Isn’t it funny how time seems to move so slowly when you are looking forward to a trip, and then the trip happens, you come home, and all of a sudden its been over a month since your awesome vacation?
Anyone else feel this way?
I was just talking with a friend about my trip to Slovenia when I realized it was already over a month ago! I am ready for another trip back to this beautiful country already.
But since I have a long list of places to visit I am going to have to feed my need for Slovenia by reliving our trip here with you all.
On our last day in Ljubljana while the rest of our group heading off to shop (you can’t take Icelanders abroad and expect them not to shop) H and I decided to spend some time exploring the city instead. The sun was out and shining, flowers were in bloom, spring was in the air, it was the perfect weather for a day exploring the city.
Our first mission of the day, find the quirky area of Metelkova.
The site of the former military barracks, Metelkova has now become a cultural center of Ljubljana and a space for artists to come together and share their work. This is definitely one of the more unique artistic collectives you will find in Europe, everywhere you look there is colorful and unique art to take in.
The Viking and I spent some time walking around the quiet area enjoying the sunshine and all the beautiful art work. While it was nice and peaceful while we were there I have heard that Metelkova becomes quite the happening place later in the evening, something to check out next time we are in Ljubljana.
The creepy Gollum look alike display was a favorite of the Viking but totally creeped me out.
I couldn’t resist getting the “basic blogger casual posing against a colorful wall” picture.
Not going to lie, when I first walked over and asked H to take my picture I thought it was a bunch of pretty flowers floating around. I dunno what I was looking at, maybe I should get my eyes checked? When I realized I was standing next to a giant octopus I got a serious case of the giggles. Like I could not stop laughing. Don’t ask me why, I blame it on travel exhaustion, but now H and I can’t say octopus without cracking up. One of those inside jokes we will forever be saying to people, “you had to of been there.”
Anyways…
After I pulled it together and dried my laughing tears (those are the best kind of tears) we said goodbye to Metelkova and continued on wandering in a direction we hoped would eventually take us to the city center. The great thing about Ljubljana, its a small capital city so really you had to try and get lost. Perfect for navigation challenged people like me.
When we arrived into the city center we knew exactly where our next stop had to be thanks to the lovely Isabel who messaged me to be sure and check out the Open Kitchen. Thanks for the tip Isabel!
The Open Kitchen runs every Friday from mid-March to October, it was just our luck that we happened to be in Ljubljana on the first Friday of Open Kitchen for the year!
H and I love checking out these types of local festivals when we are traveling, a highlight from our Croatia trip is the local wine festival we stumbled upon, and the Open Kitchen was defintely a highlight of our time in Ljubljana.
A gin and tonic booth!
The Slovenian wines, oh how delicious they are!
You know you are at a good festival when you can pick up a glass of wine and continue walking around taking in your surroundings.
As soon as I saw this booth I knew what the Viking would be choosing to eat.
I will give it to him, he chose a pretty delicious booth.
Sitting on a bench in the square, taking in all the happenings of the Open Kitchen with our steak and red wine, it was one of those moments where you just soak it all in.
My favorite kind of travel experiences!
This dog in a stroller, cuteness overload!
Speaking of dogs, Ljubljana was a city full of dogs and I loved it. Everywhere you looked you could see an adorable pup out and about just loving life. It didn’t really help my desire to get a dog of my own, but it was fun getting to stop and pet all the cute pups.
Back to the delicious food.
Before we continued on with our stroll we took a walk around the Farmer’s Market, basically so I could just admire all the fresh beautiful produce. Oh how I miss living somewhere with a Farmer’s Market full of fresh local goodies!
Why can’t I spend every Friday like this?!
Since H got to choose his booth we made a return trip to the Open Kitchen for my turn before we left the area.
And what did I pick for my (food booth, H said wine didn’t count) booth.
Delicious pancake goodness!
As soon as I saw the guy stirring these tasty things around in his big pan I knew we would be back to try some. Clearly I was pumped to have gotten my pancakes.
We saw some beautiful places while in Slovenia but this afternoon, it will be one of the things I will always remember from our trip. I just love when you get to spend a day wandering around and trying local festivals, especially when you can pick up delicious local wine at them!
Question of the Day?
Have you been to a local festival while traveling?
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