STA, 11 June 2019 - The annual international music festivals Imago Sloveniae and the Summer in Old Ljubljana will kick off Tuesday evening with a concert celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Ljubljana-based Forum of Slavic Cultures, which connects Slavic nations in culture, arts, education and science.

Under the title Slavic Rhapsody, the concert will present Slavic folk music and its echoes in music by featuring segments of operas, symphonic and choir music by composers such as Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana, Marjan Kozina, Stevan Mokranjac, Jakov Gotovac and Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin.

Music will be performed by the Symphonic Orchestra of the SNG Maribor theatre, the choirs of the Serbian and Croatian public broadcasters. Soprano Alina Yarovaya, tenor Aljaž Farasin and violinist Nikola Pajanović will perform solos.

The pieces played at the concert reflect a unique duality, originating in folklore but at the same time being far removed from its origins by way of composers' upgrading of the music. It shows how regional folklore is transformed into music representing a nation, Imago Sloveniae has said.

It is no coincidence that a lot of the music featured stems from Romanticism, the time when many nations started developing their national identities and striving for independence, the organisers also said.

The concert will take place in Congress Square, but in case of rain, it will be performed in the nearby Slovenian Philharmonic Hall.

The programme for both festivals is here, while if you want to see what else is on in town this week check out what’s on in Ljubljana…

June 11, 2019

Secession was a new general style that emerged in various but not all places of Europe at the start of the 20^th century, following the developments in transportation and telecommunications, mass production, and expansion of the new class of wealthy. The bourgeoisie, while imitating aristocracy in its propensity to decorum, set to break up with traditional styles and historic imitations, which brought not only to variations in how this style was expressed in different cities, but also in what it was called (Secession, Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Glasgow School, etc.)

Related: Slovenia by the Book: Let’s See the City - Ljubljana: Architectural Walks & Tours - A great book, written by two architects, that acts as your guide to the city

Secession arrived in Ljubljana about a decade after it emerged in the Art Nouveau centres of Europe. Most of Secessionist buildings were completed in the first decade of the 20^th century, the majority of which can be found between the old city centre and the railway station, that is along Miklošičeva Street and around Miklošič Park. This part of the city is also known as Secessionist Ljubljana.

For visitors to Ljubljana who would like to take some pictures of this short-lived but beautiful architectural style we have listed some of the most representative examples below.

While Ljubljana Old Town is charming, as each tourist season goes by there are fewer stores that sell things a resident might actually need, with more practical shops getting replaced by those selling souvenirs, ice creams, high fashion items and so on. Nice to look at, but not much use when you need a pair of jeans, camera, USB cable, screwdriver, baking tray, bicycle or bookshelves.

So where does Ljubljana really shop, work and play? For many folk just a short drive or bus ride (#27) away from the Old Town at BTC City, a vast complex of shopping malls, business centres and entertainment facilities. It’s a place that now sees over 21 million visitors a year, from all over Slovenia and even neighbouring countries (with Croatians in particular coming for brands that are hard to find at home).

In the future I’ll be taking a deeper look at the various things on offer at BTC City, for both residents and tourists, but in this story I’m going to focus on one element that surprised me on a recent visit: the food you can get there. If you haven’t been for a while, or if your trips tend to be punctuated by quick cups of coffee or (in my case) a visit to what I believe is the only Burger King in the country, then you might be surprised at the depth and range of BTC’s current food offering, and how it’s making a serious claim as a food destination in its own right.

A home for ethnic food in Ljubljana

There are now more than 70 food vendors at BTC City, and since 2017 they’ve been marketed together under the label Food Bluz. The venture, which also includes a book produced in collaboration with Dr. Janez Bogataj (free PDF here in Slovene and English), was the first project presented as part of Slovenia’s role as European Region of Gastronomy 2021. However, while a broad range of Slovenian food is available at many of the restaurants, one of the great draws of the BTC’s current food offer is the varied menus from further afield, with Thai, Indian, Chinese, Mexican and more to tempt hungry visitors.

Thus in addition to being a well-established hub for business, commerce and innovation - bitcoins are accepted, and the place is a test ground for electric and autonomous vehicles - BTC City is now a nexus of culinary exploration. On my visit, undertaken with a writer from Croatia and with the excuse of research, I managed to cram in four meals and more drinks in one long day, while gazing longingly at many others.

