piran café

Borrowing from Andrew Sullivan’s ‘View From Your Window’, today’s daily pic is just a quick snap out of the home office window where the first snow in the area can be seen in the hills just east of Ljubljana.

Another shot of Slovenia’s Central Bank, more specifically its telamones, taken on Saturday while waiting for Bill Clinton. Another shot of the bank and more about the building here.

Ljubljana 0170, originally uploaded by pirano.

Over a couple glasses of wine this afternoon, Bill Clinton chastised me for my rather lame efforts with my LJ Pic of the Day chore, so I promised that I’d resume the project with an image of him.

The former US President popped into Ljubljana today to say hi, and to collect a reported €100,000 ($147,318) for a 45-minute lecture. (As a point of comparison, George W. Bush hit the lecture circuit at home last week, an event for which organizers charged $19, but not per person. That was the ticket price per office.)

I didn’t see and haven’t read much about his lecture, but among the more memorable quips was in reference to the ongoing Adriatic boundary dispute between Slovenia and Croatia. Paraphrasing from a Radio SLO report:  “The current dispute won’t matter much in 50 years if we allow the sea levels to continue to rise.”

This was Clinton’s second visit to Slovenia, and while his stroll around town turned a few heads and attracted a few waves, the crowd didn’t quite compare with the one that turned out for Queen Elizabeth’s after-tea walkabout here last October.

Clinton in SLO 02, originally uploaded by pirano.

200 meters to go: Caroline Cheptanui Kilel on the way to a race record at Sunday’s Ljubljana Marathon, where she clocked 2:25:24, the 14th fastest performance in the world this year.

There’s another handful of other shots from the marathon here.

Caroline Cheptanui, originally uploaded by pirano.

We’ve had some nice early evening colors over the past few weeks. This was taken eight days ago, looking towards the south.

Ljubljana 0166, originally uploaded by pirano.

We’ll try to kick-start this daily chore again with this, spotted near Kinoklub Vič a few weeks ago. I’m delighted to note that the square on which it’s located is still called Trg mladinskih delovnih brigad, or Youth Workers Brigades Square. Recently renovated and reopened over the summer. [map] [now showing (scroll down)]

Nice gun!

Ljubljana 0168, originally uploaded by pirano.

Here’s a photo gallery of some of the plans for the hotly debated ‘new’ central market area. I like that new footbridge. But the garage is a dumb idea. If traffic’s the problem (and it does suck here), why route cars into the center?

Ljubljana 0160, originally uploaded by pirano.

Is there a better way to restart the LJ Pic of the Day project –as well as re-open the café– than with this, a promise that unparalleled pleasures of the mind, body, spirit and soul lie in wait just around the corner? I think not.

This was taken yesterday, near an entrance to Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana’s (and Slovenia’s) premiere cultural center [home][eng].

About a year ago, LJ Pic of the Day reached a record 38 straight daily posts. With the typically busy summer now fading to memory, surpassing that with this daily chore is the immediate goal.

For the LJ Pic of the Day Archive, go here. If you feel a Ljubljana image overdose is in order, go here.

Ljubljana 0163, originally uploaded by pirano.

Replicas of wooden beehive panels, a unique folk art tradition here, are quite common in Slovenian gift and souvenir shops.

It’s a naive art tradition that dates back to the latter half of the 18th C when apparently bored beekeepers made the switch from one-color designs to painting more vivid scenes and images on their beehive drawers. Most that I’ve seen, originals and souvenir replicas, have religious or historical motifs so I’m not sure where this scene fits in that scheme of things.

I found this one in Svetina, a delightful little village in the hills of eastern Slovenia.  It’s a quiet, tranquil place these days, apparently unlike those heady days of 1887 depicted above. Does anyone have any idea what story this panel is trying to tell?

More about beehive panels in Slovenia here and here, a gallery of panels from the apicultural museum in Radovljica is here, and a few more of my pics from Svetina here.

Svetina 03, originally uploaded by pirano.

Did you miss me?

Resuming the pic-a-day quest with this shot of castle hill taken very early in the morning late last month when I decided that the notion of going to sleep really was overrated.

Ljubljana 0161, originally uploaded by pirano.

