The festival begins. 

There’s a lot going on, but rarely too much. 

Some ideas to make the most of the longer days and warmer nights. 

Go out after dark and enjoy the City of Lights. 

On days like to today it’s hard to imagine that less than two months ago there was snow on the ground and going out in short sleeves could put you in serious danger of having no fun, and perhaps even no fingers by the dawn. Now it’s all exposed limbs, sunglasses, gelato and lazing by the river, with the inside tables in many cafés and bars almost deserted, left to tourists having second thoughts about not venturing further for a terrace with room to spare, and aged goths hiding from the light. 

Tuesday, May 1, is a national holiday, and thus many stores will be closed, or closing early, while state-run museums and galleries are also likely to remain locked, as they are each Monday. That said, plenty of other things will be open, and the streets themselves will remain as interesting to explore as ever. 

Short sleeves, short pants and short skirts have been big on the streets of Ljubljana the last few days, and our regular tables in the various cafés and bars we frequent are now often taken by tourists with more money, free time and class than we’re able to draw upon. Thus we explore some of the less trafficked parts of town, secure in the knowledge that by doing so we’re steadily mapping more of the psychogeography of the place we now call home, getting pulled deeper into its past, present, and – one hopes – its future...

The heated tables at Dakarti were finally taken inside on Friday, as sure a sign as any that the weather has changed for the better, so take a look at some of the events and happenings on around town over the next seven days, secure in the knowledge that some of most interesting things in Ljubljana remain hidden from the casual observer, waiting to be found…. 

“To be away from home and yet to feel oneself everywhere at home; to see the world, to be at the centre of the world, and yet to remain hidden from the world… The spectator is a prince who everywhere rejoices in his incognito.” Baudelaire, The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays

Things to see and do at the start of Q2.