Ljubljana - on its way to primetime
Posted: Monday, June 09, 2008 4:02 PM
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On Assignment
By Michele Neubert, NBC News Producer
The last time I was in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was during the mid-1990s. I was there for all of 20 minutes.
I’d flown in with an NBC News cameraman on a U.S. military medivac plane whose mission it was to collect some badly injured victims of one of the Balkan wars. With time very much of the essence, we filmed on the airport tarmac as the wounded were loaded from stretchers to secure cots onboard. The plane then flew them to a U.S. facility in Germany for treatment.
It my first exposure to what would be several years covering the bloodshed of the Balkans – a series of conflicts from which Slovenia, the first of the former Yugoslav republics to declare its independence from Yugoslavia, managed to escape relatively unscathed. After a nearly bloodless 10-day war in June 1991, Yugoslav forces withdrew from the country, leaving it to serve as a safe transportation hub in the midst of the other Balkan conflicts.
Fifteen years or so later, I’m back to cover a visit by President Bush, the first stop on his farewell tour of Europe. I’m eager to check out the city I'd never had a chance to see, which is now the capital of a vibrant democracy, part of NATO and currently presiding over the European Union’s rotating presidency.
We landed on the same compact airport. This time, however, sleek commercial jets have replaced the busloads of injured awaiting us back then.
Driving into the city center with a colleague, we were excited by the picture-book countryside – something of a cross between Austria and Switzerland. "It’s got a real ‘Sound of Music’ feel," I suggested, as we sped along in a very comfortable Mercedes Benz taxi-cab past thick forests and chocolate-box villages.
But approaching the edge of town, high-rise concrete structures brought back familiar memories of many other former Yugoslav cities. "I'm a bit disappointed – somehow I expected more," said Heinrich Walling, the very same cameraman who had been with me on that medivac trip years ago.
It was Heinrich’s first time back, too. He'd driven from his home in southern Germany, breaking off for a lunch along the way at Lake Bled, a well known beauty spot. "Prices were comparable to Germany; I thought they'd be cheaper," he said. Then he smiled as he pointed out that our hotel still had the symbol "i" – a sign that was traditionally the abbreviation for a tourist hotel chain all over the Eastern Bloc in communist days – peeping through its revamped façade.
After checking into the hotel, we were eager to explore the old city center, renowned for its architecture, cafes and bars. Our walk took us past plenty of evidence of a thriving economy with an impressive variety of designer labels and luxury boutiques. Yet the overall feel was that there still is some work to do. Just two blocks away from a ritzy Dolce and Gabbana storefront were shop windows more reminiscent of Eastern Bloc days.
After meandering down side streets we hit the delightful, if small, historic city center. Buzzing with late-afternoon activity and street musicians, the café crowd just was starting on their first aperitifs. We ate a hearty meal at an old established restaurant offering dishes as diverse as gnocchi with gorgonzola, schnitzels and horse steak. (The home-brewed beer is highly recommended.)
The "Vienna of the Balkans" was a label which had stuck in my mind from a travel article enthusing about Ljubljana soon after its independence.
Not quite yet, but the city is on its way, and is definitely worthy in its role as host to world leaders.
