Somehow the leaves turned and mostly fell without us noticing, which means we ought to get out more often, especially since this is a great time of year for dressing nicely, with a hat and scarf but without gloves and the fear of death by freezing. It’s also a beautiful time to enjoy the city, as it’s full of trees and you can not only savour the yellows, golds and browns, but also the new views that are afforded once the branches are bare.
The Ljubljana International Film Festival (LIFFe) is still on, with a varied programme of movies from around the world, ranging from high art to the blood spattered, with more details here, while something we added last week was Ten Ways to Enjoy Ljubljana Castle, with our favourite, as a long-term resident of the capital, being free. If neither of those appeal then check out our incomplete list of what's on around town, which starts after the general
As ever, clicking on the venue names in the list below should get you more details with regard to the time, price and location, as well as other events on this week in the same place. Finally, if there's something you want to promote in a future edition of What's on in Ljubljana please get in touch with me at flanner(at)total-slovenia-news.com
Getting around Ljubljana
If you want to get a Ljubljana Tourist Card, which gives you travel on the city buses and entry to a lot of attractions, then you can read more about that here, and if you want to use the bike share system, as useful for visitors as it is for residents, then you can learn more by clicking this. Visitors with reduced mobility will be pleased to find that downtown Ljubljana is generally rated as good with regard to accessibility, and that there’s a free, city-sponsored app called Ljubljana by Wheelchair highlighting cafés, attractions and so on with ramps, disabled bathrooms and Eurokey facilities, which you can read about and download here. If you’re driving into town and don’t know where to part, our guide to how to park in Ljubljana is here.
Want / need cigarettes but the stores have closed? Here's an incomplete list of bars downtown that will satisfy your craving for the demon weed. While if you’re having trouble with the ATMs then here’s a guide to the Slovene you’ll see on screen. If you get a hangover then find out where to get paracetamol (and prescription drugs) in Ljubljana here, while details on emergency birth control can be found here.
Ljubljana is a small and relatively safe city, but if need to contact the police then there’s a special number for foreigners, and that’s 113.
Cinemas and films playing in Ljubljana this week
You can read about all the cinemas in town here, while a selection of what’s playing this week is below, and note that kid’s movies tend to be shown in dubbed versions, so do check before driving out to a multiplex and dropping off the young ones. That said, parents should pay attention to Kinobalon, which is Kinodvor's regular weekend series of film screenings and events for children, from babies on up, witrh special parent/child events, "first time in a cinema" screenings, and babysitting. Learn more about it here, and see the current schedule here. (And if you like watching trailers with subtitles as a way of learning Slovene, then catch up on some from earlier this year here and here).
As noted in the intro, the Ljubljana International Film Festival continues all week, with a long list of varied features, shorts, documentaries and works of fiction. You can see the official site and schedule here, and an overview along with some trailers here.
Kinodvor – The arts cinema not far from the train station, but still rather tucked away, is showing a lot of the LIFFe movies, including Jean-Luc Godard’s The Image Book, Shin'ichirô Ueda’s One Cut of the Dead, and Person to Person.
Kinoteka – The revival house at one end of Miklošičeva is showing a lot of movies from what was once Czechoslovakia as part of LIFFe, which will have Slovene subtitles. These include Spalovač mrtvol, Lásky jedné plavovlásky and Ecce homo Homolka. There’s also a series of films from Germany’s Christian Petzold, such as Barbara, Pheonix and Yella.
Komuna – The cinema in a basement behind Nama department store is giving itself over to LIFFe this week.
Clubbing in Ljubljana
Compared to some European capitals it can seem that nightlife in Ljubljana ends rather early, especially along the river, but there are still bars that stay open late and clubs were you can dance until dawn, and perhaps the best place to stumble across something interesting is the legendary Metelkova. Be aware it's a grungy kind of place and not for all tastes, but also that there's consideable variety to found within the various clubs there, from death metal to electropop, gay caberet to art noise. You can read "the rules" of the place here.
The biggest name of the week is Norman Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, an early-adopter of rave who’s been helping people rush on their pills for more than 20 years. This week he’s playing at the Ljubljana Exhibition & Convention Center, Saturday, at 23:00, with tickets here, and a great mix from 2001, below.
Channel Zero – Monday night is Dub Lab, this week with an event called Haris Pilton: Gipsy Side Of Dub No.10. Friday there’s another all-nighter, SUBØ: Bojler w/ Manara (UK), supported by a whole bunch of DJs, Manara (Night Slugs, BBC AZN Network / UK), cl_tr & Playboi Cati, Peglasus, Futon, and TMA, with the visuals provided by Smech. The week then ends on Saturday with Kung Fu Techno, with music from Glia, Illman, and Adamm and visuals from Mesec.
Gala Hala – Friday night there’s live and DJ’d rap with Rx:tx in Rapetek: RAS_G & the Afrikan Space Program ft. MC Kahil. Saturday it’s time to get your smiley face on with Rave Voyeur, with DJ Tolstoyed.
Klub Cirkus – The more kommercial end of klubland has two all-nighters this week. Friday there’s TRIP ft. Kosta Radman, while on Saturday it’s TUTTI Frutti: 90s & 00s Hits, with Matthew Z vs DJ Dey.
Klub K4 – Meanwhile, the klub for kool kids is also offering two all-nighters. On Friday the event is K4DNB w. Critical Sound, The Upbeats, Kasra, Misanthrop and others, playing drum’n’bass. Saturday you can then enjoy SOLVD w. Bronski.
In Metelkova news, psychiatric treatment has been recommended for the man who burned down Jalla Jalla, as reported here.
Photo: Neža Loštrek
Kurzschluss – Friday there’s an all-nighter, Cocoon with Sven Väthom, which is promising Ibiza in Ljubljana.
Drogart is an organization that aims to minimise harm on the party scene, and offers drug-testing services and reports on their webpage. It’s in Slovene, but you can Google translate it or work things out yourself. One thing they recently warned of were pink Pharaoh pills with around twice the normal MDMA content (measured at 261 mg). See pictures and learn more here, but do remember that all the usual drugs remain illegal in Slovenia, while our in-depth profile of the group is here. We've also heard increasing reports - albeit anecdotal - of women's drinks being spiked in the city, so take care and let friends know where you're going.
Things to do with children in Ljubljana
You can find our Top 12 list of things to do with kids in Ljubljana here. If want to read more about the philosophy behind the wonderful House of Experiments look here, while our trip to the Museum of Illusions is documented here, and there’s always riverside walks, ice cream and pizza.
Photo: JL Flanner
Fun facts about Ljubljana Castle
The city’s main tourist attraction is the Castle, and you’ll enjoy your visit a lot more if you know what you’re looking at, so take a look at our 25 Things to Know about Ljubljana Castle and learn, among other things, what the holes shown below were used for. Whjile
Photo: JL Flanner
LGBT+ Ljubljana
If you want to learn more about Ljubljana Pride, then take a look at our interview with its president here. If you're looking for more general links on "gay Slovenia", including a history of the scene and various projects, then you can find that here. We recently also published an interview with the LGBT activist and writer Suzana Tratnik, talking about - among other things - the occupation of Metelkova. The big event this week is probably Tuesday set of events focusing on transgender issues, starting at 15:00 in Argentina Park and ending up at Pritljiče, as noted below - details (in Slovene) here.
