Europe 2019 - Day 47 (Part 3)

22 June 2019, Saturday

As I said, all this we saw only at a distance, from a bridge in town, and we walked the entire town of Škofja Loka in a hurry, in less than an hour as Ms. Impatience did not want to walk in the rain any more. As we were waiting for the bus back, it stopped raining and the sun snuck a shy peek. I would’ve continued my explorations of Škofja Loka and the nearby Puštal, but Ms. Impatience was impatient to go home so therein ended our foray into the nearby town of Škofja Loka.

We were back Ljubljana for lunch. I had Štruklji, one of the most important traditional Slovenian dishes. The first recorded preparation of štruklji is said to be in 1589, when a chef at a manor in Graz wrote down the recipe for cooked štruklji with tarragon filling. They became a festive dish for the urban middle class in the 17th century, and spread to rural households two centuries later. They were incorporated into everyday cuisine at the beginning of the 20th century. 

The one I tried here was different from the one in Croatia. It is basically filo pastry with filling (either sweet or savoury) spread onto a sheet of dough, and the dough then formed into a roll and baked, steamed, fried or boiled. The shop that I tried this in offered 3 traditional flavours - cottage cheese, tarragon and walnut. I think it was steamed. The tarragon one tasted a bit funny (I think it’s because i’m not used to the herb) but all edible and for me, nicer than the one in Croatia. This dish can be served as a side dish to meat dishes, different soups or as an independent main dish.

Then, because we had nothing better to do, we took the funicular up to Ljubljana Castle. The first Ljubljana Castle is believed to have been a wooden and stone fortification built in the 11th century. It acquired its present outline with an almost complete overhaul in the 15th century, whereas the majority of the buildings date to the 16th and 17th centuries. The castle is depicted on the city's coat of arms, along with a dragon on top (Ljuby! ❤️). The hill summit probably became a Roman army stronghold after fortifications were built in Illyrian and Celtic times. Since the first half of the 14th century, it became the seat of the lords of Carniola. 

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle became an arsenal. In 1797 the town of Ljubljana and the castle were occupied for the first time by the French army, and again in 1809. In the period of the Illyrian Provinces, the castle was used as barracks and a military hospital. In 1815, back in the Austrian Empire, it became a prison, which it remained until 1895, with a hiatus between 1848 and 1868, resuming that function during WW II. I saw an Austro-Hungarian field cannon M75 here.

Around the castle were Archer’s Tower, the Chapel of St George, and a monument known as the Monument to Peasant Uprisings made in 1974 and dedicated to the largest peasant uprising in Slovenia in 1515, in which the peasants demanded the reintroduction of the original feudal obligations and trade rights i.e. to have a say in how much taxes they pay.

Here at the Castle we had a panoramic view of the city of Ljubljana where we could see the ‘Skyscraper’ (Nebotičnik). When this 13-storey tower was topped off in 1933 it became the tallest building in the Balkans and was in the top ten for Europe.

At the time it was equipped with all the latest conveniences, like air-conditioning, speedy elevators and a central heating system.

Then we walked down to the city of Ljubljana and since we had nothing to do, we went back to the hostel. It was only about 5 p.m. I took a short nap and then I went down to the garden patio and drank beer and made new friends. It was raining pretty heavily at night and drinks were bought for me and suddenly everything was happy and good and life was a bed of roses with butterflies and rainbows and one thing led to another and by the time I went to bed it was already 2 a.m. I’ll so no more except that it feels damn good to still be desirable at my age.