Ljubljana, One Last Day to Fall in Love (All Over Again)
It’s Easter Sunday, and our final day in Ljubljana has crept up on us far too quickly. We’ve truly fallen for this city—its quiet elegance, riverside charm, and stories around every cobblestoned corner. We’re keeping things light today, but we’ve got one last adventure on the books: a free walking tour of the city. And yes, it’s still running, even on a holiday! Our meeting point? The candy-pink Franciscan Church in Prešeren Square.
But first: caffeine and croissants.
We grab a sunny table at Norma 23, just by the Central Market, and soak in the morning with cappuccinos in hand. The city’s bells are ringing, loud, often, and seemingly without rhythm. 😂 We decide they’re just excited it’s Easter.
Poetry, Pining, and a Forever Gaze
At 11, we meet our guide, Helena, who greets us with a dry wit and an obvious love for her hometown. We begin at the Prešeren Monument, where Slovenia’s most celebrated poet, France Prešeren, is forever immortalized in stone, gazing across the square at a young woman, Julija Primic, his muse.
Julija was just 16 when Prešeren fell hopelessly for her. They never had a relationship, but her beauty and inaccessibility sparked a lifetime of poetic longing. It’s a real-life literary heartbreak, and the city’s most famous square is built around it. Classic Ljubljana—always a little romantic, a little tragic.
Triple Bridges & Fig Wine Buzzes
We glide across the Triple Bridge, an architectural flourish from Jože Plečnik, who took a single bridge and turned it into three, transforming a practical crossing into a work of art.
From there, we admire the dramatic Robba Fountain, representing Slovenia’s major rivers and sculpted with Roman flair, before winding through narrow streets where Helena introduces us to Slovenian fig wine. It is sweet, rich, and dangerously drinkable. It’s the kind of thing you sip and suddenly feel like writing poetry or buying a vineyard.
At the Cobbler’s Bridge, we get a taste of medieval justice: bakers who cheated customers were publicly dunked in the river. You mess with bread, you get the splash.
A Tragic Turn at the Library
Then we reach one of the tour’s most sobering stops: the University Library, another of Plečnik’s masterpieces—and a place with an unforgettable WWII story.
In 1944, during a German bombing raid, a Luftwaffe bomber lost control and crashed into the roof of the library. The building, remarkably, didn’t collapse, and most of its priceless collection was saved.
But there was one casualty, a tragedy layered with cruel irony. The person who died had come to return a book, unaware that the library was closed that day for maintenance. Just one of those small, heartbreaking footnotes of war; someone simply trying to do the right thing at exactly the wrong moment. That single act of routine now echoes in the city’s collective memory.
Today, the library stands tall, stoic, and filled with light, with its walls holding the quiet strength of survival.
Where Nations Were Born
We end our tour in Congress Square, now a peaceful park, but once the stage for seismic political change. Twice in modern history, the formation of Yugoslavia was declared from a balcony overlooking this square: first in 1918, with the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and again in 1945, marking the birth of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Two completely different political visions, announced from the exact same spot. It’s a reminder that even quiet cities can have incredibly loud pasts.
Comfort Food & Monopoly Victories
With our heads full of history and our feet ready for a break, we head to Gostilna Šestica, just a short walk from our place. It’s warm and welcoming, even if our waiter is clearly not loving the Easter chaos. I ask how he’s doing. “It’s Easter,” he says with a raised brow. Enough said. 😂
For dinner, I dive into a golden, crisp veal schnitzel, while Ron goes for a traditional Slovenian sausage and mashed potatoes; the kind of dish that fills you up and warms your soul. Grumpy waiter or not, the meal is perfect.
We round off the night with a bottle of wine and a wildly competitive game of card Monopoly back at the condo. And yes, I won. Again. 😎
Ljubljana, thank you for surprising us.
This city has a way of whispering its stories to you, through poetry, bridges, balconies, and even tragedy. It’s unflashy, deeply charming, and full of heart. You don’t visit Ljubljana so much as you uncover it.
Not goodbye. Just… see you next time. 💫
