Wednesday 28th September - Ljubljana

There was no debate about what to do today.  We enjoyed our trip into the city so much yesterday that we ventured forth on the bikes again today.  Our first stop was the National and University Library.  It’s a really striking building and the doors have horse-head knobs, the right-hand knob being much shinier through greater usage.  When you enter, you find yourself in a grey/black marbled hall and almost in darkness.  The further you go into the library, the lighter it becomes.  The architect, Plecnik, planned this as symbolic of the light of knowledge which is, in itself, pretty clever stuff.

         
                                     Horse-head door knob at the University Library and the splendid marble interior

We spent an hour or so exploring the current exhibition at the library.  This is a history of Slovenian women emigrants to the USA and the role they played in setting up women’s groups to both promote women’s rights and preserve their Slovenian cultural heritage.  Everything was offered in English translation being, as we have discovered in our travels, recognised as the single language understood by most Europeans.  What a lazy bunch we Brits are.
Going back out into the daylight we happened upon a street event promoting community groups, everything from the local vegetarian society to a dance group who performed some line dancing to country and western music.  Great fun.

           Line dancing in the city centre – Ye-ha!

         

                                    A city street                                                                   Strange little bronze ‘ugly’ sculptures seem to pop up everywhere

One of the most famous bridges crossing the river is Dragon Bridge, with huge, handsome dragon sculptures (of Jason and the Argonauts fame) at each end.   The dragon can be found depicted on most souvenirs of Ljubljana, be it t-shirt or fridge magnet.

 

                                 Dragon Bridge

We spent a leisurely hour or so at Fany (yes, just one n) and Mary’s bar on the river side, just people watching and enjoying the sunshine.  There were a couple of signs up in the bar that made us smile, namely “We provide free Wi-Fi so you don’t have to talk to each other” and “I hate camels.  I distrust anyone who can can go for a week without a drink”.  We could have quite happily spent the whole day people watching in Fany and Mary’s.

                    People watching in Fany and Mary’s bar

We cycled back up to camp alongside someone who was in-line skating the 3miles and kept overtaking us, and we weren’t hanging about!