Slovenia (Ljubljana and Piran)

To go there I recommend:

– Air France
website
Air France offers daily direct flights from Paris

While you are there:

– Ljubljana Tourist Card
website
The card “Urbana” gives you access to museums and public transportation (funicular included).
24 h : 20 euros, 48 h : 27 euros, 72 h : 30 euros

Ljubljana is on Italy, Austrian and Croatian time.
It’s a strong and very well organized country.
Rick Steves, a European tourism star for Americans said it would be the next Prague. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a Disneyland either.

See the 716 photos album of Ljubljana 

Here’s a well done TV5  report.
For the snowboarders, I recommend you to watch this video made by our friends BangingBees.

WET DREAMS IN SLOVENIA from Rémy Barreyat on Vimeo.

Ljubjana

Ljubljana is a huge place impossible to see entirely in a couple days.
There’s a rich and varied amount of restaurants, some elegant, some modern, traditional “auberges”, but some exotic cuisines are also largely represented ( Asian, Indian, Mexican, Spanish,….)

The guides I’ve been using:

– Lonely Planet Slovenia
It’s good but doesn’t have  a lot of information on Ljubljana.
– Cartoville Ljubljana
I like these guides and they’re particularly efficient for cities like Ljubljana, that are small and varied.
– Once I was back in Paris, I discovered that they have Food Tours in Ljubljana, and they not only look good, but the comments are also good: http://www.topljubljanafoods.com/
– Slovenia Activity Holidays
The website was created by Barbara Hunt Vodopivec whom I’ve  interviewed for 716.
– Slovénie secrète (Secret Slovenia)
The website is owned by a French and it’s very alive.  They have articles about everythyng you can do in Slovenia.

Green Slovenia

It’s a touristic information site that offers many activities at reasonable prices and with an authentic approach. It was created by Barbara Hunt Vodopivec whom I interviewed for 716.

Read her interview
Barbara also interviewed me on my trip.
Read my  interview. 

There are more and more festivals and events around food,it seems that the country understood the potential of this theme, especially with all the advantages it has.

So you have:
– Open Kitchen every Friday at the market: restaurants come and cook in the market
–The Flavours Festival end of September to the beginning of October
–The Restaurants Festival   for 10 days in October
The advertising around these events isn’t ideal yet, and it’s easy to miss it. Let’s believe that it’ll get better for the next ones to come.

For your information, I recommend that you go see the Ljubjana castle, Ljubljanski grad and to pay 6 euros to go to the top of the tower, but also to watch the animated film  which gives an overview of Ljubljana’s history: It’s well done, lasts 12 minutes and really lets you see clearly the
evolution of the city since Roman times when it was the city of Emona to the 1^st century BCE until the independence of 1991 and the last few years.

Ljubljana has many great restaurants, impossible to visit in just  a few days.
The offer is rich and divers, you can find moderns and elegants restaurants, traditional tavernes but alos a large variety of exotic kitchen (Asiatic, Indian, Mexican, Spanish, …)

My articles will be divided in three categories:
–The Restaurants Festival, thanks to which I was able to try many fine dining restaurants with their menus at 13 euros.
–restaurants I tried on my own
-finally, all the ones I wasn’t able to try, but that were part of the good ones on my list. I didn’t explore very many traditional Slovenian restaurants as I found it more interesting to try the fine dining restaurants at the festival, and for the rest I followed the advice of the locals, which were more on the foreign side.

Asian Fast Food
Kolodvorska ulica 20
Ljubljana
Ph : 01 231 2168
Open every day

“What’s this, 716 is giving you a restaurant in Ljubljana! Not even that crazy a restaurant, so why? Because what I took was good, they were very nice, I thought it was “surréaliste et bon enfant” at the same time, and because it’s super useful when you’re waiting at the bus stop for the ride to the airport since it’s located right in front of the train and bus station.”