Klub Monokel – No events are being promoted this week, but that’s no reason not to head to this lesbian bar and see what’s happening on Friday night.
Klub Tiffany – The gay bar next door to Monokel is also open every Friday, and every Monday until June 2019 there's tango at 18:00.
Pritličje – This is the closest Ljubljana comes to a "gay bar" so it's a good thing this LGBT-friendly cafe / bar / events space is such a good one, and open from morning to night. You can read more about it here. This week, on Tuesday 18:00 to 19:00 there's Trans Mic, an open mic evening for the transgender community and their allies. This is then followed by a poetry and writing event at 20:00.
Museums and galleries in Ljubljana
Most public galleries and museums are closed on Mondays, although not the National Museum.
Ljubljana Castle has an exhibition on the history of dragons in Slovenia and around the world that runs until November 11, and there's plenty more to see and do when up there, including some nice walks in nature. Note that the bathroom is in the basement and rather difficult to find.
Plečnik's desk. Photo: JL Flanner
Plečnik’s House is worth a visit if you want to learn more about the architect who gave Ljubljana much of its character. Read about our guided tour here.
City Art Gallery –The gallery in the Old Town, just a few buildings down from City Hall (and thus near the beautiful, but fake, Robba Fountain), has a presentation at 19:00 Tuesday new show from Tuesday on “Calliope - In Corn We Trust”, a project by Maxime Berthou and Mark Pozlep that will start as a restoration of a traditional paddle steamer, to cruise the 1712 miles of the Mississippi River from it source in Minnesota to its mouth in Louisiana.
City Museum – The Museum in French Revolution Square has an exhibition on the writer Ivan Cankar that’s on until the end of February 2019, with pictures, books and manuscripts, all presented in Slovene and English. It also has a very interesting permanent exhibition on the history of Ljubljana, from prehistoric times to the present day, with many artefacts, models and so on that bring the story alive.You can read about my recent visit here. Until March 2019 there's a show highlighting the work Elza Kastl Obereigner (1884-1973), a pioneer Slovenian sculptress, with an example of her work shown below.
Photo: M Paternoster
The Faces of Ljubljana in the City Museum. Photo: JL Flanner
Galerija Vžigalica – Saša Spačal has a show here until January 6, 2019 called Earthlink, “working at the intersection of intermedia art, exploration of living systems and audio frequencies, links Earth to the post-human present, that includes both a seed of the future as well as a shadow of the past.” A promotional image is what's shown below.
International Centre of Graphic Arts – Running until November 11 is an exhibition of works by Riko Debenjak, including prints, drawings, paintings and illustrations.
Ljubljana Exhibition & Convention Centre – Just outside the centre of town, at Dunajska cesta 18, you can see a lot of plasticized bodies at the Body Worlds Vital show, running from October 20 until January 20 2019.
Photo: Body Works Vital
MAO – The Museum of Architecture and Design is showcasing Slovenian designers in a show called Made in Slovenia, lasting until the end of 2018: “The selling exhibition aims to present good practices of Slovenian designers and companies in the creative sector.” The same venue has an exhibition based on Slovenia’s Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, called “Living with Water”, and on until November 25.
Moderna galerija – The main branch of this gallery, to be found near the entrance to Tivoli Park, has a good collection of modern art, as well a nice café in the basement, and it's latest exhibition focuses on the photographer Stojan Kerbler, which runs until January 13, 2019, and shows rural live in Slovenia for the recent past.
Museum of Contemporary History – The museum in Tivoli Park has two new shows. One is called Museum's (R)evolution 1948-2018, marking the place's 70th anniversary with an exhibition tracing its evolution through artefacts, photographs and personal stories and running until January 6 2019 (details here). There's also In Search of Freedom: 1968-2018, looking at the 1968 student protests.
National Gallery – The country’s main gallery has “the best” of what’s on offer from the Middle Ages to non-contemporary modern visual arts, and is in a great location for exploring other areas, just by Tivoli Park and opposite the main branch of the Moderna galerija. Running until February 10 2019 is a show called Ivana Kobilca (1861-1926): But Of Course, Painting Is Something Beautiful!, featuring works like the one below. You can read about our visit to the room containing scared art from the Middle Ageshere, and see a picture from our trip after the two girls.
JL Flanner
National Museum of Slovenia – There’s plenty to see in the permanent collection here, from Roman times, Egypt and more, with the big draw this season being the exhibition of over 140 items of gold from Ming Dyntasy China, as reported here, and with an example below.
Photo: Wang Wei Chang
Meanwhile, the museum's Metelkova branch, located between one branch of the Moderna galerija and the Ethnographic Museum has some rooms on Church art, funiture and weapons, with the latter including more guns than you'll see anywhere else in town, and quite a thrill if coming from a nation where such objects are not household objects.
Slovene Ethnographic Museum – The museum currently has a temporary show on Bees and Beekeeping, as well two permanent exhibitions. One of these is called Between Nature and Culture, and has a great collection of objects from Slovenia and around the world, well worth the trip up to the third floor to see it (as recounted here). This place is located near the newer branch of the Moderna galerija and Metelkova.
Photo: JL Flanner
Union Experience – The Ljubljana-based brewer has a museum showing the history of the company, with the ticket also including access to part of the factory and a few samples of the product. You can read about our visit here.
It's not a formal museum, but if you're interested in "Yugo-stalgia" then you'll enjoy a trip to Verba, a small, privately run space that's crammed with objects and pop culture items from the era, and is conveniently located at the start of one of the short walks to the castle. It's also a great place to take pictures, if you leave a donation, and you can read more about it here.
Verba. Photo: JL Flanner
Alternative Ljubljana isn't a museum or gallery, as such, but instead turns the city streets into a museum and gallery. Learn more about their tours of street art, history and LGBT Ljubljanahere.
Photo: Alternative Ljubljana
Live music in Ljubljana
Cankerjev dom – Tuesday evening there’s live music from Teo Collori and Momento Cigano, which is being promoted with the following video.
Ljubljana Castle – Friday night is music night at the castle, and this week sees a show by Femi Temowo.
Orto Bar – Monday there’s a live show from Zeal & Ardor and NYOS, promising black metal, blues, gospel and soul. Tuesday you can then enjoy death metal with Aborted, Cryptopsy, Benighted, and Cytotoxin. Thursday there’s another Kadilnica of Death event, with live sets from Moshead and Amber Lilies.
Opera, theatre and dance in Ljubljana
Gledališče IGLU - IGLU Theatre – Saturday night this group is usually putting on an Englishimprov show somewhere in town, but it’s generally promoted after this is written, so check the Facebook before putting on your shoes.
