For my summer vacation this year, I chose a marginally less obscure European destination than last year when I went to the Faroe Islands. This year I’m in Slovenia, the northernmost country on the Balkan peninsula. It is bordered by Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia and has the varied topography you might expect from that mix of neighbors. Today is my last full day in the capital Ljubljana before I pick up a car and begin my travels to other regions. One of my tour guides described Ljubljana as a quiet city where it’s nice to raise a family. That description is apt, both as a positive and a negative.

The area was first populated thousands of years ago but none of their wooden structures survive. There are Roman walls, a couple of which are still in use as one side of a public courtyard. The medieval city sits on the other side of the river from the Roman settlement of Emona where there is a hill topped by the city’s castle. That is the old city, which expanded across the river once walls were knocked down and the city expanded. The newer buildings on the approaches to the city center are similar to what is seen in other parts of Europe—soulless apartment blocks and grocery stores with lots of glass and small parking lots. It seems that every region has its own flavor of contemporary architectural blah. The city’s architecture was also impacted by the Yugoslav period, but even though there are a few tall brutalist eyesores they are at least clustered together in one (very unpleasant) square and none of the buildings in the old city were bulldozed to make way for them. It also helps that this city was untouched by the many conflicts that affected the region during the twentieth century.

The buildings in the old town are in Viennese styles as this place was part of Hapsburg Austria for a few hundred years (interrupted by only a short Napoleonic interlude) up until the First World War. None has the majesty of the buildings that line the Ringstrasse, but the river here is much more central than the Danube is in Vienna. It’s hardly fair to compare this much smaller city to Vienna, but Vienna is the benchmark against which I compare the beauty of every city. There also aren’t the lovely cafes of Vienna here, or at least I haven’t managed to find them for those pesky work sessions that have intruded into my vacation mindset.

I’ve had a mix of restaurants, from fancy ones with white tablecloths to street stalls. Slovene food is a mix of styles, but the primary influences are from Austria to the north with its more subtle flavors than we would have in America where we tend to over-season everything. I’ve also had goulash, pasta, and cevapcici too so far, though, showing the mix of influences from other directions. I expect there will be less variety and more pork once I leave the capital, but I’ll continue to eat a mix of cheaper and more expensive places as I flit about.

The best part of the experience of Ljubljana may be that the old city is almost fully pedestrianized. Restaurants spill out into the streets, everything is quieter, and people are always milling about. I wish more places would take a page out of that book, Vienna included.