This was rejected for a tourist brochure. The Ljubljanica, from the Fish Market Restaurant, 27-May-2009.

I recently drove through the western Slovenian village of Col, just up the road from Ajdovščina, which sits on the edge of a plateau with terrific west-facing views of the Vipava River valley (above). At 619m (2030 ft) above sea level, it held strategic importance dating back to the Romans, and as an important road junction, was an ideal place to collect tolls, thus its name, from the German zoll. Population 498 (2002).

When I was snapping a few pics of this rundown eyesore in the center of town, a local approached eager to give me the scoop. Once the most prestigious building in the village, housing a guesthouse/restaurant, or gostilna, and the local police station, its Italian owner is ignoring it like the plague, choosing to let it crumble and rot. It’s been sitting like this for more than a decade, he said, and the county, or opčina, is powerless to do anything about it.

There are plenty of hiking trails through the forests and hills nearby, and you can check out Roman ruins on the nearby Šance, Šturmanik and Rižemberk hills. Not sure what this was, just a few Kms further up the road. And old Italian military installation?

Links for more about Col:
[SLO Tourism Board] [Wiki]

Col 01, originally uploaded by pirano.

I’ve been listening to violins much of the day, so thought this appropriate, a gentleman jamming away near some of the Sunday morning flea market stalls a few weeks ago.

The weekly flea market is usually a pleasure to browse. Plenty of Yugoslav and Tito memorabilia, but there’s a nice selection of better antiques from time to time as well. Much of the stuff is over-priced, but do bargain.  Located mostly on the east bank (castle hill side) of the Ljublanica, but has been regularly spilling spilling over to the other side via the Cobbler’s Bridge. Every Sunday, beginning at 8. Dealers begin packing up around 2.

Ljubljana 0161, originally uploaded by pirano.

There was an entertaining piece on Ljubljana in yesterday’s Washington Post Travel section. At more than 2000 words, ‘Ljubljana: Too Cool to Get Hot‘ is a breezy read, quite positive overall, and makes the city quite welcoming indeed.

I did find this a bit bothersome:

Thus would Ljubljana, which had somehow survived the Romans, Napoleon, the Soviets and more…

When, precisely, did Ljubljana “survive” the Soviets? This irksome and patently false link to the former Yugoslavia under Soviet control keeps popping up in places where it really shouldn’t.  Washington Post editors, if not staff reporters, really should know better. In the bigger scheme of things, this ain’t ancient history.  [Here's another recent example from the LA Times.]

Anyway, a nice read. Check it out.

By the way, again resuming the LJ Pic of the Day chore with this, shot a few days ago at the main central market.

Ljubljana 0160, originally uploaded by pirano.

This massive hunk of steel, LJ 14-4DB, parked on Kongresni Trg on Saturday 26-April, nearly forced me into a head-on collision. When I was done cursing in about a dozen different languages, I noticed the ticket on his windshield.

We’ll call this progress, and a minor victory.

More about Self-Absorbed Bike Lane-parking Morons here, and don’t forget to check out the eponymous flickr group here.

Self-absorbed bike lane-parking moron 000000022, originally uploaded by pirano.

Rainy few days. Taken from the roof today.

Ljubljana 0156, originally uploaded by pirano.

Quick landscape, late Saturday afternoon, looking south.

Ljubljana 0152, originally uploaded by pirano.

I spent most of the day booking my European summer travel –again, lots!– and as has become custom, was again frustrated by the lack of budget carriers that operate out of Ljubljana’s Pučnik airport. (Currently, there’s one.) So, when going by train –always choice No 1– wasn’t an option, I had to look at nearby airports. And instead of depositing my notes in the recycle bin, I thought I’d put them here where others may find them of use.

What characterizes nearby will vary from person to person. For me Venice Marco Polo (roughly 3 1/2 hrs by bus from Ljubljana) is the outside limit.

So here is a list of airports that will make Destination Ljubljana a little bit closer for you, and the budget airlines that operate to/from there. I’m assuming that these all list the current 2009 spring/summer timetables, but can’t be 100% certain of that. So if they’re not, don’t waterboard me. Instead, let me know! Enjoy!