Klub Gromka – Wednesday evening there’s music and dance in Metelkova with Za crknt: klovnovski mjuzikl. A clip from aan earlier, different show, is below.
Pocket Teater Studio – Friday this little venue offers A Sentimental Education - Songs and Stories, with Carlos Pascual on the microphone and Carlos Yoder on the piano. “Storytelling in English and songs in Spanish from the Latin American tradition in order to illuminate a world that seems completely gone.” Saturday there’s then an evening of music and dance for World Flamenco Day. Note this is a small place and tickets should be bought in advance.
SNG Opera and Ballet – Bizet’s Carmen will be staged Tuesday and Thursday , while Verdi’s Macbeth is here Wednesday and Friday.
FromNovember 2 to 30 there’s the Gourmet Ljubljana Festival, with a full programme of culinary events, as detailed here, as well as the St Martin's Daywine festival in the streets on Saturday, as noted in the intro.
If you'd like to spend an evening painting with others, then take a look at Design with Wine, which organises painting parties on Trubarjeva cesta,
Breg Embankment, just opposite the Old Town and by the river, has a small flea market open every Sunday morning. Learn more about it here.
If you can't make it to Breg on Sunday morning, but still want to see some antiques, then check out the wonderful Antika Carniola, as discussed here.
Photo: JL Flanner
If you’re in town and want to go jogging or walking in nature, why not take another look at the Castle, with a brief guide to the trails here. If you want something bigger, head to Tivoli Park.
And if you're bored with the Old Town, why not take a walk, cycle or boat ride to nearby Špica and enjoy the riverside life. Learn more about that here.
We love Trubarjeva cesta, and last week we published an interview with Alja Hafner Taha, who runs a Lebanese restaurant on the street. You can read more about that here, and enjoy some of the warm and colourful pictures from the places below, all of them sourced from Libanonske meze in drugi užitki.
STA, 9 November - The 25-year-old man who set a popular club at the Metelkova alternative culture centre in Ljubljana on fire in June has been ordered by court to undergo psychiatric treatment. He will remain in custody until the decision becomes final.
Jalla Jalla went up in flames in the early hours on 6 June after the perpetrator had set the club's porch on fire, which spread quickly to completely destroy the club, causing some EUR 50,000 in damage.
The fire also spread to the roofing of the adjoined building, but firefighters contained it before it could do serious damage to the woodworking workshop in the building.
Psychiatrist Branko Brinšek, an expert witness in the case, has told the Ljubljana District Court that the perpetrator had been in a state of diminished capacity during the act due to a personality disorder and drug addiction.
The court thus could not order a prison sentence, sending the man instead for psychiatric treatment in a secure institution on a proposal from the prosecution.
The newspaper Delo reported that the 25-year-old told the court on Thursday that "I want to change myself and my life" and that he had wanted to cause only minor damage as he had been angry at the people running the club.
"When the fire spread, I panicked. I did not have a phone on me and I went towards the nearest restaurant to call the police," he was quoted by the paper.
Andrejo Boršič, who represented the affected party, said that the perpetrator had threatened those operating the club even before the fire, including with a cold weapon.
According to the media, the perpetrator returned to Metelkova two days after the arson after being released from a psychiatric hospital. He reportedly bragged about setting the club on fire and continued with the threats.
Jalla Jalla has been undergoing renovation works and is expected to be opened soon.
St. Martins Day or martinovanje is the Slovenian (and Croatian) harvest festival, mostly focused on wine, although a roasted bird shouldn't be missing from a festive table, preferably duck or goose, whose patron St. Martin is. One of the stories explaining this patronage points to St. Martin’s Day, November 11th, coinciding with the time of the geese migration, presumably, to avoid being eaten.
Concluding from its name, one might thing martinovanje was a Christian holiday. However, the purpose and decadent mode of its celebration reveals that it is actually one of those pagan festivals that the church tried but failed to incorporate into its own holiday cannon. Just like Mardi Gras, which celebrates the end of winter and the beginning of the farming season, maritnovanje is a harvest festival celebrated by drinking, eating and misbehaving, which includes poking fun at authorities, mainly the clergy.
The most popular Slovenian wine festival
The common wisdom of martinovanje is that on this day the saint turns must (grape juice) into wine. Now this does not just happen on its own. The must first needs to be cleared of all the sins which make it cloudy and only then can it turn into clear wine.
The “baptising of must” is usually performed by the owner of the cellar or any other local character who dresses up as a priest, bishop or even a cardinal and performs a ”ritual” that concludes with the communal young wine tasting. Below you can watch an opulent Catholic example, followed by a much more modest, probably Protestant version of the ceremony:
The day will be celebrated in towns, vineyards and homes all over Slovenia this weekend, with the main event in Ljubljana,happening in the centre of town on Saturday (the 10th), while there are also major celebrations in Maribor,- home of the world’s oldest vine, Nova Gorica, the Karst, Brda, and Koper.
Slovenian History: “Life for Tsar” Exhibition Reveals Work of Russian POWs During WW1
STA, 8 November 2018 - The Park of Military History in Pivka has marked the centenary of the end of World War One with an exhibition on Russian prisoners of war, whom Austro-Hungarian authorities brought to Slovenian lands to work on a number of infrastructure projects.
Speakers at Thursday's ceremony preceding the exhibition were unanimous in saying that it sheds light on a chapter of national history that is yet to be fully researched.
Janko Boštjančič, the museum's director, said "Life for Tsar" tried to fill a void in events marking the centenary of World War One in Slovenia by highlighting the fate of tens of thousands of Russian POWs on Slovenian territory.
This comprehensive exhibition, the first of its kind, offers a number of photos, videos and documents from that period, giving visitors insight into the lives of the POWs.
Boštjančič stressed the PWOs had been brought here to work on a number of infrastructure projects behind the Isonzo Front line and further inland, especially railways and roads.
And due to a general lack of workforce - many Slovenian men were fighting on fronts abroad - the POWs also helped farmers and worked in forests, coal mines or factories.
With the Russian Chapel being the main symbol of the Russian POWs' hardships in Slovenia, the exhibition features a scale model of the chapel as the main artefact.
Predsednik republike je danes slovesno otvoril razstavo "Življenje za c(es)arja" v Parku vojaške zgodovine Pivka. pic.twitter.com/TXgpY2Pn9O
Boštjančič symbolically thanked all the Russian POWs for all they had contributed to Slovenia, noting that without being aware of it, we still use some of the infrastructure they had built, mentioning for instance "a Russian road" in the Pivka region.
Delivering the keynote, Evgen Bavčar, a France-based Slovenian photographer and philosopher, pointed to "the ethical need to remember" the overlooked chapters of our past, including the Russian POWs as well as many Slovenian soldiers who had often fought for other nations.
