute, but not as in coy or spoilt. İt's charmingly naive, very pretty, and very friendly with a wholly natural beauty devoid of artifice. İt sits on two sides of a narrow river that you can cross in 10 steps, more or less! There's a small but beautiful castle that sits perched on top of a hill overlooking the rest of the town. There's a great view of the terrain from the castle's old watchtower if you can survive the long winding staircase up. The old town (also the heart of the whole city) at the foot of the castle is incredibly well preserved with some authentic medieval buildings as well as many baroque ones. There are also some fine examples of art nouveau style architecture. None of it is disneyfied like in so many other parts of Europe - it's the real thing, perhaps less sophisticated but all the more charming for it : the proverbial hidden gem, as it were.

Small as it is, Ljubljana has a surprisingly high number of art galleries, some of them very good indeed. And in one of art museums I visited a well-organized exhibition of Toulouse-Lautrec's famous posters from The Belle Epoque, that artistically rich era at the very end of the 19th century. Lautrec's unique style, of which I am a big fan, falls somewhere between art nouveau and impressionism.

There is also the striking beauty of nature that is frankly breathtaking in places. Think forests and snow-capped mountains, all within 10 minutes of the city center. And if you venture out of the city, like we did, you will find yourself in landscapes that rival the best of Tuscany. What we did was, and it turned out to be a great idea, we rented a car and hired a driver/guide. Our first excursion was to the Slovenian coast via Trieste on the Italian side. As the farthest destination in Slovenia is only 1,5 hours away by car from Ljubljana, the drives were relatively painless even for someone like myself, a hater of car trips.

Trieste, the Italian port that sits practically next door to the Slovenian port of Koper, isn't a terribly interesting place as far as Italian towns go but it's got an interesting topography: the city sprawls down from rolling hills into a crescent-shaped harbor, and the city center has some nice buildings, but that's pretty much it.

From Trieste we went on to Piran - a place that should be on all those must-see-before-you-die lists! It’s a tiny seaside town, sort of like Portofino except without the ultra-sophistication and the glamour...and that very quality is as refreshing as a dip in the sea on a hot day. Piran is completely natural in all senses of the word. It’s picturesque without being imposing, it's got beaches but everything is charmingly informal and its many restaurants offer excellent seafood at very reasonable prices. Piran is Dubrovnik before Dubrovnik became so touristic.

Slovenians are well-mannered, hospitable, very friendly, kind and helpful to visitors, but as our driver complained to us, they're not very skillful when it comes to marketing and turning to cash the hidden treasures of their gorgeous country. The upside of that is the monstrous commercialism of excessive tourism has not yet destroyed the fabric of Slovenia as it has so many other places. We were utterly charmed by Piran for that very reason.

Right next door to Piran is the more glamorous resort of Portoroz. It reminded us of some of the French Riviera but again minus the "tres chic"ness. İ prefer Piran without doubt. After the coast excursion we took a detour on our way back to Ljubljana to visit an amazing place called Predjama Castle. It is literally carved into the gaping mouth of a huge cave on a mountainside. It is known to be the most dramatic castle setting in the world. We are talking about stuff that fairy tales are made of, as in the home of the Sleeping Beauty!

Speaking of caves, Slovenia has some very famous and immense cave systems, the best-known of which is Skocjan. They are supposed to be spectacular, but not our cup of tea at all, so we skipped that excursion. Slovenia may be small, but it is filled with so many natural wonders that one needs to be economical with one's time when visiting it.

Slovenia has mountains too - the Alps, to be exact. And within these mountains is Slovenia's answer to Lake Como: Bled. Bled offers several things all at once, every single one of them of the you-have-to-see-to-believe variety. First off, there is the amazing backdrop of the mountains. Then there is the literally emerald-green lake in the center of which is a lovely small island with a beautiful medieval church on it. Not surprisingly, Bled is a very popular resort for both Slovenians and tourists who are lucky enough to have discovered it. Its warm waters and baths and spas have been legendary for centuries.

And if these attributes were not enough, there is a 1000-year old castle clinging to the facade of a steep rocky cliff overlooking that picture-perfect lake. Again we are in fairy tale territory. One can easily imagine Rapunzel letting her hair down to her smitten knight from one of the windows, or Snow White hiding with her dwarfs in the woods behind the castle. I really do think that Bled has to be visited once, at least. The place is pure magic. Did I mention the resident swans? Well, they're there!

Slovenia is a very lucky country in several aspects. Thanks to Mr. Tito, Yugoslavia was spared the worst of the Soviet oppression. In their case, it was more "protection" than total domination. The country was divided up into several different states when the Iron Curtain fell apart. Slovenia suffered loss of land then but in a way that was lucky as they ended up with a beautiful bountiful small country that at the same time is highly manageable as far as government and economy go. And with a population of only 2 million, there is hardly any poverty or street crime. It is a peaceful, restful place.

And the luck doesn't stop there. They also have some of the oldest, best preserved Old Towns in all of Europe. One of them is Skofja Loka. You may be tired of hearing this, but once again...fairy tale village! Little Red Riding Hood could easily have lived there. There is also Kranj, a much larger but less attractive town with a nevertheless interesting old center.

Slovenia is a serious wine-making country as well. From what we sampled of their wines, they are excellent, especially the pinots. There were several very attractive vineyard and wine-tasting excursions available but we regretfully decided to skip them. It was simply too hot for it!

And the night before we left this jewel of a country, a festival began in Ljubljana: they were celebrating their 20th year of independence as a nation that rejoices in opening up to the world. We stood in the pouring rain amongst a large crowd listening to a fantastic and majestic Mahler concert in one of the parks downtown. That was an exhilarating experience, to say the least.

Click here for photo gallery!

Venice, one of my favorites cities in Europe, is only 2.5 hours away by car from Ljubljana. I couldn't come so close to my old friend and leave without visiting her. We spent a very happy day there, doing very little except soak up the atmosphere in a relaxed manner. And perhaps some of us shopped, a little. But then, the summer sales had begun so!!!

I know that Slovenia doesn't sound much like a touristic destination - yet. I say, be quick and visit it before it becomes so. You will be very pleasantly surprised in a lot of ways.

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