LUV Fest is underway in Ljubljana, a festival of love that brings special benefits for discovering this city!
Love is in the air, and love is not only between a man and a woman. Love is between parents and children, friends, but also what surrounds us - art, gastronomy, nature, history, but also love for the future! This is how the residents of Ljubljana will describe LUV fest, a unique festival of love that lasts until March 12, until Gregorian Day, which is described as a moment of love between birds that begin their singing in the new cycle of nature in spring.
If you visit Ljubljana during this period, you won't be able to be immune to what it has to offer - the streets are decorated with installations by numerous artists, museums have opened their doors to show you their love for art, hotels have created special offers for their stays for the LUV festival, and gastronomic addresses have numerous discounts and specially created plates on their permanent offer. The experience of Ljubljana during this time is unique, there is a lot you can see for free or with tickets whose price is specially created for this time.
As the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana has the rhythm of a big city, but unlike many European cities, life in it is particularly well-organized. The city center is a pedestrian zone and the streets lead you to places that will delight you at first sight. If you get tired, just call Kavalir and continue exploring. Kavalir is the name of the free service that Ljubljana offers to residents and tourists, about an electric car that is the only one that drives through the narrow city streets. The vehicle can accommodate five to six passengers, so if you need it, you are happy to share the ride with others.
Ljubljana is a city of art, so it is not surprising that the doors of museums are always open to visitors. The Ljubljana City Museum (MGML) is one of the most important museums. It is a City Museum with a permanent exhibition that reveals how Ljubljana developed from the settlement of Barje to a modern metropolis visited by many international and domestic travelers every year. During the LUV festival, the museum also hosts an exhibition created specifically for this festival, talking about love. It is an exhibition of 40 years of LGBT urban culture in Slovenia, which you can go through alone or in the company of a curator.
During the LUV Fest, numerous workshops were created at this location. If you are in Ljubljana on February 21, don't miss the flea market in the museum, during which you can exchange clothes. Bring five of your clothing items and exchange them for five new ones! The city center also has a museum, Plečnik's birthplace, where this architect lived and created until 1921. With his departure, he left an eternal mark on Ljubljana, signing the world-famous buildings that transformed the provincial town from Austria-Hungary into the elegant capital of Slovenia. Plečnik's library, the market, bridges, the most popular of which is the main city bridge, the Triple Bridge, are just some of the buildings that millions of tourists take photos next to. Did you know that Ljubljana, among others, also has the coolest museum in Slovenia?
The opening of the first chocolate museum in Slovenia was eagerly awaited, and when it happened at the end of last year, Chocolarium delighted all generations. It covers 1,000 square meters of a former department store at the famous address Ajdovščina 3, and you can listen and learn, and taste as many as 20 different types of chocolate that flow from six specially designed fountains. Everything about this place is special - from entering on a slide to ending in a laboratory where everyone makes their own chocolate.
The Chocolarium is a place of entertainment for all generations of a family; during the LUV Fest, it offers special benefits and forms of chocolate, and it is open to visitors every day except Mondays when the museum is closed. Since chocolate goes well with coffee, a little further away (Slovenska cesta 47) there is another great place where you can learn a lot about coffee.
It's not a museum but a beautifully designed coffee bar, R&B Café Roasters, where you can drink coffee in a pleasant atmosphere but also learn a lot about how one of the most popular beverages is made from beans. The workshop, which lasts almost two hours, is led by owner and barista Sebastien Ivanec, and during the workshop, you will taste the coffee, roast it, and at the end, take it home. The price of the workshop is 60 euros, and during the LUV fest, there is a 1+1 free offer for all those who want to experience this experience as a couple.
As you explore the locations, numerous streets, parks and bridges will catch your eye with their installations. It's all LUV - they will tell you as you look at the little stories hidden in nests hanging from street lamps throughout the city, the 'floating' houses on Wolfova Street that light up when it gets dark, the bubbling picture book installations whose characters emerge from the frame, floating above the streets, as well as the 22 lamps that are dressed in Zvezda Park and painted by the hands of creative elementary school students.
When it gets dark, these lamps illuminate the entire park, just like oscillators, luminous balls that spin in circular motions on the water, creating an endless dance of shapes above the sleepy Ljubljanica. You can easily take a touch of the art that surrounds you home by taking a look at the IKA store, which has over 100 different products designed and produced in Slovenia. During the Love Festival, buy brooches decorated with birds and hand-designed slippers made of boiled wool from Slovenian sheep with love decorations here. For those who love fashion and local design, LUV fest also opens small galleries in the old part of Ljubljana, such as the Clothing Design Showroom, where curators and designers tell the story of collections inspired by love. Everything you see in these places can be purchased, and the capsule collections displayed in the multimedia exhibition are only available for the duration of this festival.
Ljubljana is a wonderful weekend destination with a lot to show you, so enjoy it for a few days. As you explore the places where you will put down your suitcase and sleepover, you will see that during the LUV fest, there are places with special benefits if you are exploring Ljubljana as a couple. One of them is The Hotel (Mestni trg 15), a luxurious four-star hotel located right on the Ljubljanica River. For 170 euros per couple, they offer bed and breakfast, which you can complement with dinner served a la carte in the hotel's very popular The Restaurant. Be sure to try the selection of locally grown cold cuts, as well as carefully selected meat or fish that is prepared on the grill in front of your eyes.
Walking through the streets of Ljubljana, you will smell the aroma of food, proving that this city is a true gastronomic destination. The choice is vast - from traditional plates with buckwheat, žganci, goulash, and štrukli served at the Hiša pod Gradom tavern to a slightly more modern version of the traditional pub Pri Trubarjevi mami in the basement of the business center at Dunajska cesta 18. This place combines tradition and modernity, and for the LUV fest, a special pizza in the shape of a large heart was created, which is served with two glasses of local beer.
One could write and write about the gastronomy in Ljubljana, and another interesting fact shows how crucial it is in the promotion of this city. As part of the LUV Fest, the offer of the Botanical Garden in Ljubljana is focused on love. For this occasion, in the tropical garden, you can learn about how tropical fruits and vegetables available in stores grow and ripen. Of course, it needs optimal conditions, but also a lot of love, which is additionally increased by consuming fruits served for tasting in pairs. Did you know that passion fruit and bananas are natural aphrodisiacs? This is just one of the interesting things that a guided tour through the Botanical Garden offers visitors.
foto: Nikola Zoko
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