"When we focus on POWs, we defend the civilisational norm of remembering," he said, adding "those we were killed should be given the honour of memory and history" and should have their dignity restored.
Bavčar urged President Borut Pahor as the supreme commander of the Slovenian Armed Forces, who later opened the exhibition, to erect memorials to those fellow countrymen who had fought in foreign armies.
The museum has put up the exhibition in collaboration with Slovenia's Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Kidričevo History Association.
The show is based on a comprehensive study the institute's Centre for Preventive Archaeology has carried out over the past few years, identifying almost 400 locations associated with Russian POWs in Slovenia.
The last in a series of the museum's events marking the centenary of WWI, the exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive digital catalogue, which is also expected to be published in print by the end of the year.
We got an invite to the Ljubljana Fashion Week last Monday, which reminded us one more time of a field we should perhaps cover more often, not just because it represents one of the biggest industries in the world, but also an elusive sphere of aesthetics which constantly raises questions of power and influence.
Ljubljana Fashion Week (link) opened with Matea Benedetti luxury garments, but surprisingly the audience area remained half empty and slowly filled up till the middle of all 14 presentations, when we were finally kicked off the first row and thereby from our substandard camera's reach. So before we head to some general questions with regard to the latest changes in the industry as a whole, let's replace those few clumsy words of fashion lingua we know with some pictures worth thousands of words that turned out not too blurry to illustrate some of the looks on the catwalk:
Many things have changed since the process of Europe’s transformation from a continent of various national costumes into one that follows the latest fashion trends was completed by the end of the 18th century, with the spread of printed engravings of the latest Paris fashions.
In 1858 the first haute couture house opened its doors in Paris, to serve the needs of the conspicuous lifestyle of the new leisure class that has emerged from the rapid industrialization. This new class behaviour was analysed by Thorstein Veblen, who in his 1899 Theory of the Leisure Class observed how the conspicuous consumption and wasteful expenditure of the upper class served as a tool by which its members distinguish themselves from the uniform-wearing working people beneath them. Interestingly, Veblen notes that many of the traits associated with the fashions of the upper classes can be traced to the lowest non-working class of delinquents, which rose up from the very bottom of society, with their moral transgressions often forgiven as long as their consumerist behaviours displayed some “taste”.
One of the biggest changes which transformed the fashion industry from providing luxury to the rich to selling perfumes and handbags to the masses occurred due to the Japanese financial bubble, which spurred demand for the European luxury items. The solution was found in economies of scale, which results in the loss of prestige of the garments and therefore their potential to serve the function of conspicuous consumerism. Instead, the fashion industry became more of marketing business, and fashion shows, building on the outrage of their delinquency, turned into advertising campaigns for items such as perfumes and handbags, offered to the middle class. In terms of actual clothes, the big luxury brands now struggle in keeping their market share from the cheap copy-cat brands of fast fashion, such as H&M or Zara.
Another change occurred with the onset of the smartphone and social media tools, as control over brand marketing has been consistently moving away from fashion shows and fashion editors towards a group of amateurs called influencers and people famous for simply being famous. This was quite evident also by the most important members of the audience at the LJFW: young girls with phones, who got their seats in the first row presumably due to the number of followers on their Instagram accounts.
But what we really want to know and have failed to find an answer to, is how the designers and their cloths are actually doing in the market? Do they sell? What is an average survival rate of a brand, what are the average losses? We have seen quite a few interesting garments in the shows we watched, it would be a pity to learn that the first people going out of business in this celebration of vanity are those who are truly creative.
Hopefully we’ll learn a bit more at the next event that is taking place at the end of this month, that is Ljubljana Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, which will be on November 24 and 25.
The use of herbal medicine is widespread in Slovenia, and on visits to friends in rural areas you’ll often encounter drying rooms or tables covered with leaves and flowers, the specimens gathered from gardens or the wild, to be later stored in jars and turned into teas for various ailments, or left to soak in alcohol for a certain pick-me-up.
If you don’t know anyone who can give you some of the products of such work, or lack the confidence to be your own herbalist, then you can always buy a supply of dried plants material from a professional, like Terezija Nikolič. You can see Ms. Nikolič at work in this short documentary from 2010, in Slovene and with English subtitles, which focuses on her selling herbal remedies in Ljubljana market (with the stall still there today, by the entrance to the fish market).
While we have every respect for the empirical knowledge of grandmothers, the repositories of inherited wisdom, readers interested in a more scholarly approach to the subject might be interested in this survey study, “Folk use of medicinal plants in Karst and Gorjanci, Slovenia” (2017), written by Mateja Lumpert and Samo Kreft and published in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. This interviews a total of 50 subjects, 25 from each area, and examines their use of medical plants – which ones, what parts are used, how the plants is consumed, and for what ailments. As the abstract says:
Information on the use of medicinal plants in Karst and Gorjanci is not available in the literature, but collection of plants is still an important and widespread practice in these regions. Karst and Gorjanci are two remote regions in Slovenia that are only 120 km apart but have different climates; one region is close to the Italian border, and the other is near the Croatian border. Our aim was to report and compare the use of medicinal plants in both regions.
…A total of 78 and 82 taxa were reported in Karst and Gorjanci, respectively; 65 taxa were reported in both regions….
While the whole article is of interest, those wishing to cut to jump to the plants in question should take a look at Table 3 (here), where you’ll learn, among other things, that stinging nettles, (Urtica dioica), in Slovene kopriva, are used as a “diuretic, to cleanse blood and body, spring and autumn cleansing, counteracts rheumatism, good for the stomach, to cleanse skin, to heal acne, laxative, treatment of diabetes hair loss, hard skin, and tired legs”, and can be consumed in a variety of ways, including soup (with our recipe here).
Readers with a more statistical bent will be interested in Table 4, which presents a list of the plants used in Slovenian folk medicine as reported by at least three respondents in Karst or Gorjanci, with their frequency, rank and Smith’s salience index, where we find that elderberry (Sambucus nigra) is the most commonly used plant in both areas.
For those interested in the ethno- side of ethnobotany, Table 9 reports where the informants learned about medicinal plants, and while oral sources still predominate over books, grandmothers lose out to the top source, mothers.
Finally, and with the warning that most species of wolf's bane (Aconitum) are considered poisonous, we'll note a paper with the title "Rare tradition of the folk medicinal use of Aconitum spp. is kept alive in Solčavsko, Slovenia", published in 2017 in the Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine by Marija Povšnar, Gordana Koželj, Samo Kreft and Mateja Lumpert, and available in full here.
STA, 7 November 2018 - The Left has tabled a minimum wage bill determining a new formula for setting the minimum wage as of 2021, and the rates for 2019 and 2020. The legislation has already been endorsed in principle by all coalition parties.
Under the proposal, the minimum wage, which currently stands at EUR 638.42 net, will rise to EUR 667 next year and to EUR 700 in 2020.
The minimum wage is currently determined by the minister in charge of labour based on inflation and, optionally, other macroeconomic trends.