Read the full 716 article
 

Bistro Zvezda
Kongresni trg 3,
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 (0)1 421 90 91
Open Monday-Saturday 11am-11pm, Sunday 10am-4pm

“Zvezda is known first for its bakery/ salon de thé at the corner.
They opened this restaurant a few years back in front of the park.
I stumbled on a blog that described it as the best lunch deal in Ljubljana for its price-quality ratio.
I went there during the  festival of restaurants and the 13 euros menu made for the occasion was wonderful. I asked to see the regular menu and the prices are also very appropriate.”

Read the full 716 article
 

Druga Violina
Stari trg 21
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 (0) 82 052 506
Open everyday from 8h to 00h

“Druga Violina (the second violon) is a restaurant owned by Draga Center, an organisation that takes care of patients having mental problems. The team is made by patients and people who help them. It’s the moment of trying traditional Slovenian food for very good prices, and also to help this organisation. The restaurant is very popular.”

Read the full 716 article
  

Hot Horse
Celovska cesta 25 (there is another one : Smartinska cesta 152)
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 1 521 14 27
Open everyday  from 9h to 6h next day in the morning

“It’s a local curiosity about which everyone (turist guides or locals)  will talk at least one time, even those who haven’t tried it  yet, but  have friend who did tried and they loved: a horse meat hamburger.”

Read the full 716 article
  

Shambala
Križevniška ulica 12
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 31 843 833

“A chic and elegant restaurant proposing an Asian kitchen : perfect service and atmosphere. We will come back. Oh, and the food was very good :)”

Read the full 716 article
  

Valvas’or
Stari trg 7
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 (0) 1 425 0455

“It’s a very classy restaurant. I was full after eating, even if  the food was not all perfect. That being said, I still recommend you to go and dine in this very classy restaurant but whose service and team are not snob.”

Read the 716 full article
  

Piran
Gostilna Galeb
Ristic Savo s.p,
Pusterla 5
6330 Piran
Ph :  05 673 3225

“A family owned tavern (gostilna = accomodation) which saved us from tourists- all along the boardwalk and which I am happy to tell you about. Here  the food is not expensive, we though we are in an Italian trattoria. The receiving  is a bit old school at the first (some will also say that the kitchen is a bit too simple) but  I love that.”

Read the 716 full article
  

Restaurants I wasn’t able to try but that were recommended to me :

– Güjžina
Mestni Trg 19
Ljubljana
website
It seems to be the best Slovenian traditional restaurant from city center.

– Gostilnica XXI
Rimska 21
Ljubljana
website
(they added “sud-américain” on their facebook page but I don’t think they have it)

– Compa
Trubarjeva cesta 40
Ljubljana
website
Traditional restaurant with very good meat.

– Spajza
28 Gornji
Ljubljana
website
Traditional classy restaurant

– Hood Burger
Jamova c. 105 (Interspar Vič)
Ljubljana
Very good burgers

– Picerija Foculus
Gregorčičeva ulica 3
Ljubljana
website
It seems they have very good pizzas

Ljubljana’s Central Market
Vodnikov trg
Ljubljana
Open everyday except Sunday

Like in Lithuania, they’ve been cultivating their vegetable gardens for centuries. Numerous individuals grow they own vegetable gardens to eat from. Jjubljana has a beautiful market,and is open other days than Sundays.
The quality is top notch. Ask for a green salad or mushroom raviolis in a restaurant, and many restaurants in Paris would choke on their own, the difference is so big.

Read the 716 full article
  

Bikofe
Židovska steza 2
Ljubljana
Tél : +386 40 296 356
website
Alternative-hipster place, different vibe than other classier patios in Ljubljana

Daktari
Krekov trg 7
Ljubljana
website
A bar on a very pretty quiet square.

Metelkova

“It was a former army garrison which became ruins in the 90’s. Today is a veritable place for alternative culture : squats, techno clubs, gay and lesbians, etc… The surroundings have been institutionalised (we found 3 museums near by, the prison has became a hostel).”

Read the 716 full article
  

Places I wasn’t able to try but that were recommended to me :

Chocolate stores
– Benedict
Mestni trg 11
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 (0)1 421 04 53
website

– Cacao
Petkovškovo nabrežje 3
Ljubljana
Ph : +386 (0)1 430 17 71
website