Monday 21 February 2011

Jason and the Argonauts.

Many of you will be thinking: "What the heck is this guy talking about in the subject line?"... well, so would I if I were in your shoes but in my less than 24 hours since arriving in Ljubljana, I have become acquainted with one of the oddest yet most interesting legends surrounding the settling and founding of Ljubljana. According to popular belief, the Greek mythological heroes Jason and the Argonauts arrived in Ljubljana on their ship Argo after they stole the golden fleece. Here, they found a monster in a lake, the Dragon of Ljubljana, that Jason slew. The city was thus founded on the grounds where Jason performed his victorious and valorous action and the Dragon has since remained the historical symbol of the city.

So where did we leave it off. I think I was in Venice still. Well, after having a light dinner at the train station and an aranciata (which, by the way, is one of my favourite drinks. It's some sort of orange fanta marketed by the world-famous San Pellegrino mineral water brand - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Pellegrino) I boarded the train. Departure time: 9:20pm. Final stop: Budapest. Arrival in Ljubljana: 1:50am. Not ideal, but the only direct route available. Apparently, again according to popular belief (waht a great source of knowledge, particularly for those who have little to no view on a given subject matter), back in the the day there used to be a regular service with a few trains covering the route on a daily basis. That was back in the day. Fortunately enough the train ride was far from tedious and uneventful. At the first stop (Ve
nice in-land, i.e. not the one I boarded but the one which is used for connections from other routes, my 4-seat "section" filled up. One of the individuals was a Spanish-speaking fella who was on his cell phone when he boarded the train. Another was a Croatian 25-year old female Taekwondo instructor who had studied PR and Marketing and the other was a local who remain
ed on board for under 30 minutes. Coming back to the Spanish-speaking dude... He was speaking to what could only be a buddy of his in a rather ambiguous Latin American accent, which at first I found difficult to identify. I couldn't quite pin down if he was Chilean or Uruguayan... Shortly after boarding the train, he began commenting on the appearance of the female component of our train. He seemed to be rather impressed by the sounds of it, and upon making a remark
in local slang which I nevertheless understood he mentioned to his buddy: "I hope nobody understands what I am saying". I couldn't help but politely letting him know that I in fact did understand... and so we both burst into laughter... quite possibly so did his friend on the other end of the line. After his phone call was done we began going back and forth, rambling on and on about what had brought us there and what our grand travel itineraries were. You see, I have come to understand that when on the road, one's itinerary is an important asset... it's really the ice-breaker in a conversation. After a while, we included our seat neighbour in the conversation, only to find that she was coming from Bolonia where she had spent the w/e visiting her boyfriend. She seemed a little frightened at first, but then confessed that she wasn't scared but rather intimidated by two latins screaming, shouting (as she put it - I don't recall talking in a louder than usual tone) and making strange gestures as a means to communicate. Oh yes, by the way, the guy ended up being from Chile. Spot on! Turns out he was studying abroad in Rome until summer and had a few weeks to spare between semesters. We spent the rest of the journey going on and on at our seats but more so at the bar over a few (too many) beers (or pivos, as they are called in the slavic regions of Europe). When we reached Ljubljana, we exchanged contact details (as they were carrying on to Zagreb) and I got off the train. c. 1:50am local time... and I still had to figure out how to find my hostel. After a couple of minutes dodging local cab drivers who insisted on taking me to my destination for a "good price, my friend", I decided to walk. For those of you also following me on facebook, you will have visual evidence of
the conditions I endured (if only for 10 minutes. hehe). Wasn't really that bad to be honest.

After what I can only describe as a revitalising sleep, I woke up "late" today - at 10:30am, and was ready to hit the streets just before 11am. To be quite honest, one can go around the city and see all that is worthwhile and recommended in the lonely planet guide I carry with me (http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/europe/eastern-europe-travel-guide-10) in just about 3 or 4 hours. Who would have thought that the capital city of this 2million people country would account for just under 300,000?? Would have never guessed the city would be comparable in size to the likes of Cardiff (Wales), Buffalo (US), Nantes (France) or Alicante (Spain).
What I probably enjoyed the most was my visit to the Ljubljana castle which coronates city centre and where the view is breathtaking. I refrained from entering the paid-for exhibits but managed to visit a free one covering the world heritage sites in many of the countries of Eastern Europe which, you guessed it right, I am planning to visit. Big thank you to the cultural delegation of the respective Embassies which so kindly financed the exhibit. The rest of the day I pretty much spent taking pics (some of which are below for your enjoyment). Lunch was a sand
wich on the street, no breather... no wonder I am exhausted right now and during the course of the day there was also room for a rather random call from my former boss. He wanted to "double check" if I may be open for employment opportunities at the moment and if my travel + MBA plans were just a big scam I had made up upon leaving Merrill. Jokes aside, always flattering to be kept in the loop and to be considered for these types of opportunities, even if they don't fit my bigger picture/framework at the moment.

Anyhow, I am glad I stopped here - although wouldn't recommend more than 24 hours as one just runs out of things to do/see. Oh boy, I almost forgot to mention the one thing that I found most interesting. During Napoleon's ruling over the Provinces Illyriennes, Ljubljana was the capital (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illyrian_Provinces). The French are thus remembered for their historical political influence in the region and city as one can see in the following pics, courtesy of fellow bloggers, cyber posters (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrightfamilyarchives/4869231379/; http://www.google.si/imgres?imgurl=http://lh5.ggpht.com/_f3csoR8Hq5E/SudlM3kO6WI/AAAAAAAAA8U/cONgMf7b3uE/DSC03598.JPG&imgrefurl=http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/c4R90frM_sRDX_Mj3B_3yQ&usg=__Ir5xA-Uqcqs3nqYSRXQzseH4XA=&h=1600&w=1200&sz=302&hl=sl&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=JTs8jZsV6Z5qPM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=92&ei=CuFiTfzJEMuj4QbzvOjjCQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfrench%2Brevolution%2Bsquare%2Bin%2Bljubljana%26um%3D1%26hl%3Dsl%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D681%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=665&vpy=332&dur=3708&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=71&ty=151&oei=CuFiTfzJEMuj4QbzvOjjCQ&page=1&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:21,s:0)

Next stop --> Zagreb. Boarding a train tomorrow at 8am. Until then, or rather later on in the day, will leave you with some of the visual evidence from my stay in Slovenia. As always, I hope you enjoy.

pv