Europe Part 3: A Cavalcade of Capitals

After starting off our trip with a foray through the mountains, the next leg was decidedly more urban as we toured a trio of capital cities: Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Sarajevo.

After returning our rental car at the Ljubljana Airport, we took a shuttle into the city center. Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, is relatively small for a European capital, with just a few hundred thousand residents. The city was heavily damaged during a large earthquake in 1895. At the time, Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so many of the buildings in the city center were rebuilt in the same architectural style prominent in cities like Prague and Vienna. For the last decade or so, the center of Ljubljana has been set aside as a pedestrian zone…no cars allowed! We enjoyed our limited time in town strolling the wonderfully car-free streets, crisscrossing the many bridges over the Ljubljanica River, and riding the funicular up to the castle that overlooks the old town. The highlight was a food and wine tour with a local guide and wine expert who introduced us to a variety of foods and wines from different regions of Slovenia: deep fried sardines from the Adriatic coast, homemade meats and cheeses from the Hungarian-influenced northeast, Carniolan sausages and barley stew from the southwest, and a delicious layered dessert with dumpling, nuts, raisin, breadcrumbs, and creamy cheese.

We also learned more about life in Slovenia and the recent history of the area from our guide. Most of the countries on our trip were part of the former communist republic of Yugoslavia. Slovenia was the first to declare independence in 1991 and fortunately did not experience the brutal conflicts that followed independence declarations in neighboring Croatia and Bosnia. Talking to our guide, we learned that Slovenia’s education system is well-funded, pre-K childcare costs only a little over $100/month, college and housing are relatively affordable, and new mothers are guaranteed a year of paid maternity leave. As a country, Slovenia also seems to be more environmentally conscious that most. After a week in Slovenia, we left with the impression that this is a progressive country that cares about making life better for its residents. What a concept!

Ljubljana was one of many stops where we wished we could stay longer, but after about 24 hours, we were on one of the few train journeys of our trip to Zagreb, the capital and largest city of Croatia. Zagreb is much larger than Ljubljana, with roughly one million inhabitants, and the difference was noticeable from the moment we stepped off the train. The overall atmosphere of Zagreb felt like a much larger, faster paced urban center compared to the relative tranquility of Ljubljana.

Most of Zagreb is relatively young by European standards, with much of the city center built up over just the past 150 years. (Quite a few buildings, including all of the major cathedrals, were in scaffolding during our visit, still under repair from damage incurred during a major earthquake in March 2020.) Our room for the night was in the small “old town” section of Zagreb, which consists of two adjacent hills with buildings dating back to the 1500s. At odds with one another for most of history, these two towns officially merged in the 1850s, leading to the creation of the greater Zagreb that exists today.

Like all of the cities we visited on this trip, Zagreb was bumping. We never ceased to be amazed by how many people (tourists and locals alike) were out and about late into the evening, regardless of whether it was a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. Sitting on Jelačić Square (the central social and transportation hub of Zagreb, pictured above) late at night, watching a steady stream of electric trams whisk people back to all parts of the city, definitely made us reflect on how the U.S. cities we’ve lived in are built so differently.

Our time in Zagreb was also limited, so the following morning we took a free walking tour to get our bearings. At the top of the town was St. Marks Church, with its unique roof covered in colorful tiles depicting the coat of arms of Croatia (left) and the city of Zagreb (right):

In the afternoon, we took another walking tour focusing on the war for Croatia’s independence in the early 1990s. The events that led to this war (and the others in the Balkans around the same time) are, of course, incredibly complex and require a good understanding of history going all the way back to at least World War I to truly understand. While summarizing this history is not really within the scope or intent of this photography blog, I will say that it was absolutely fascinating to hear the varying perspectives on these conflicts via museums, tours, and conversations in several different countries. On our tour in Zagreb, we walked through some of the underground tunnels and bunkers that were originally built during WWII and then used again as bomb shelters during the recent war. Today, many of these tunnels remain in use as “shortcuts” for residents to get from one part of the city to another. (As an added bonus, it was a solid 30 degrees cooler down there than on the surface!)

Ultimately, I didn’t take a ton of photos in Zagreb or Ljubljana. Both cities were at their best after nightfall, and I definitely could have used a tripod. Many of the night scenes I photographed turned out rather blurry. From Zagreb we caught a short, late evening flight to Sarajevo which ended up being one of the highlights of our trip and will get its own post next time!