I had tried to visit the Franciscan Church twice, and both times it was closed.

This time it worked out and I was able to visit the elaborately painted church from the inside.
















The annexe houses a small museum (the photos didn't turn out well) and the library.

The university library is considered a special attraction.

The actual reading room was only accessible to students, so the stairwell was the main attraction.


There was also a small special exhibition.



At least there were interesting door handles.


At least there were interesting door handles.

Romantika is another celebrated ice cream parlour in Ljubljana. Not bad, but compared to the gelato in Gorizia, it's in a completely different league.

The city museum offers a colourful selection. There was an exhibition on the Nazi era.


The Roman period.




Statues from different eras.



The famous wheel.





More ancient exhibits





There are also more or less newer pieces.

The Serbian Orthodox Church was built in 1936 but was not consecrated until 2005.



The interior of the church is elaborately painted.

I see your rental car got booted. Probably shouldn't have parked inside the museum!!

Always the VIP parking.😉
But there's nothing you can do about it, so I had to drive around with my own again.

The National Gallery mainly displays Slovenian art. There is a wide range of works on display, from the Middle Ages to modern art.

A short stroll through Tivoli, Ljubljana's largest park.

One thing I wanted to do in Ljubljana from the outset was to visit the opera. It is housed in the former �Krainer Landestheater�, which was renovated some time ago and extended with a new building.









On the programme is Il viaggio a Reims, one of Rossini's lesser-known operas.



It is completely unclear in Ljubljana when advance sales will begin. I had inquired by email and was told the end of September, but then the tickets suddenly went online in mid-September. Very strange. I usually only go to the theatre if I can get first category tickets; I'm not interested in anything else. Here, that means the front rows of the central boxes. As it was the premiere, all the tickets were already gone. I then booked tickets in the front row.
A few impressions of the underground complex with drinks bar, the entrance and the corridors.






The program

It is a beautiful building, and with only around 500 seats, the opera house is quite intimate.













The performance was artistically very good. Considering that the premiere tickets only cost around �50 per person, you really can't complain. The staging was well thought out and the costumes were quite creative.

After the opera, we had a light meal from room service. As it was after 10 p.m., only the night menu was available.

We continued on our way. My next destination was Trieste. There is a very decent traditional hotel in the city, but unfortunately they don't have any real bSuites and the prices were quite high during the time we wanted to stay there. We later found out why. After some searching, I came across the Tivoli Hotel Portopiccolo, which had opened in 2018 as Falisa and part of the Luxury Collection. Since 2023, it has been operating under the Tivoli brand.
The hotel had quite attractive prices and I found the Presidential Suite appealing. The cheapest option was to book the room with half board, which is what we did.
The hotel is part of a new development project, where a harbour with shops, restaurants and holiday apartments has been built in a bay. Upon arrival, the satnav reliably guided us to the holiday apartments, where we found notes with directions to the hotel. It's another detour of about 4 kilometres. It was a bit crazy, and of course I was annoyed � but that's something you get used to with many hotel arrivals.
Access is via the underground car park, where you will find the �driveway�.




Access is then via the lower level; there is a small reception area upstairs, where I have never seen anyone except the doorman.





As our room was not ready yet, we were offered a welcome drink in the piazza.

As already mentioned, Portopiccolo is a new development built around a harbour. To be honest, I have no idea how it will ever be profitable. Some of the flats may be quite nice, but there are also many that are less appealing. And as a holiday destination? OK, if you like boating, it might be something, but many people also sleep on the boat. I'm not really enthusiastic about any of it.
Here is a map.


But let's start with a tour of the piazza and the hotel.






There are a few shops, but some of them are already closed in October. The restaurants also seemed rather quiet.














The conference area of the hotel.

That makes two of us.

The lobby is decorated in beautiful shades of blue, but it was never very busy.















The bar


Way to the rooms

As already mentioned, we had booked the presidential suite, which in many other hotels would be considered a normal suite. 145 square metres sounds huge at first, but that includes a terrace. Here is the floor plan.

There are 2 entrance doors