Submitted by Darius Pirestani on the 2018 winter session program in Italy sponsored by the College of Health Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences…
For our first group excursion, we took a scenic bus trip through the outer hills and mountains bordering Trieste to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Although I’ve traveled in Europe before, I’ve only been to Italy, Portugal and Spain. The prospect of visiting a country in Eastern Europe was exciting for many reasons, including the cultural and scenic differences one may encounter as you move further inward from the western coast of the continent. Although Trieste was discernibly Eastern-European in appearance and aesthetic, Ljubljana was even more so. With striking concrete architecture mixed with unapologetically medieval churches and castles, Ljubljana presented an immediate contrast to the more relaxed, Mediterranean atmosphere of Italy, Portugal and Spain. Even in the harsh cold of Slovenia’s winter, tourists and residents alike bustled along Ljubljana’s city square in search of the day’s goods available at the various markets while the streets of Trieste remained unchanged from the quiet, idle state we left them in. The most striking feature of Ljubljana was the castle that overlooked the city, that has remained a constant feature in the city’s horizon for 700 years. The castle’s location demanded a steep hike to the top of the hill, but we were rewarded with a breathtaking view of the city for as far as the clouds allowed us to see.