Under the new formula to enter into effect as of 2021, the minimum wage will have to exceed the minimum living costs by at least 20%, which would currently net workers EUR 736 a month, the Left's leader Luka Mesec told the press on Wednesday.
According to him, the formula ensures that "all those who work eight hours a day will no longer scrape by at the poverty line, as they have so far".
The Left also wants all the bonuses determined by law and collective bargaining agreements excluded from the minimum wage and paid separately as of 2019, but the exact date is yet to be harmonised.
The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities proposes 2020 as the year for excluding the bonuses.
"Bonuses will be excluded, it's a fact. The question is just what the most appropriate date is," Mesec said.
While all coalition parties have endorsed the bill, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) yesterday voiced some concerns, including about using the new formula.
But Mesec dismissed these concerns, saying that "apparently they are not in line with their own ministry, which has backed the formula in its expert opinion".
According to him, the ministry said in its opinion that the formula determines a sensible balance between the income of working people and the income of inactive population.
Mesec also refuted the SMC's concern that the bill was not discussed with social partners, noting that it had been agreed with the prime minister the bill would be discussed at the Economic and Social Council, the country's main industrial relations forum.
Addressing concerns about the impact on the budget, Mesec added that it is "virtually neutral, because higher pay in public and private sectors mean more tax receipts."
The Labour Ministry's data show that around 42,000 people, of which nearly 35,000 are in the private sector, currently receive minimum wage.
However, the rise of the minimum wage in January as proposed in the bill will in fact affect around 70,000 workers, Mesec said.
Significant minimum wage increases planned in new bill (adds)
reaction from SDS in final 4 para
Ljubljana, 7 November - The Left has tabled a minimum wage bill determining a new formula for setting the minimum wage as of 2021, and the rates for 2019 and 2020. The legislation has already been endorsed in principle by all coalition parties.
Under the proposal, the minimum wage, which currently stands at EUR 638.42 net, will rise to EUR 667 next year and to EUR 700 in 2020.
The minimum wage is currently determined by the minister in charge of labour based on inflation and, optionally, other macroeconomic trends.
Under the new formula to enter into effect as of 2021, the minimum wage will have to exceed the minimum living costs by at least 20%, which would currently net workers EUR 736 a month, the Left's leader Luka Mesec told the press on Wednesday.
According to him, the formula ensures that "all those who work eight hours a day will no longer scrape by at the poverty line, as they have so far".
The Left also wants all the bonuses determined by law and collective bargaining agreements excluded from the minimum wage and paid separately as of 2019, but the exact date is yet to be harmonised.
The Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities proposes 2020 as the year for excluding the bonuses.
"Bonuses will be excluded, it's a fact. The question is just what the most appropriate date is," Mesec said.
While all coalition parties have endorsed the bill, the Modern Centre Party (SMC) yesterday voiced some concerns, including about using the new formula.
But Mesec dismissed these concerns, saying that "apparently they are not in line with their own ministry, which has backed the formula in its expert opinion".
According to him, the ministry said in its opinion that the formula determines a sensible balance between the income of working people and the income of inactive population.
Mesec also refuted the SMC's concern that the bill was not discussed with social partners, noting that it had been agreed with the prime minister the bill would be discussed at the Economic and Social Council, the country's main industrial relations forum.
Addressing concerns about the impact on the budget, Mesec added that it is "virtually neutral, because higher pay in public and private sectors mean more tax receipts."
The Labour Ministry's data show that around 42,000 people, of which nearly 35,000 are in the private sector, currently receive minimum wage.
However, the rise of the minimum wage in January as proposed in the bill will in fact affect around 70,000 workers, Mesec said.
In response to the proposal, the opposition Democratic Party (SDS) said the current system of the minimum wage, base pay and collective bargaining agreements was opaque, proposing a minimum hourly rate instead.
The party filed for an emergency session of the parliamentary Labour Committee, proposing it to call on the government to conduct, together with social partners, an analysis of what the introduction of such an hourly rate would mean and report back to the committee within 30 days.
The SDS also proposes for the committee to call a public debate on the proposal within 30 days, inviting representatives of employers and employees and other persons that could offer useful information.
The party argues that under the current system "workers never know when their labour rights are violated or cannot or would not afford lengthy court proceedings". They believe an hourly rate would be fairer.
STA, 7 November - The silver screen will reign supreme in the social life of Slovenia's capital over the next 12 days as the annual Ljubljana International Film festival (LIFFe) gets under way at Cankarjev Dom tonight.
The 29th LIFFe will open with the documentary Sing Me a Song, Miran Zupanič's portrait of Vlado Kreslin, the popular Slovenian singer-songwriter.
Ten films by up-and-coming directors will be in the running for the main award, the Kingfisher, to be conferred by an international judging panel.
According to the festival's artistic director, Simon Popek, the ten films to be screened in the Perspectives section this year are very communicative, offering satirized takes on reality.
The cases in point include Woman at War by Benedikt Erlingsson, The Load by Ognjen Glavonić and Little White Lie by Tomas Alzamora.
The festival will see several Slovenian films, including Urša Menart's My Last Year as a Loser in the Perspectives section.
The closing film, Winter Flies is an award-winning road movie by Olmo Omerzu, the Slovenian director who lives and works in the Czech Republic.
The festival will pay homage to German director Christian Petzold, who will be in Ljubljana for the occasion.
The retrospective section will be dedicated to the Czech New Wave, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring and the death of two key protagonists of the wave - Miloš Forman and Juraj Herz.
Keep up with the latest movies playing in the capital with our weekly What’s on in Ljubljana guides, while parents will be pleased to learn about Kinobalon, Kinodvor’s programme for children (including babies and toddlers)
The East by Northeast section will see films by directors from former Soviet republics, including Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan.
The Avant-Premieres section will include The House that Jack Built, the latest film by Lars von Trier, and Utoya - July 22, Erika Poppe's single-take reconstruction of the killing spree carried out by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik.
Also screened will be films by Jean-Luc Godard, Gaspar Noe, Luca Guadagnino, Kiril Serebrenikov, Yorgos Lanthimos, Jafar Panahi and Claire Denis.
Apart from the Kingfisher, several other awards will be given out at the closing ceremony on 17 November, including the audience's award, the award for best short film and the FIPRESCI award.
The films will be screened at several venues in Ljubljana as well as in Maribor, Novo Mesto and Celje until 18 November.
The LIFFe website, in English and with all the details of the screenings, can be found here
STA, 5 November 2018 - A study presented in the capital on Monday shows that apartments in Ljubljana are becoming increasingly out of reach for an average household due to several factors. The average age of apartments is increasing, as there are too few new housing projects, while the rental market is unregulated, the authors of the study warned.
Carried out by the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute of Spatial and Housing Policies, the survey is based on statistical data, an on-line survey and interviews with experts in real estate.
It shows that the average age of apartments is increasing and becoming inadequate considering the structure of the population, as the number of single or two-member households is going up due to the population ageing.