Graz, Austria
- RyanAir – [route map]
- Tuifly – [route map]

Klagenfurt, Austria
- GermanWings – [route map]
- RyanAir – [route map]
- Tuifly – [route map]

Ljubljana
- EasyJet – [route map] – At the moment, only one flight daily to/from London-Stansted.

Pula, Croatia
- GermanWings – [route map]
- RyanAir – [route map]
- ThomsonFly – [route map]

Rijeka, Croatia
- Tuifly – [route map]

Trieste, Italy
- RyanAir – [route map]

Venice (Marco Polo)
(Buses from Mestre rail station: ACTV linea n°15, about 35 min; ATVO FLY BUS, 17-20 min)
- EasyJet – [route map]
- SkyEurope – [route map]
- ThomsonFly – [route map]
- Transavia – [route map]
- Tuifly – [route map]
- Wizzair – [route map]

Venice (Treviso)
For more on this airport that even The Village People use, read this.
- GermanWings – [route map]
- RyanAir – [route map]

Zagreb, Croatia
- GermanWings – [route map]
- Tuifly – [route map]
- Wizzair – [route map]

Slovenia’s Adria Airways website is here. It’s a very good airline, and while it can hardly be considered a budget carrier, good deals can be found.

And while we’re at it, here’s the website for the Ljubljana Bus Station.

From yesterday’s Cvičkarija festival in Ljubljana, a celebration for Dolenjska’s cviček wine, which was a key ingredient for Martin Strel’s successful swim down the Amazon two years ago. Wine and Earth Day should be synonymous, no?

(The guy wouldn’t get out of the way. My apologies.)

I’ve never been a ‘car guy’ –I drove a Yugo around the hills of southeast Ohio for more than five years– but these will always hold a special place in my heart.

Ljubljana 0119, originally uploaded by pirano.

Restarting (again) this daily chore with this, taken a few weeks ago on an otherwise mostly sunny day.

Ljubljana 0151, originally uploaded by pirano.

Euronews published an eight-minute report on Nova Gorica, Slovenia, on Thursday, one somewhat curiously titled, Breaking down borders in Europe’s gambling capital. Really? Gambling capital? Anyway, a mostly useful bit for those passing through western Slovenia.

If you’re passing through Laško over the next three weeks, stop by the city museum (Muzej Laško) to check out the fifth KLAK photo exhibit, and not only because I won second place with the photo above and the one below.

The theme of the contest, sponsored by the Laško Akademski Klub (LAK), was brezdelje, which roughly translates, generally speaking, to both ‘idleness’ and ‘leisure’. Interesting to me was that the two English words can have widely contrasting interpretations –one negative, one positive– which led to a very fun afternoon of philosophizing between me and my keyboard.

Through 08-May.

This town has plenty more to offer of course: it’s home to Slovenia’s best large brewery and and well-visited and respected thermal spring spa.  The visitor’s center website is here.

Radium theatre (Zurich 04), originally uploaded by pirano.

From a handful of personal favorite pics shot in March is this one, which reminded me of a bored version of The Scream. A few others from the month, shot in Torino and mainly in Ljubljana, are here.

Previous: [Feb 09] [Jan 09] [2008]

ljubljana 0140, originally uploaded by pirano.

On Wednesday, a group of about a dozen neo-Nazi skinheads disrupted a roundtable discussion on hate speech, nationalism and neo-fascism at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. On their way out, they reportedly broke a couple cameras, but on one the footage was preserved for internet posterity.  PopTV has video of the scuffle here. Anyone you know?

Some reports pointed the finger at a nationalist group, Tukaj je Slovenija, or This is Slovenia, which the group vehemently denied. “We are not an organization,” read a statement on its website, but rather an association of individuals. [Their website is here where, among other things, you can buy black t-shirts with dragon designs so you can dress up like neo-Nazi skinhead youths the world over!]

Related? Shock! Richard Poplawski, the man accused of gunning down three police officers in Pittsburgh last week, was apparently a gun-loving racist pinhead who hung out on neo-Nazi and white supremacist websites and firmly believed the Fox News line that Obama’s impending socialism would signal the end of his right to own and love guns.

At least it’s a lot harder to get your hands on a gun here.

UPDATED to add this link to a couple posts on the topic from Pengovsky, always worth a read.

(screenshot from PopTV video)