Slovenia - Eastern Europe - page 652

Newspapers & Magazines You'll find heaps of useful tourist publications at the
airport. The Slovenia Times is published in English every 2 weeks.
Police Dial & 113.
Restrooms Clean and user-friendly; you'll pay a very small fee to use public
facilities at train and bus stations.
Safety & Crime One of Europe's safest countries, with a below-average crime
rate.
Taxes & Service Charges VAT will generally be included in all quoted prices; at
hotels, there may be an extra “tourist tax” of around 1 ($1.25) per night.

Telephones Use a phonecard, bought at post offices and newsstands, to use
public pay phones, which are fairly ubiquitous; you can also call from a booth
at the post office. Numbers in Slovenia have seven digits; this should be pre-
ceded by the two-digit area code if you're calling from a different region.
Time Zone Slovenia is 1 hour ahead of GMT.
Tipping Leave 10% to 15% for all good restaurant and bar service.
Water Slovenia's water is clean and delicious; in some areas, it's considered
among the purest water in Europe.
Weather information Dial & 090-7130.

€

3 Ljubljana
In many ways a fairy-tale city, replete with castle, the capital city has as its defining
motif a dragon, which you will see on flags that flutter from bridges and buildings
(and in the form of a child-friendly costumed character that roams the center during
summer). The historic center is imbued with striking monuments and generous
squares that suggest good urban planning. Graffiti artists mark these public spaces,
often branding historic edifices with such unironic one-liners as “Ljubljana is a beau-
tiful city.” And it is. Graffiti aside, Ljubljana has a low-key buzz and an air of exuber-
ance that extends to the artfulness of its buildings, its statuary, and its fountains.
According to legend, Argonauts may have laid the foundations of Ljubljana as they
fled along the Ljubljanica River from the Black Sea to the Adriatic with the Golden
Fleece 3,000 years ago; certainly the Romans established a city, Emona, here by the
turn of the 1st century A . D . With Emona destroyed by the Huns, Slavic immigrants
chose to build a city at the foot of what is now Ljubljana Castle Hill; it grew to
become what was known 500 years later as Leibach and in 1144 as Luwigana. When
the Habsburgs took over, this became their administrative center until they were
expelled during World War I. In the mid-19th century the city's economic pull was
enhanced when the railroad linking Vienna and Trieste was built through Ljubljana,
and much of the city's prosperity came from its tobacco factory.
A university town, with cutting-edge ambitions, Ljubljana percolates with charm.
It's long been a cultural center, home to one of Europe's oldest philharmonic societies,
and now also to a swinging alternative youth and student culture, drawing interna-
tional artists from all spheres. It's also the birthplace of celebrated architect, Joze Ple c-
nik, who almost single-handedly reshaped the city, erecting many of its lovely