Despite this fact, the prices of apartments in Ljubljana continue to grow and apartments are becoming increasingly hard to afford.
According to the study, the prices are growing at a faster pace than wages, with the average prices increasing by 26% in the 2011-2017 period, and wages increasing only by 5%.
Špela Perner of the institute noted that in 2014, 84 average monthly wages were needed to buy a 50-square metre apartment in Ljubljana, with his number increasing to 101 in 2017.
Only 16% of the apartments in the capital were built after 1991 and an average resident of Ljubljana has less usable living space than the average Slovenian.
More than half of the 900 surveyed people would like to live in a different apartment, mostly because they believe their apartments are too small, they want to be independent from other household members, because they are too expensive or inadequate.
The study also shows that apartment construction significantly lags behind the growth of population. Between 2008 and 2017, the number of residents in Ljubljana was up by 15,500, while the number of apartments was up by 3,300.
16,000 too few apartments in Ljubljana
The authors have estimated that the apartment shortage in Ljubljana in 2025 will stand at 16,000, noting that the local authorities have not been investing enough funds in housing, even though they invested more than other municipalities do.
The number of non-profit apartments is also too low considering the number of people eligible, with the local authorities being forced to subsidise the leasing of such apartments at a 40% rate.
The authors have thus recommended to the Ljubljana Municipality to demand from the state to take certain measures, including additional taxation of empty apartments and stricter supervision of the rental market.
The municipality should earmark more funds for the construction of public non-profit apartments, support the development of housing cooperatives and prevent apartments becoming an investment, including by limiting short-term rentals to tourists.
One answer to the question “What’s on in Ljubljana this week?” is Martinovanje / St Martin’s Day / the Ljubljana Wine Road, joining events taking place across Slovenia at the end of the week to celebrate the year’s new wine. In the capital these will happen around the Old Town of Ljubljana from 10:00 to 17:00 on Saturday, with producers from all the wine-growing regions of Slovenia, along with food and performers. In order to taste wine by the glass you’ll need to buy or rent an official wine glass at the Info stands, where you can also buy coupons for purchases.
Another big event this week starts on Wednesday, and that’s LIFFe, the Ljubljana International Film Festival, which runs until November 18th and offers a long list of varied features, shorts, documentaries and works of fiction. You can see the official site and schedule here.
As ever, clicking on the venue names in the list below should get you more details with regard to the time, price and location, as well as other events on this week in the same place. Finally, if there's something you want to promote in a future edition of What's on in Ljubljana please get in touch with me at flanner(at)total-slovenia-news.com
Getting around Ljubljana
If you want to get a Ljubljana Tourist Card, which gives you travel on the city buses and entry to a lot of attractions, then you can read more about that here, and if you want to use the bike share system, as useful for visitors as it is for residents, then you can learn more by clicking this. Visitors with reduced mobility will be pleased to find that downtown Ljubljana is generally rated as good with regard to accessibility, and that there’s a free, city-sponsored app called Ljubljana by Wheelchair highlighting cafés, attractions and so on with ramps, disabled bathrooms and Eurokey facilities, which you can read about and download here. If you’re driving into town and don’t know where to part, our guide to how to park in Ljubljana is here.
The city’s main tourist attraction is the Castle, and you’ll enjoy your visit a lot more if you know what you’re looking at, so take a look at our 25 Things to Know about Ljubljana Castle and learn, among other things, why Rome lives on in it’s walls.
Want / need cigarettes but the stores have closed? Here's an incomplete list of bars downtown that will satisfy your craving for the demon weed. While if you’re having trouble with the ATMs then here’s a guide to the Slovene you’ll see on screen. If you get a hangover then find out where to get paracetamol (and prescription drugs) in Ljubljana here, while details on emergency birth control can be found here.
Ljubljana is a small and relatively safe city, but if need to contact the police then there’s a special number for foreigners, and that’s 113.
Cinemas and films playing in Ljubljana this week
You can read about all the cinemas in town here, while a selection of what’s playing this week is below, and note that kid’s movies tend to be shown in dubbed versions, so do check before driving out to a multiplex and dropping off the young ones. That said, parents should pay attention to Kinobalon, which is Kinodvor's regular weekend series of film screenings and events for children, from babies on up, witrh special parent/child events, "first time in a cinema" screenings, and babysitting. Learn more about it here, and see the current schedule here. (And if you like watching trailers with subtitles as a way of learning Slovene, then catch up on some from earlier this year here and here).
As noted in the intro, the Ljubljana International Film Festival starts on Wednesday, with a long list of varied features, shorts, documentaries and works of fiction. You can see the official site and schedule here.
Kinodvor – The arts cinema not far from the train station, but still rather tucked away, showing, among other features, The Children Act, Cold War, Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe, and Jusqu'à la garde. For children there’s The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, albeit in a dubbed version.
Kinoteka – The revival house at one end of Miklošičeva is showing, among features, a number of classics from Czechoslovakia, such as Černy Petr, Nejkrásnější věk, O slavnosti a hostech, Ostře sledované vlaky, Ecce homo Homolka, Lásky jedné plavovlásky, Hoří, má panenko, Rozmarné léto and Spalovač mrtvol.
Kolosej – The multiplex out at BTC City Mall is playing all the big movies, which this week include Bohemian Rhapsody, Hunter Killer, Halloween, Hell Fest, Johnny English 3, Posledice, The Children Act, Venom, A Star is Born, Gajin svet, Night School, Mamma Mia! 2 and The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Starting Tuesday you can enjoy The Girl in the Spider's Web, while from Wednesday on there’s Overlord.
Komuna – The cinema in a basement behind Nama department store is showing Bohemian Rhapsody, Johnny English 3, and A Star is Born.
Clubbing in Ljubljana
Compared to some European capitals it can seem that nightlife in Ljubljana ends rather early, but there are still bars that stay open late and clubs were you can dance until dawn, and perhaps the best place to stumble across something interesting is the legendary Metelkova. Be aware it's a grungy kind of place and not for all tastes, but also that there's consideable variety to found within the various clubs there, from death metal to electropop, gay caberet to art noise. You can read "the rules" of the place here.
Channel Zero – Monday night is Dub Lab, this week with an event called Domaćica Original. Friday is an all-nighter called Everything GOES with DJs Rope, Jerry, Sunneh, Fogy, and Stojc. Then on Saturday there’s drum’n’bass with DJs Dub_Tone, Fornax, Trdee,Yoo Ron, Yaa, and Rak3ta.
Gala Hala – Friday there’s funk with Zeleno Sonce #118: Jesenski ogenj, as played by DJs Kool S and Udo Brenner. The on Saturday there’s Versus: Shekuza / Roli, playing what I think will be techno.
Klub Cirkus – Plan your outfit for Friday for an all-nighter called BLACK MOON – Black Light Gathering #3, with the glowing colours being moved to the sounds of dance, future house, edm, house, r&b, hip hop, and trap. Then on Saturday it’s house music with Housekeeping: PEZNT ft. Who Am I? VIP Experience.
