But few Americans venture into Slovenia, which broke from former Yugoslavia in 1991 with short-lived fighting and is a few hundred miles away from the tensions in Bosnia. Legend holds that Jason the Argonaut founded a city here after fleeing King Aietes across the Black Sea and up the Danube. Ljubljana is not a traditional destination for foreign visitors, says Mayor Dimitrij Rupel, a towering Donald Sutherland lookalike. Most tourists are likely to travel through the city on their way to Bled or the Adriatic coast, not realizing they have stumbled onto a gem. Certainly, the city's lack of amenities, a slight language barrier and limited fine dining does not make for the ease of a vacation in Rome.
Prices are comparable to a mid-sized American city.
Decor in some hotels approximates a revamped 1970s bedroom, and service culture seems trapped in a perpetual learning curve. Many Slovenes speak English, but Western visitors are likely to encounter few signs in both languages. McDonald's and Dairy Queen have set up shop off the main commercial boulevard, but fresh fruits and vegetables are more tempting at the city's open market, a sensory delight open nearly every day with bright flowers and aromatic cheeses, sweaters and handwoven baskets for sale. Home to more than a quarter of a million people, Ljubljana is easily walkable as it spreads out from the central marketplace across bridges along the willow-lined Ljubljanica River. The sweetest panorama is visible from a 12th-century hilltop castle, Ljubljanski grad, which has been under renovation for years and whose view encompasses the red tile roofs of Ljubljana and the fields of central Slovenia all the way to the Austrian Alpine border.