Designed For People Like Us
"So how did you choose Slovenia?" we were asked again and again by family, friends, locals, and even other American travelers we met here, who seemed genuinely puzzled that a compatriot has also found this small country. And, to be honest, it was a bit of a lucky accident — but one that turned out to be fully vindicated.
Our first impression if Slovenia, coming from Paris, was of tranquility and freshness. Probably because the airport is far outside the city and surrounded by forests and quaint villages. The road from it to the city is not filled with billboards and ramshackle industry but this —
We stayed just 7 minutes drive from Old Town, and yet this was next to our buildings -
Talking to locals, they describe Slovenia as clean, safe, beautiful, expensive, but most of all green and great for being outdoors — and I couldn’t agree more. According to my college friend, Jaka, who serendipitously lives here, hiking is a national tradition akin to baseball in America, with many clubs dedicated to it. And how green is it? Enough to win the “greenest European capital award” in 2016. So green that every trash can larger than an ashtray has separate compartments for glass, paper, compost, and general packaging. I don’t think I’ve ever composted so much in my life.
One of the subtle, lovely things about Slovenia is that lawns - even in the middle of the city - have wildflowers and clover rather than typical American lawn grass . At least through a Soviet emigrant's eyes, that is far more pleasant to roam around.
Another subtle point we observed is that the priority here is quality life rather than money (as a generalization). Businesses close earlier than you expect, sometimes unpredictably, because people simply want to go home. Similarly, stores do stocking during the day, unlike the US where employees stay late through the night. On Sundays, many things shut down, including some bus lines, because of a law that is trying to make sure families spend more time together. This is refreshing, though it can catch you off guard when you run out of milk on Sunday.
When we were hiking with Jaka , he suggested this difference in attitude stems from various services like healthcare being more taken care of by the state than in the US, and so there is less anxiety about not having enough money for basic things. Which of those is the cause, and which the effect, isn’t quite clear to me, but either way it’s a pleasant change.
Since this was the first place where we stayed long enough to settle down, it was also our first opportunity to figure out the nomad lifestyle: how to structure the day, which cafes to go - though more on that later. After more than a week of continuous sightseeing, we could finally block out a chunk of time to catch up on things like this blog!
Pritlicje Kaverna - pleasant cafe with great wifi
but no AC
We also slowed down some from our aggressive sightseeing pace of the previous week, and took in the myriad little cute things that Ljubljana offers
But perhaps the best aspect of being in Slovenia is the language - half understandable by Russian speakers and using the Latin alphabet with some Russian consonants (ш, ц, ч) thrown in. “This place is designed for people like us!” Masha exclaimed once as we were riding on the bus easily deciphering yet another sign. Interestingly, the two languages aren’t just similar, but Slovenian is almost like a Tzarist era Russian - big is veliko, sir is gospod, door is vrata. And, of course, some things are distinctly humorous —
I’m not sure what that car owner did wrong, but I don’t want to be opozoren like them!
Slovenia, I have some notes
A few things have been challenging during our stay here. First, this seems to be a summer of unprecedented weather. We landed in a rare heatwave (saved by the AC in our apartment, but we barely ventured out the first week); which the locals took completely in stride — “Summer is supposed to be hot!” said one taxi driver in response to our pleading for AC during the ride.
The heat was followed by freakish car-crushing, golf-ball sized hail and torrential monsoon-like rains. Our puny umbrellas were outclassed and we had to buy and rely on ponchos.
Growing up on the east coast, I’m no stranger to thunderstorms, but the storms here are on another level -
Aside from a pretty lightshow, these storms led to massive flooding that has washed out roads, bridges and villages in many parts of the country. Luckily for us, Ljubljana hasn’t really been affected.
An even more unexpected issue arose as we started planning major excursions. It turns out that contrary to the general belief that traveling around Europe is easy, there are almost no direct routes from Ljubljana to nearby major cities by either train or plane. Routes to coastal Croatia by train go through Zagreb, which doubles the time. Trains to Vienna and Venice take much longer than by car, and flying anywhere means going through one of several major hubs (not nearby) like Paris. Italy this is not. Luckily, driving around and out of the country has proved pretty straightforward.
Finally, while one can find most modern conveniences here, some things are unexpectedly difficult to get or completely nonexistent. To wit, there is only one travel clinic (offering international travel vaccines) in the city and so it books up weeks in advance. Want to see a movie on an IMAX screen? Please get yourself to Zagreb in Croatia. Want to see Oppenheimer during the day while your kid is in camp? Tough noogies, the showings start at 8pm (though Barbie is shown 3x a day). Want some high end cocktails? Well, more on that later. Want a normal sized coffee to drink with your breakfast? Yeah, I’ll get to that in another post too.
But in the great scheme of things, these are minor details. Our time here has stretched from the planned four weeks to six and even so, we still get pleasant surprises. While we’ve come across almost no live music here, yesterday, randomly the fantastic Slovenian jazz group Počeni škafi was playing in the square. Why not?!
