"Aggressiveness has been bred out of us," agrees freelance tour guide Jan Orsic with a smile as we stroll through Preseren Square in the city centre. "Ljubljana is the only place in the world where the American and Russian embassies sit side by side," he says.
Three years have passed since the city, despite a public outcry, closed Preseren Square to vehicles. So an impossibly quaint public space is now doubly so.
The coral-coloured Franciscan church, dating to the 17th century, still stares half-disapprovingly at the art nouveau buildings across the plaza. Leading out of the square we encounter several distinctive bridges traversing the city's beloved Ljubljanica River, a charming but almost comically slow emerald waterway.
Cafés line the Ljubljanica's banks, and even the barest hint of sunlight is enough to send the city's 300 000 residents streaming to outdoor tables. It's a welcoming city with an old-town centre that's as quaint a combination of red-tile roofs and cobblestone streets as you can imagine. But Ljubljana has also made room for turn-of-the-20th-century architecture, particularly the Triple Bridge that leads out of Old Town, with its stately balustrades and stairs leading down to tree-lined paths along the river.
The Welcome to Ljubljana tourist guide tells you one of the city's mottos is "lean back and relax". But you're never quite sure if nature or nurture is behind such equanimity. Thanks to Slovenia's position in the centre of central Europe, Ljubljana has been in the crosshairs since before Roman times. Competing empires regularly claimed this parcel of land, as the Ljubljana City Museum just off the river amply demonstrates.
The shops on Mestni trg (main square), where tourists once bought the country's celebrated lacework, sit mostly empty, as do the stores selling Teran wine and its famous salt from mines near the Adriatic.
"Go ahead, try it," says an ebullient clerk at Piranske Soline, handing me a salt-infused morsel of chocolate. At the nearby Krasevka boutique, the proprietor reached for a bottle of juniper berry brandy.
"This is medicine," she says. "This is good for the stomach, good for the digestion."
It was as if she knew that later I'd be offered a plate of "deep-fried bull testicle with tartar sauce" at the Restaurant Sokol.
Soon the waiter arrived with something called a country feast. This was a plate the menu described as fried sausage, krvavica sausage, "dried pork chops", a buckwheat dumpling and something else just called "roast meat".
Still, the wild mushroom soup in a bread bowl was terrific, and Slovenia's lager called Lasko, deserves wider attention.
On June 25, 1991, Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia, an announcement that led to a 10-day war in which fewer than 20 Slovenians lost their lives. The country was at last free to imagine a future in which it would need to be loyal only to itself.
The country brokered the transition to a free-market economy, joined the European Union in 2004, adopted the euro in 2007 and somehow managed to stay marvellously ambivalent when it came to tourism.
In 2008, there was not one murder in Ljubljana. Only one policeman ever drew his gun to fire a warning shot, Orsic tells me.
Just on the edge of the city is Castle Hill, and atop it a 15th-century fortress, a structure that tends to tilt the city even further toward storybook endings.
Steep footpaths lead to the castle from downtown. A modern funicular rises gracefully over the trees and green-domed churches, stopping only after giving you a spectacular glimpse of the Julian Alps, which surround the city. - The Washington Post
If you go
- VISA: South African passport holders need a Schengen visa.
- GETTING THERE: You can from any European city. From Stansted airport in the UK, flights on EasyJet to Ljubljana are reasonable.
- WHERE TO STAY: There are several modern hotels convenient to Old Town, among them the spartan yet whimsical City Hotel Ljubljana, where rooms start at $132 a night, including breakfast, and bicycles are available for free rental. A bit more upscale but still a good value is the Best Western Premier Hotel Slon, on the busiest thoroughfare in the city centre. Rooms start at $143 a night, including breakfast.
- WHERE TO EAT: The Restaurant Sokol features a feast of Slovenian country cuisine (meat, lots and lots of meat) for about $18. A great place for cocktails by the Ljubljanica is River House, while some of the best pizza in town can be had at Ljubljanski Dvor (from $2.30 a slice).
- WHAT TO DO: Start your exploring at Preseren Square, in the centre of Old Town, and visit the Franciscan church, as well as the many bridges over the Ljubljanica. Travellers interested in Slovenian art and history won't want to miss the National Gallery or the City Museum of Ljubljana. For spectacular vistas, take the funicular ($4 round trip) or walk to Ljubljanski grad (the castle) at the top of the hill overlooking the city.
INFORMATION: Visit the websites of the Ljubljana Tourist Board (www.visitljubljana.si) and Slovenia Tourist Board (www.slovenia.info).