Amongst all of the sightseeing and activities in and around Zagreb, we took off on a day trip to Slovenia's capital of Ljubljana. My grandparents (and myself, I guess) have family in the city, so they offered to leave us kids up to some exploring while they visited. The drive was only about 2 hours, but it ended up taking us closer to 4... we had to turn back at the border to retrieve forgotten passports, deal with our broken-down car, and then sweet-talk out of a fine. Interesting journey - but the city was very enjoyable! I didn't do too much research on Ljubljana before going, so I didn't have many expectations (which always helps, but I did genuinely love it).
My grandpa's cousin's granddaughter (quite the family line) offered to play tour guide for the evening, which was a great experience - not only to get a local's walkthrough of the city, but to get to know some distant family around my age. She took us on a casual walk, showed us one of her favourite shops, the best place to get ice cream, the castle and other landmarks, and (saving the best for last) had some drinks with us at the cat cafe.
Tromostovje: The Triple Bridge (literally 3 bridges)
Due to those minor setbacks on the journey here, we missed the market :'(
Wall of plants
Heading up to the castle - it was quite the trek
View from the top
Ljubljana Castle
Zmajski most: Dragon Bridge
One thing I wasn't expecting was to be so drawn to was the Slovenian architecture. It makes me think of a mix between your classic "fancy European" style, with some Eastern European touches, and a sprinkle of the cleaner lines seen in Scandinavia.
And now for the main event (in my eyes, at least) - Cat Caffe Ljubljana.
Checked that off the bucket list
What a poser
Keeping a watchful eye
Staying warm by the espresso machine
Not much else to add to that other than awwww. And the hot chocolate was delicious. They even put little cocoa puffs on the top to make it look like cat food (it wasn't, though, thank goodness). If there is a cat cafe near you, then I'm jealous. Kelowna and/or Edmonton definitely need to open one up.
To end the day we stopped off at the recommended ice cream spot: Kavarna Cacao. Prices were a little steep, but the flavours were so unique and of course it tasted amazing. I can't for the life of me remember the flavours I chose, but I do remember getting a scoop of fig.
That's all from beautiful Ljubljana! I really enjoyed my time there and would definitely love to go back the next time I find myself in Croatia (but for round two I won't forget my passport...). Thanks for reading!
- Alexandra
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