Pasta from a master. Photo: Paul Bradbury

What's bigger than a Rubirosa? Photo: Paul Bradbury

First up was a trip to diVino, a three-floor place next to Kritalna palača (Crystal Palace), with a mix of customers from the local offices and businesses – which include BMW and Microsoft – as well shoppers and those who, like myself on this particular day, are just out to see what’s newest BTC City. DiVino aims to marry the traditions of Goriška brda with those of the Mediterranean, while keeping up on culinary trends. The man at the centre of it all is Chef Matjaž Cotič. He’s worked in Milan, Nice, Paris, Chicago and Basel and picked up many awards and titles along the way, with the two most appropriate for his current position being Italian Culinary Masterchef and the World Vice-Champion in Preparing Pasta (awarded by Barilla). Guests are thus assured of top quality ingredients, handled with care, and on my visit I enjoyed some fantastic Istrian-style pasta with asparagus, along with some aged beef, cooked rare and seasoned only with salt, pepper and olive oil. This was accompanied by a few glasses of Mare Santo penina, each bottle of which spends some time 20-30m under the sea. The temperature at this depth, along with the actions of the currents, are said to be especially good for the wine, as is the infusion of minerals through the cork. All I can say, since I’m no sommelier, is that it tasted great, and no, it wasn’t salty.

There's an extensive fresh food market at BTC City. Photo: Paul Bradbury

Photo: Paul Bradbury

We then visited the impressive street food market. This is a permanent, open-air affair, a little like Ljubljana’s summertime Open Kitchen, with local and regional delights, as well as Thai and Indian food, and it’s worth browsing first to both see what’s on offer and work up an appetite. Sadly mine was still satisfied from diVino and I had to forgo a curry, but still got a bottle of Singha beer to enjoy the feeling of being somewhere else.

What happens after Tito's gone? Photo: JL Flanner

It was hot day, though, and after a further walk around BTC City, including a visit to (look at) the Adrenaline Park and meet an urban beekeeper whose hives are just behind the bushes, my companion and I were again feeling thirsty and in need of shade, and so ventured to Škrnić LJ (in Tržnica jug). This is a Slovenian restaurant that specialises in in one-pot dishes that can be eaten with a spoon, essentially stews and soups. We originally planned to share just one bottle of beer, but when we saw the names of some of the craft brews on offer – Josip, Broz and Tito – we had to sample all three. The alcohol awoke my appetite, and I ordered a plate of fried liver, gravy with mashed potato that was simple and fantastic.

Liver, onion, mashed potato. Photo: JL Flanner

Food for all tastes at BTC City

Next door to Škrnić LJ is the Hiša Refoška, or House of Refošk, with Refošk being a red wine well-suited to hearty meat dishes. True, I’d finished the liver, but with the beer to encourage me I sampled a glass or two of wine here, made some notes, then moved on, determined not to be distracted by any more food and drink until I’ll I’d at least made an effort to see some of the 100s of stores that BTC City has.

Luckily, just a few steps further into the Tržnica jug I found an unexpected branch of Svilna Pot (“Silk Road”). This is an Asian food store that also operates on Trubarjeva cesta, and is run by the people behind the same street's Osho (selling Thai and Vietnamese food), as well as Bistro SUWON, one of the few, if not only, Korean restaurants in the capital. I stocked up on black label Shin Ramyun spicy ramen, Thai red curry mix, bags of sushi ginger, and some Indian powders and pastes.

Pad Thai and porter. Photo: Kratochwill

The two of us then wandered around in a daze, overwhelmed by the choice of shopping on offer, with my companion curious about my Asian purchases. By chance we came across Kratochwill in exactly the right frame of mind – a little drunk, a little curious, and wanting to sit down. This is perhaps the largest restaurant in Ljubljana, and has the feel of a beer hall, although that could have been due to the beer and wine inside me.

Buy enough beer and they'll show you the brewery. I assume that's what happened. Photo: JL Flanner

It’s promoted as “a brewery, pub, inn and (con)fusion restaurant”, and meets all the related criteria. The place, owned by the brothers Marko and Mile Kratochwill, has its own onsite brewery and very extensive and varied menu. We’re talking Slovenian classics alongside burgers, steaks, pastas, salads, seafood and pizzas, with the (con)fusion part of the billing being met by a list of Asian dishes that leans to Thai and Indian. A place with a seat and something for everyone, we enjoyed bottles of pilsner and porter to go with a plate of pad thai, plus – the photos prove, but I can’t remember – a number of other items.

I have no memory of taking this picture. Photo: JL Flanner

Or this one: Photo: JL Flanner

At around this point we decided we needed to avoid anywhere else that had its own brewery, or presented the opportunity for many more hours of research, and so headed back to where we started, Kristalna palača. While we began our culinary adventures in diVino, at the base of the tower, it was now time to head to the top of the tallest building in the country, although with just 20 floors and 89 metres you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

The tallest building in Slovenia. Photo: JL Flanner

On a clear day you can see forever. Photo: JL Flanner

Small cakes to end a day of culinary adventure at BTC City. Photo: JL Flanner

While there are stairs, and an annual race up them (Tek a Kristalno palačo), we decided to take the elevator to Crystal Café and enjoy the view with a steady heartbeat. We were lucky with the weather, as it was clear and we could see the Castle and other city landmarks, as well as the mountains and just everything all around into the distance. We got coffee, shared a plate of small cakes and went over our notes for the day.

