After a final morning walk around Lake Bled, we bid a reluctant farewell to its town and hit the road en route to Slovenia’s capital, Ljubljana. Rowan had previously visited the city with their study abroad group, and was able to guide us to their favorite sites and experiences. Although the castle that stands at the high point of the city looks picturesque from a distance, apparently there’s not much to see inside. Most of the interesting sights are instead centered around the river below.

Ljubljana is known as the city of dragons due to a tradition that Jason (of Argonauts fame) came here in antiquity and slew one of the beasts. Over time, the association changed and the dragon came to be seen as the defender of the city. Dragons are celebrated in all the souvenir shops of the city, and have even been celebrated in the architecture: one of the city’s river crossings features four of the beasts in bronze, perched atop the bridge abutments.

We include here a few other pictures from our visit. In a riverfront stall we came across this display of replica souvenir bee boards, which we photographed to make up for yesterday’s lack. (Alas, we still have no image of the “Snail chasing Tailors”!) On Rowan’s recommendation we also visited the popular restaurant Sarajevo ’84, which specializes in ćevapčići, a dish of grilled fingerlike meatballs served on pita-like bread, often with a soft cheese.

We could only stay in Ljubljana through mid-afternoon, as we still had further driving ahead of us to reach our lodgings for the night in Rovinj, Croatia. The route passes not far from the Italian border, and somewhat on a whim we decided to make a detour in order to see a bit of the city of Trieste. In hindsight this was not the wisest of plans; the roads around Trieste proved to be a lot like those around New York City — confusing, inconsistently marked, and arranged in such a way that any mistakes are very hard to correct. So in the end, we did see a bit of Trieste — only from the distant heights above the city as we drove along a highway filled with trucks, rather than strolling around the grand canal after popping briefly into the city center, as we had fondly imagined. Live and learn. In the end we crossed three international borders during our trip — from Slovenia into Italy, Italy back to Slovenia, and then from Slovenia into Croatia. Sadly, nobody stamps passports any more when you cross borders in Europe these days — good for efficiency, less good for sentimental collectibles.

When we finally arrived in Rovinj, our host Francesca had to meet us at a parking lot outside the old city because cars are not allowed anywhere near the street where we are staying. She kindly brought an electric cart to help shuttle our luggage, and off we went. Our rooms overlook the marina, and are located on the street next door, with access to the sea via an arched alleyway. We had dinner at one of the waterfront restaurants, across from the old city center with its tall tower. After dinner we wandered around for a bit until it began to get dark. Tomorrow, our real exploration of the city will begin.