Klub K4 – The klub 4 kool kids that’s entwined with the history of electronic music in Ljubljana has two nights this week. On Friday there’s K4x4 w/ Ichisan, Stascha & Past Present, with a shimmering mix from Ichisan below. Saturday there’s the intriguingly named 666 Trillity 666, playing trap, memphis rap, chopped n screwed, and phonk (sic) from Bor$aleano, Cookie and Some1Else.
Harm reduction and drug testing
Drogart is an organization that aims to minimise harm on the party scene, and offers drug-testing services and reports on their webpage. It’s in Slovene, but you can Google translate it or work things out yourself. One thing they recently warned of were pink Pharaoh pills with around twice the normal MDMA content (measured at 261 mg). See pictures and learn more here, but do remember that all the usual drugs remain illegal in Slovenia, while our in-depth profile of the group is here. We've also heard increasing reports - albeit anecdotal - of women's drinks being spiked in the city, so take care and let friends know where you're going.
Things to do with children in Ljubljana
You can find our Top 12 list of things to do with kids in Ljubljana here. If want to read more about the philosophy behind the wonderful House of Experiments look here, while our trip to the Museum of Illusions is documented here, and there’s always riverside walks, ice cream and pizza.
Photo: JL Flanner
Fun facts about Ljubljana Castle
The city’s main tourist attraction is the Castle, and you’ll enjoy your visit a lot more if you know what you’re looking at, so take a look at our 25 Things to Know about Ljubljana Castle and learn, among other things, what the holes shown below were used for.
Photo: JL Flanner
LGBT+ Ljubljana
If you want to learn more about Ljubljana Pride, then take a look at our interview with its president here. If you're looking for more general links on "gay Slovenia", including a history of the scene and various projects, then you can find that here. We recently also published an interview with the LGBT activist and writer Suzana Tratnik, talking about - among other things - the occupation of Metelkova.
Klub Monokel – No events are being promoted this week, but that’s no reason not to head to this lesbian bar and see what’s happening on Friday night.
Klub Tiffany – The gay bar next door to Monokel is also open every Friday, but this week there’s also a very special Thursday event, from 20:00 to 23:00, Kavarniški večer: Salome, featuring Slovenia’s most famous transgender personality.
Pritličje – This is the closest Ljubljana comes to a "gay bar" so it's a good thing this LGBT-friendly cafe / bar / events space is such a good one, and open from morning to night. You can read more about it here.
Museums and galleries in Ljubljana
Most public galleries and museums are closed on Mondays, although not the National Museum.
Ljubljana Castle has an exhibition on the history of dragons in Slovenia and around the world that runs until November 11, and there's plenty more to see and do when up there, including some nice walks in nature. Note that the bathroom is in the basement and rather difficult to find.
Plečnik's desk. Photo: JL Flanner
Plečnik’s House is worth a visit if you want to learn more about the architect who gave Ljubljana much of its character. Read about our guided tour here.
The Balassi Institute (The Cultural Centre of the Embassy of Hungary) – This is at Barvarska steza 8, Ljubljana, not far from Dragon Bridge, and until November 9 you can see a show with works from Igor Andjelic (1961) from Slovenia, Dénesa Farkasa (1974) from Estonia and Hungary and Pétra Mátyásija (1982) from Hungary.
Cankerjev dom – Running until the end of February 2019 is an exhibition titled Ivan Cankar and Europe: Between Shakespeare and Kafka. This is “An examination of Cankar’s art through an analysis of influences and interpretations, and juxtaposition with contemporary European writers. The visually elaborate architectural and graphic layout, supported by audio-visual media, installation art and diverse visual highlights, offers a vivid account of Cankar’s excellence, his comprehensively exquisite aesthetic and artistic vision.”
City Art Gallery –Tadej Pogačar’s CODE:RED project will be presented here until November 4, including documentary material, texts, interviews, videos, photographs, and newspapers. It’s being promoted with the following image.
CODE:RED Venice, Red umbrella march, public action, 49th Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art, Venice, 2001 / on the picture: Carol Leigh
City Museum – The Museum in French Revolution Square has an exhibition on the writer Ivan Cankar that’s on until the end of February 2019, with pictures, books and manuscripts, all presented in Slovene and English. It also has a very interesting permanent exhibition on the history of Ljubljana, from prehistoric times to the present day, with many artefacts, models and so on that bring the story alive.You can read about my recent visit here. Until March 2019 there's a show highlighting the work Elza Kastl Obereigner (1884-1973), a pioneer Slovenian sculptress, with an example of her work shown below.
Photo: M Paternoster
The Faces of Ljubljana in the City Museum. Photo: JL Flanner
International Centre of Graphic Arts – Running until November 11 is an exhibition of works by Riko Debenjak, including prints, drawings, paintings and illustrations.
Ljubljana Exhibition & Convention Centre – Just outside the centre of town, at Dunajska cesta 18, you can see a lot of plasticized bodies at the Body Worlds Vital show, running from October 20 until January 20 2019.
Photo: Body Works Vital
MAO – The Museum of Architecture and Design is showcasing Slovenian designers in a show called Made in Slovenia, lasting until the end of 2018: “The selling exhibition aims to present good practices of Slovenian designers and companies in the creative sector.” The same venue has an exhibition based on Slovenia’s Pavilion at the 16th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, called “Living with Water”, and on until November 25.
Moderna galerija – The main branch of this gallery, to be found near the entrance to Tivoli Park, has a good collection of modern art, as well a nice café in the basement, and it's latest exhibition focuses on the photographer Stojan Kerbler, which runs until January 13, 2019, and shows rural live in Slovenia for the recent past.
Museum of Contemporary History – The museum in Tivoli Park has two new shows. One is called Museum's (R)evolution 1948-2018, marking the place's 70th anniversary with an exhibition tracing its evolution through artefacts, photographs and personal stories and running until January 6 2019 (details here). There's also In Search of Freedom: 1968-2018, looking at the 1968 student protests.
National Gallery – The country’s main gallery has “the best” of what’s on offer from the Middle Ages to non-contemporary modern visual arts, and is in a great location for exploring other areas, just by Tivoli Park and opposite the main branch of the Moderna galerija. Running until February 10 2019 is a show called Ivana Kobilca (1861-1926): But Of Course, Painting Is Something Beautiful!, featuring works like the one below. You can read about our visit to the room containing scared art from the Middle Ageshere, and see a picture from our trip after the two girls.
JL Flanner
National Museum of Slovenia – There’s plenty to see in the permanent collection here, from Roman times, Egypt and more, with the big draw this season being the exhibition of over 140 items of gold from Ming Dyntasy China, as reported here, and with an example below.
Photo: Wang Wei Chang
Meanwhile, the museum's Metelkova branch, located between one branch of the Moderna galerija and the Ethnographic Museum has some rooms on Church art, funiture and weapons, with the latter including more guns than you'll see anywhere else in town, and quite a thrill if coming from a nation where such objects are not household objects.
