"Return to a little gem" Ljubljana by mikey_e

I first came to Ljubljana in 1999, just a couple of weeks after the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia. The city seemed small and pronvincial, and not everyone was very pleased to meet North Americans. When I came back a second time, seven years later, Ljubljana felt like a thoroughly EU city, complete with all prices listed in euros and tolars. In fact, there seemed to be little difference between the lifestyle in Gorizia, Italy and that in Ljubljana (although the people in Ljubljana were nicer and more spoke English). Businesses were booming, people were enjoying a standard of living higher than that in Greece and Slovenia's former attachment to the more notorious players in the Balkans seemed like a thing of the distant past, not something of the last 15 years.

One of the University buildings

When I first started studying in Barcelona, I was amazed at how many Slovene students there were at UPF. One of my Slovene friends, Matija, explained that Ljubljana had almost 50 000 students. The number is truly amazing, given that Slovenia's population is only 2 million and that my own university in Canada had 50 000 students - and that number included huge numbers of foreign students. The University has a huge effect on Ljubljana, and no one should miss it on a trip to the city. The students help maintain a youthful, vibrant culture in Ljubljana and the student quarter, which is north of the University in a mass of small, winding streets filled with bookshops and cafés, is a bohemian dream.

The Ljubljana River

Although Ljubljana is packed with students, the city does not resemble a typical North American college town come nightfall. There are some student hangouts (in the student areas) and punk culture does exist, albeit out in the museum area, far from the river and the centre of action. Rather, nightlife in the centre of Ljubljana is smart and hip, worthy of some of the trendiest restaurants and lounges in my home city, Toronto. Slovenes (most people out at night were not tourists) have a taste for quality rather than quantity and, although food prices are not dirt cheap, you will be amazed at what sort of meals you can get for prices that would probably be associated with microwaved chicken in Barcelona or Florence. One of the most important things to do, of course, is to buy an ice cream in Presren Square (less than 2 euro for a large scoop) and walk by the river on the Old Town side. The lights of the buildings and restaurants playing on the water makes Ljubljana seem like a truly magical city.