Gril Ranca, Julija

Zdravo! Our 4th annual European Christmas market vacation brought us to the picturesque country of sLOVEnia. Once part of the former Yugoslavia and homeland of our current FLOTUS. It's a small and beautiful country with rich history and great architecture.

We stayed in Ljubljana, the capital. It's my first Eastern European country visit, but hopefully not my last. It's a walkable city, with good public transportation and has great restaurants, museums, architecture, bridges and the locals seemed friendly. It was foggy most days, but we were still able to admire the sights and learn as much as we could.

Our good and longtime friend, Stoyan, who lives here in Maribor, the second largest city in Slovenia, was our gracious host during our stay. He showed us what Slovenia had to offer and it was enriching and insightful. Hvala, Stoyan.

Stoyan did an awesome job of driving us around, translating and highlighting his country. We spent the night in Maribor, but not before stopping at the famous Lake Bled in Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia to visit the #1 ranked 2017 & 2018 European Christmas market known as Advent in Zagreb.

Lake Bled

Zagreb, Croatia

I collected the first menu in Maribor, Stoyan's hometown. I was so excited to finally see where he is from and where he lives. He has been to NYC many times and stayed with us for the past 15 years, so it was finally his turn to show us his Slovenian hospitality, and he was excited about it. We saw where he lived, worked, went to school, and met his dad. Maribor isn't as big or populated as the capital but it certainly had its own city charm.

Stoyan took us to a laidback restaurant Gril Ranca that offered traditional Slovenian and local food. He pretty much had to order for us as the menu was in Slovenian, but he did not disappoint. We ate a local fav lepinji, which I believe is like flatbread with a pocket in the middle that you can stuff with meats, cheese and whatever else. The bread was unbelievable! It was almost like eating a giant English muffin but light, fluffly and can taste good on its own.

Since there were menus on all the tables, I was able to grab one from another table and put it in my jacket.

Gril Ranca, Dravska Ulica 10
Maribor, Slovenia
Website

Gril Ranca

The second menu I collected was from FLOTUS Melania Trump's hometown Sevnica located in central Slovenia and about an hour drive from the capital. Although she was born in Novo Mesto in Southeastern Slovenia, she grew up in Sevnica. It felt like a very small and rural community surrounded by farm lands, hills and valleys. It's majestic.

Stoyan was horribly embarrassed to take us there because it has become somewhat of a tourist destination thanks to FLOTUS. We were trying to find shops and restaurants that sell sustenance, sweets and souvenirs dedicated to FLOTUS and POTUS, but online research wasn't helpful so Stoyan had to reach out to the locals. Sorry, Stoyan. We came all the way from America, so when in Sevnica, right?

Our first stop was a cute little cafe called Julija. They sold Melania cake. It was pretty good. Don't ask me what was in it, though. The menus were on every table so I was able to collect the menu from our table and put it in my jacket. I thought the name of the cafe was Cenik, but when I Googled it it means pricing.

Julija, Trg Svobode 1
Sevnica, Slovenia
Website

Julija

Our second stop was at Kruhek, a bakery known for selling the now famous First Lady apple pies. It has an American flag on top with the Slovenian words "Prva Dama", which means First Lady. The apples are from the Sevnica region and it tasted good.

Despite wearing the same clothes for the first 3 days because the airline lost our luggage, we had a really great time and learned a lot about sLOVEnia. Hopefully, when we return, it will be during the warm summer months. Na zdravje! Cheers!