Twenty of My Favorite Things About Slovenia and Ljubljana

(Just so you should know I'm not a total cynic. These are in no particular order.)

1. Beautifully designed paper money with portraits of writers and painters, a poet, an architect, a mathematician. No politicians (Slovenia is too young a country to have accumulated a currency-worthy backlog).

2. Walking into Preseren Square from the top of Copova and threading my way over the Triple Bridge and through the old town. (Willows hanging over the quays; cobblestones; covered passageways...) A mini-Prague with a minimum of tourists around. Ghosts of the past almost palpable. And sometimes, those buskers from Ecuador playing under Preseren's watchful gaze...

3. Just the feeling of "I've done it, I've escaped it all..." (nice illusion while it lasts)

4. Seeing the Alps in the distance on brilliantly clear days (Ljubljana does have a few every now and then). Not to mention the fact that a 10-minute bike ride brought me from my relatively urban neighborhood into the countryside (or at least Jarse, a reasonable facsimile) where I pedaled down narrow, uncrowded paths amidst cows, horses and farmers (before my bike was stolen and I moved, anyway).

5. Ljubljana-specific: the thickest fog in the world, especially in town late at night during fall and winter. Otherworldly, atmospheric beyond belief.

6. Proximity to so many different countries and cultures (although it's sometimes hard to tell they're nearby when you're standing in the middle).

7. Bucno olje, gibanica (properly heated), bohinjski sir, kalamari na zaru, trzaska omaka, and the take-out cevapcici from Okrepcevalnica Oaza in Bezigrad (things to eat). Pozna trgatev traminec, renski rizling, kraski teran, cvicek, Temno Lasko (drink up). Ljubljana's central market, with a post-shopping lunch at the Ribca seafood cafe on the river, especially in summer. And the Pizzeria Trta, which my fiancee and I were so fond of that we ate there five times during our October '02 visit.

8. Spending a day on one of Slovenia's wine roads, along with a designated driver.

9. The coffee and snack bar at the KUD France Preseren student center. And the occasional concerts there, especially Trnfest in late summer. Also the twin gray towers of the Trnovo Church, and the willows by the canal, and the general Trnovo vibe.

10. Radio Student (pronounced rRAH-dyo shtoo-DENT) -- to the left of the now mostly theoretical dial -- which serves up a daily mix of nearly perfect college-station eclectic: Slovene garage rock and punk (proud tradition, you betcha), Yugo rock, jazz, Brazilian, Roma (gypsy), Stateside and Brit alt-rock, and Latino and klezmer on Sunday mornings (which almost makes up for the 'FNX Jazz Brunch, one of the few things I really miss about Boston besides its Thai restaurants, Johnny D's in Somerville, the beat of Allston and the New Balance outlet store). Even speaking as an old Ramones fan, though, I could do without the screamcore metal at 8 a.m. ...

11. Cable and even regular TV: At one time or another I've seen Slovene-subtitled Flintstones, The Brady Bunch ('Bradyevi'), Laverne and Shirley, Mork and Mindy, Seinfeld, NYPD Blue, ER, Chicago Hope, Ally McBeal (rendered in translation as 'Absent-minded Ally'), The Simpsons, The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Northern Exposure, Third Rock from the Sun, Murphy Brown (which I still couldn't stand, even over there), Twin Peaks, various Star Trek shows, et al., not to mention Oprah, Jerry Springer and Ricki Lake (help us all). (One March, POP TV even debuted a local version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, with a top prize of 10 million Slovene tolars, which as of May 2001 amounted to a bit over 40 grand US.) And in 2001, only 50 years behind schedule, the Slovenes finally began to enjoy the adventures of Lucy, Ricky, Fred and Ethel. The only gaps I occasionally felt were the absences of Leno and Letterman. Of course, there's original programming on the Slovene and Croatian channels, including Izazov!, the Croatian version of Jeopardy (oddly absorbing), and Zmenkarije, the Slovene version of The Dating Game, both perfect replicas down to the smallest set detail. Oh yeah, every March the Slovenes get to watch a subtitled Oscar telecast a day late on POP TV, edited down to a reasonable 90 minutes with (most of) the boring stuff ruthlessly discarded.

12. Unexpected kindnesses: the landlady at my first lodgings knocking on my door with a plate of food. Milka at the local drycleaners sewing a button onto my trousers, no extra charge. Everyday courtesies. Surprisingly comforting politeness rituals.

13. The way the old town looks the day after a really heavy snow.

14. Ljubljana in May.

15. Friday nights at the Orto Bar (and the occasional Saturday night).

16. Union Olimpija basketball games at Hala Tivoli. Bit of a zoo, but I love it. Good team, crazy fans (Bostonians have nothing on these people), no smoking in the arena (a rare blessing for us non-smokers in tobacco- happy Slovenia), no subtitles necessary, and the cheerleaders wear black.

17. The folk festivals. The weird harmonies of the old (pre-polka) Slovene folk songs, and especially, live concerts by Trutamora Slovenica (the rarest sighting of all; see Letter from Ljubljana #6). Not to mention the Ljubljana jazz festival, the Druga Godba ("other music") world-music festival, the summer festival...you get the idea.

18. Cole slaw being called "American salad" at supermarket deli counters.

19. Culture available for the plucking, high, low and off to the side. (The summer months and October are particularly good.) Slovenia is one of the only countries in the world that marks off a Culture Day as a national holiday; every February 8, the anniversary of the death of national poet France Preseren (why not his birthday? Go ask the Slovenes), offices and stores shut their doors, various poets declaim verses for hours at the base of FP's statue in the square bearing his name, and marathon readings are held by the nation's literary elite in the city's largest bookstore. Enough said?

20. Managing to communicate in Slovene to someone who speaks no English. Sometimes it happens, like a sunny day in Ljubljana. Lep pozdrav!