Traveller's Tales Part V

The first part can be found: HERE

The second part can be found: HERE

The third part can be found: HERE

The fourth part can be found: HERE

The market lies at the back of the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas and it was clearly where Lily was heading next. As she ushered me inside she explained it was built in 1706, and designed by the Jesuit architect Andrea Pozzo in the Baroque style with side chapels built to resemble a Latin cross.


Inside much of the original Baroque decor remains with frescoes painted by Giulio Quaglio between 1703–1723. Other notable decorations in the cathedral include the altar angels by the brothers Paolo and Giuseppe Groppelli on the right part of the nave (and by Francesco Robba on the left.


There was also an ornate pulpit and choir which also contained the left hand side organ pipes. As far as I was concerned it looked like a dog’s dinner as my Gran would have said.


I tend to look upon Baroque a bit like I do Jackson Pollack, so was glad when we got outside again. Here you can see the green copper dome of the cathedral in the background.


From there we walked along by the river Lily talking nineteen to the dozen.


The more I saw of Ljubljana the more I decided it reminded me of a sleepy market town. Out of the main square there were no crowds, no milling tourists, nobody rushing around and the place had had a happy, contented and prosperous feel. Everyone it seemed had time to stop and chat.


The pavements were clean and litter free and the shopkeepers did their bit to help keep them clean pausing in the sun to admire their handicraft.


And as far as women were concerned they all seemed inordinately lithe and fit. It was a place I decided I could live.


Set in the streets there were grand old coach doors leading to private courtyards… It reminded me of Harry Lime and The Third Man.


Eventually Lily decided to relent from the frenetic pace and we stopped in a café for iced tea. A nearby board reminded me that Slovenia like all ex-Eastern Block countries has little or no time for political correctness. Their humour was expressed without fear or favour and that included, race, gender, sexuality and disability….

Lily paused to get some tissues and her keys dropped out of her handbag onto the floor. I bent to pick them up and was surprised to find the key ring attached to a silver bullet. I was beginning to realise literally by the minute that there was far more to Lily than met my eye.
‘Is that Ehrlich’s silver bullet? I joked.
‘Surely you’re not implying I’ve got syphilis?’ she laughed. Demonstrating that she was on the ball in more fields than one.
‘Well it would salve our sanity,’ I responded rather pleased with my latest malapropism.
She laughed, clearly thinking it was a good one. ‘It’s a 9mm parabellum,’ replied Lily rather matter of factly. It was designed by Georg Luger and initially produced by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken for their famous Luger pistol.’
‘Why parabellum?’
‘Simple!’ replied Lily finishing her iced tea. Si vis pacem, para bellum.
I groaned inwardly feeling like a dunce. If you seek peace, prepare for war! I had this feeling that wherever Lily’s mind was, mine was trailing four hundred yards behind.
‘Did you know that Slovenia is a net exporter of brown bears?’ Lily proffered more rhetorically than anything, as she stood up. She was changing the subject. When I’d paid the bill she was stood in the street talking to one of the waitresses. ‘Now for that lunch I was promised,’ Lily exclaimed.


Once more she guided me through the side streets…


Finally she announced: ‘We must be here! The Stara Macka. I’m fed up of eating salad and pine nuts, I want a bloody big steak and nowhere does that better than the Stara Macka’
I ordered steak and some local white wine made from grapes grown in their strip of Adriatic Mediterranean coast. It was a bit thin for my palate which was probably just as well as it was very hot even in the shade. Nevertheless it was labeled ‘Vrhunsko’ which I was advised was good.


After lunch we made our way back to the hotel, pausing to allow me to look in the shops. I was attracted at one point by a local folk costume. But given its cost I concluded I would never really get an opportunity to wear it, besides I wanted to save the money for a silk sari – five meters of silk that would cut anyone down to sighs.


Eventually we made our way back to the main square, where I paused to watch the crowds. It's heartening to see that the advent of digital has completely re-invigorated photography, putting it back on a par with the days of the box Brownie back in the 1930s. A great favourite of mine is taking snaps of girls taking photographs. It must be the rapt concentration….either way I treated myself.


By now the hotel was in sight……


As we closed on it across the square, cyclists wove backwards and forwards through the pedestrians. I’ve always enjoyed cycling. When I was younger we used to go on cycling holidays as a family and when I was at university for my first two years it was my main form of transport.


No wonder I squealed when I saw this!


Sunflowers have been my trademark for years. I immediately fell in love with this bike and I knew somewhere in Ljubljana was kindred spirit. Sadly I hadn’t time to hang about.

Back in the hotel my partner was already ensconced with coffee and biscuits and had treated himself to a large brandy. Lily made a show of sniffing and was rewarded with her own glass of cognac. My partner was looking inordinately pleased; sitting up he announced the morning’s business had gone better than expected. Ordering more cognac he turned to Lily and enquired if she spoke Italian. It seemed a pointless question to me, but Lily nodded in the affirmative. Pausing as though unsure of himself he asked Lily if she would like a few day’s work as a translator. Lily finished her cognac and beamed like a Cheshire cat. I could have jumped up and kissed my partner. We had made Lily’s getaway break complete. We were giving Lily what she clearly needed so badly – the need to feel useful again…. To be continued.