In short, even though we only managed to eat at four different places we got a good feel for the quality and variety, in terms of cuisine, price and dining style, currently available at BTC City, and with at least 70 other places to try on return visits, along with all the practical shopping and entertainment options on offer (a waterpark, cinemas, theatre and more), I’ll be going there whenever I have an excuse and an appetite.

STA, 6 June 2019 - Bathing water quality in 41 of 47 bathing waters included the European Commission's report for 2018, released on Thursday, were classified as being of excellent quality, with all 21 coastal bathing waters receiving this grade. Five waters were labelled good, one as sufficient and none as poor.

"All reported bathing waters are in line with the minimum quality standards of the directive on bathing waters and thus classified 'sufficient' or better," wrote the European Environment Agency, which examined 374 samples from 21 coastal and 26 inland locations.

The tested sites

With the exception of 2011 when one bathing site was classified as good, all coastal bathing waters in Slovenia have persistently been labelled as excellent since 2009.

The inland bathing waters have all also been receiving at least good or sufficient grades since 2010, with half persistently classified as excellent.

EU-wide, minimum quality requirements were met by 95.4% of the 21,831 bathing waters monitored last year, with 300 waters in Albania and Switzerland also included.

Cyprus, Greece, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and Romania were the only other countries besides Slovenia without a single poor quality case.

The full report on Slovenia can be read here, while an interactive map showing all the tested site, all over Europe, is here

The website Ex-Yu Aviation, essential reading for anyone with an interest in reginal air transport, reports that Slovenia is continuing in its efforts to attract nonstop flights to the Gulf, with a focus on te United Arab Emirates. The efforts include moves by the Ministry for Economic Development and Technology, as well as the Slovenian Tourist Board, which is funding marketing activities to promote direct links to Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Related: Slovenia to Subsidize Marketing Efforts to Encourage New Ljubljana Flights

The website notes that the UAE's Economy Minister, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansoori, sees considerable potential for tourism between the two states, and that direct flights between Dubai and Ljubljana would open Slovenia to the more than eighty million passengers who pass through Dubai Airport each year.

Related: Ljubljana Airport Continues to Seek Direct Flights to the Middle East

At present the closest direct link is the deal that the Emirates has established with GoOpti, the Slovenian shuttle bus company, which enables Emirates customers to use the carrier’s website to book tickets from Ljubljana to Zagreb Airport.

All out stories on air travel are here

STA, 1 June 2019 - June brings change to public transport as a universal integrated transport service kicks in on Saturday. A passenger, buying one pass, will be able to use all means of public transport available, notably bus, coach and railway services of all transport service providers.

For those commuting daily to Ljubljana from nearby towns, 35 to 40 new fast bus or coach services will be introduced, which means they will have only one stop in-between.

Monthly and annual passes will be available as of today, with the former costing the equivalent of 32 single passes and the latter the equivalent of eight monthly passes.

This is in line with the government's decision in April, when a decree on the new integrated system of public transport for passengers was adopted.

New single, daily and weekly passes will be introduced in August, to be followed up in 2020 with an integrated monthly pass at the price of only 26 single passes.

Prices depend on the length of the journey; the lowest one was set for a distance of up to 5 kilometres (EUR 1.3) and the highest for over 150 kilometres (EUR 13).

Transport providers taking part in the new scheme will have an option of offering up to a 30% discount for monthly and annual passes.

The government decreed a 20% discount as the lowest possible for annual passes, as its goal is to have more than 80% of all passengers opt for annual or monthly passes.

The set prices are generally the prices of coach services, although transport officials have expected lower prices to encourage the use of public transport.

Although rail and bus fares should cost the same under the decree, business daily Finance recently reported rail operator Slovenske Železnice (SŽ) did not plan a price rise.

Commenting on the new system for Finance, Robert Sever of the GZS's transport section said last month: "We don't expect a revolution, but the fast lines will attract somewhat more passengers. However, passengers from Postojna will still get stuck in traffic jams on the motorway just like those in cars."

The expansion of the integrated passenger transport service comes after secondary school and university students started testing it in the 2016/17 academic year.

Finance has reported some EUR 120 million is available for public transport services a year, of which SŽ and 25 coach companies as the providers of the public service of integrated passenger transport received almost EUR 44 million for subsidised student passes in 2018.