Two weeks ago, we weren’t even sure we’d make it as EasyJet cancelled our outward flight, but we managed to rebook for a day earlier. An extra day on our car hire would have been £200, so here we are in Kranj for the first night, just 15min by public bus from the airport and we’ll pick up the car tomorrow.
We arrived mid morning at Hotel Creina, surprisingly a historical and cultural monument as designed by Edvard Ravnikar, a renowned Slovenian architect in the 1970’s.
We left our luggage in the hotel and went to explore. Kranj is the fourth largest town in Slovenia, forming quite a sprawling urban area, but the medieval centre quite small, set on a rocky promontory between a couple of rivers below. The main street is fronted by some handsome buildings but it was very quiet, and many of the shops look empty.
The church was covered in scaffolding and we so we didn’t see the treasures within.
The square contains a statue of France Prešeren the C19th Romantic Slovene poet and hero who did much to awaken the Slovene national awareness.
There is also this arcade and stairway, squeezed in between existing buildings, designed by Jože Plečnik, a Slovene architect who trained in Vienna under Otto Wagner and proceeded to have a major impact on the modern architecture of Vienna and Prague before returning to Ljubljana in 1920 to do the same there.
At the far end is a small church and then just a drop down the the gorge below.
That was enough exploring so we found a cafe for lunch where I had a salad topped with grilled hake in a tomato sauce and Chris had fried cheese and roast potatoes.
Later we made our way back to the hotel, realising that being up before the birds this morning, the very warm day and a delicious lunch had taken their toll but were surprised to nap for two hours!
Having woken, it was cooler and when we opened the window, we saw what looked like a choir forming in the square outside so went to see. They just began when we got there and sang a selection of folk songs. Chris got talking to chap who said it was Cultural Day and every town in Slovenia had choirs like this who would be singing today. It was a lovely welcome to Slovenia and we spoke to a couple of the choir afterwards and we even got a mention on their Facebook page!
The square also had several striking black statues with a revolutionary scheme. They were made by Lojze Dolinar in 1961 and show Strike of the Carniolian textile workers, National Liberation Struggle simulating an attack on the enemy bunker and Revolutionary Flight.
We went to a another cafe in the old town for dinner and the roast pork was very good. Chris had a bean salad and fries, but we did know that veggie choices here would be limited. The very quaffable local beer and red wine made up for any shortcomings as we watched the world go by with lots of walkers and cyclists enjoying the cooler air.
We were able to look out over the gorge for breakfast, the second largest in Europe, a fact difficult to appreciate from any viewpoint we found, as we munched our way through the breakfast buffet.
Kranj was an added bonus we’d not planned for and now we are off to collect our car!
PS – the j is silent!
Off Travelling Together 