Log Thirty Nine – Ljubljana and Venice

28 September 2017

It’s been four weeks since we left the Antipodes and there is still about three weeks of our odessey to go.  We have just squeezed in an unexpected trip to Venice during our three night stay at Ljublana.

Here are my latest ramblings.

Ljubljana

What a gem; Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia is based on the Ljubjlana river under the gaze of the Ljubjlana  castle.  It seems every Eurpoean town of any size has its own castle on the hill overlooking the town.

Ljubljana has wonderful pedestrian avenues lining the river with all sorts of restaurants, bars, bakeries, markets and shops.  In the old city the streets are narrow and winding.  There are streets trams and buses but walking through the city is a real pleasure.  There is the graffiti we have seen in all of the European cities we have  visited but in the old part of Ljubljana the streets are clean and the buildings neat and tidy.

You get the district feeling Ljubjlana is working hard to become a destination of choice for tourists.

European Women

During our visit Ljublana was filled with school groups all on excursions with assignment booklets tucked under their arms.  What was so European was one of the teachers who was so elegantly dressed that she included her Prada handbag on her school trips.

Cutest Scene Ever

A group of about ten three year olds were on an excursions through the city.  Their teachers were escorting them across a pedestrian crossing and as they crossed the road each one of the kids raised one hand to the traffic essentially telling the trucks and cars to stop while they crossed the road.  They were each no more than one metre tall and yet they controlled the road.  Everyone who could see this scene broke out with a chuckle or at least a huge smile.  This was about be the cutest scene for this entire trip.

Hapsburg Inscription

Over the entrance to the Ljublana castle were the initials to the inscription: Austria is destined to rule over the entire globe.  I guess that strategic outcome never came off and I wonder if someone had it on their performance agreement.  The statement does illustrate the number of empires that have ruled over what is now Europe that have come and gone.

My knowledge of Europen history is not good but so far we have heard about the Romans, Huns, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Ottomans, Hapsburgs, National Socialists  Workers Party (Nazis), Comunists and now the EU.  I am sure yet this list leaves out huge chunks of history and I apologise for that.

Currencies

So far we have used British Pound, Czech Koruna,  Hungarian Forint, Croation Kuna and now Euro.  The mental arithmetic you apply every time you make a purchase to get a quick idea of what it is costing in Australian dollars is a great brain exercise.  Working out the change you have in your pocket and whether it applies to the country you are now in is also a challenge.

It’s a very sad look when one is left standing at a cash register with a handful of coins trying to work out the correct amount under the gaze of a very amused check out assistant.

Venice

What an amazing city.  The photos you have seen do not do the city real credit.  Exploring narrow streets and canals is a fascinating experience.  The history of the city is quite overwhelming.  The Republic of Venice operated for 1,000 years, only coming to end through the efforts of Napoleon.  There is no country in current time with a history of 1,000 years.

So the result of such a long history is the amazing wealth accumulated by the city which you can see today in the basilicas, palaces, public and private buildings. However as Venetians move out of the city it is rapidly becoming a tourism destination rather than a living city.  About 2,000 Venetians leave the city every year.

The population of Venice today is about 20,000 and falling.  There are times when 75,000 visitors can arrive in one day!

Another curious bit of trivia:  Venice is built in a lagoon with the islands created by driving timber piles into the mud on top of which stone foundations were laid.  The interesting bit is the timber came from cutting down forests along the Dalmation coast which sort of explains the lack of trees in Montenagro, Split, Dubrovnik etc.   The word Dubrovnik supposedly meant oak forest; we didn’t see any oaks.

Groceries

We have as far as possible stayed in self catering apartments.  This has meant visits to local grocery stores to buy our supplies.  These stores  are ofter very small and quite intimate.  So far we have been quite successful in our purchases and have not come home with cans of cat food which we thought was tuna.