Slovene Ethnographic Museum – The museum currently has a temporary show on Bees and Beekeeping, as well two permanent exhibitions. One of these is called Between Nature and Culture, and has a great collection of objects from Slovenia and around the world, well worth the trip up to the third floor to see it (as recounted here). This place is located near the newer branch of the Moderna galerija and Metelkova.
Photo: JL Flanner
Union Experience – The Ljubljana-based brewer has a museum showing the history of the company, with the ticket also including access to part of the factory and a few samples of the product. You can read about our visit here.
It's not a formal museum, but if you're interested in "Yugo-stalgia" then you'll enjoy a trip to Verba, a small, privately run space that's crammed with objects and pop culture items from the era, and is conveniently located at the start of one of the short walks to the castle. It's also a great place to take pictures, if you leave a donation, and you can read more about it here.
Verba. Photo: JL Flanner
Alternative Ljubljana isn't a museum or gallery, as such, but instead turns the city streets into a museum and gallery. Learn more about their tours of street art, history and LGBT Ljubljanahere.
Photo: Alternative Ljubljana
Live music in Ljubljana
Cankerjev dom – Tuesday, 20:30, there’s a show from Secret Chiefs 3, part of a series curated by John Zorn, which we’ll use as an excuse to slip in Little Bittern (and to note that the man himself will be in town summer 2019, headlining the Ljubljana Jazz Festival).
Channel Zero – Thursday you can enjoy post-industrial noise from Australia’s Kollaps.
>
Klub Gromka – Wednesday, starting at 20:30, a silent movie (Aelita – Queen of Mars) will be accompanied by live music from Marc Ribot, as played on acoustic and electric guitars. Friday night there’s change in mood, with a live show from Ruinas, MatraK AttaKK, and Ascidie, with the headlining act offering “misanthropic stenchcore crust” from Argentina. Forewarned is forearmed, so check out the third video below.
Kino Šiška – Monday there’s RE_HUMANIZACIJA V, from 20:00 on, playing “interdisciplinary sonic works that are the result of the vision of the youngest generation of Slovenian musicians” – details here.
Ljubljana Castle – Friday night is music night at the Castle, and this week sees a show from Nas3, as hear below.
Orto Bar – Thursday there’s live death metal from Beyond Creation, Gorod, Entheos, and Brought by Pain. Friday there’s then another Kadilnica of Death event, with SkyEye, Hangar 55, and Sketne. Saturday there’s then a Muse tribute band by the name of GeMÜSE.
Slovenska filharmonija – Thursday and Friday you can hear the orchestra lead by the conductor Dmitrij Liss and playing along with Duo GrauSchumacher on the piano. The music will be Messiaen, Poulenc and Tchaikovsky.
Tivoli Hall – Sunday night the Pink Floyd tribute band, Brit Floyd, are coming to town. You can get tickets here and get some idea of how good they are below.
Opera, theatre and dance in Ljubljana
Gledališče IGLU - IGLU Theatre – Saturday night this group is usually putting on an Englishimprov show somewhere in town, but it’s generally promoted after this is written, so check the Facebook before putting on your shoes.
SNG Opera and Ballet – Thursday, Friday and Saturday you can enjoy ballet from Kompozicija in a show called Moški z nožem , while on Sunday there’s Madame Butterfly.
Slovensko mladinsko gledališče – Tuesday and Wednesday evening you can see a stage performance of Lar von Trier’s Idiots, as presented with English surtitles.
Other things to do in Ljubljana...
Open Kitchen is now over, but from November 2 to 30 there’s the Gourmet Ljubljana Festival, with a full programme of culinary events, as detailed here, as well as the St Martin's Daywine festival in the streets on Saturday, as noted in the intro.
If you'd like to spend an evening painting with others, then take a look at Design with Wine, which organises painting parties on Trubarjeva cesta,
Breg Embankment, just opposite the Old Town and by the river, has a small flea market open every Sunday morning. Learn more about it here.
If you can't make it to Breg on Sunday morning, but still want to see some antiques, then check out the wonderful Antika Carniola, as discussed here.
Photo: JL Flanner
If you’re in town and want to go jogging or walking in nature, why not take another look at the Castle, with a brief guide to the trails here. If you want something bigger, head to Tivoli Park.
And if you're bored with the Old Town, why not take a walk, cycle or boat ride to nearby Špica and enjoy the riverside life. Learn more about that here.
If you want to try some interesting candies, or other Russian products, then consider a visit to 1000 Slaščic, tucked away by the main library in the centre of town (and this isn’t a paid ad or compensated content, I just happen to visit once every three weeks so I’ve something to chew on while choosing my books, as I did this morning). And if you'd like to join the library and enjoy its huge collection of books in various languages, as well as CDs and DVDs, then you can find out how to do that here.
Špela Vodovc, the woman behind Culinary Slovenia, has made it her life and work to share kitchen secrets of the country with people curious to learn more about the food and drink enjoyed in this small but varied nation, with its diverse climates, neighbors and history all leaving their mark on the table. For the last few years Špela has been organizing food tours of the country, as well as cooking classes, but now she’s got a project that will bring the edible cultural heritage of Slovenia to an even larger audience, wherever they are in the world - a book of Slovenian recipes.
100 easy to follow Slovenian recipes are introduced with inspiring pictures and clear instructions
Dishes from the family table
It’s a work that present the culinary tradition of the nation, based on the family recipes that Špela learned from her parents and grandparents. The book, called Cook Eat Slovenia, presents tried and true recipes and tips that will quickly enable you to turn out a tasty jota, štruklji, potica or any other of 100 dishes that are enjoyed in homes and restaurants across the country, including traditional Easter food and other seasonal feasts.
Štruklji
Špela Vodovc and one of the most requested Slovenian recipes - potica
Well aware that the recipes that people are most likely to use in cook books are those that come with a photo, the team behind the book, including designer Gregor Žakelj have worked to ensure that Cook Eat Slovenia will get maximum use, as every dish is illustrated with beautiful photos by Mateja Jordović Potočnik, whose work can be seen in the images accompanying this story, with the dishes styled by Špela and her mother, Branka.
Jota
The coast isn't neglected
St Martin's feast
Easter breakfast
Tours and workshops focusing on Slovenian recipes are also available
More than just a collection of recipes, Cook Eat Slovenia aims to take you on a tour of the country and all 24 of its culinary regions. The book will be available to order on Kickstarter from November 14th to 13th December 2018, for an early bird price – not the €24.99 that will be charged in stores -- and you can sign up to get more details here, with the finished book scheduled to be released in July 2019 Those interested in a more hands on approach can learn about Culinary Slovenia’s tours here and workshops here, while you can read our interview with Špela Vodovc here.
And if you’d like to see our own growing collection of Slovenian recipes, then check out this page.
