Ljubljana

Jenny McKelvie
Bradt Travel Guides / Globe Pequot Press (2005)
ISBN 1841621161
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (10/06)

It truly warms my heart to see my beloved Ljubljana finally get some recognition and attention. Robin and Jenny McKelvie obviously love and enjoy it a lot, and that is clearly evident from every page of this pocket-sized guide to the capital of Slovenia.

Let me talk about the positives first – I absolutely love the format of the guidebook. It definitely fits in a pocket, and that is a great thing when traveling. I loved the way the content is organized – in clearly defined and well researched sections, covering every aspect of travel.

Starting with the ‘Context’ section, which one should definitely read when getting ready for the trip, the McKelvie’s do their utmost best to explain the convoluted history and not too easy to understand present of Ljubljana and its people. The next two sections, ‘Planning’ and ‘Practicalities’ are going to be extremely valuable for all of your planning needs. They are detailed and contain lots of useful information.

The following sections, ‘Accommodation,’ ‘Eating and Drinking,’ and ‘Entertainment and Nightlife,’ plus ‘Shopping,’ list an amazing array of choices for every taste and every budget. Quite a few of my all-time favorites are there and I even found a couple of places that I did not know existed. I’ll have to check them out on my next visit home.

The next three sections, ‘Walking Tour’, ‘Sightseeing’ and ‘Beyond the city’ provide a wealth of details on places to visit. They should keep you busy for a while for sure.  I also found the last section, ‘Further information’, very useful. It contains information on magazines, books, maps and more and it would be useful for anybody who plans to spend a longer time in Slovenia.

That leaves us with two sections that did not impress me. The first is the ‘Language’ section. While useful, it contains quite a few mistakes. I bet that a person who orders a mushroom soup, but gets a bean soup, will be greatly surprised. And if you really want a horse steak (really a foal steak…), you won’t get it if you order it according to the words in this section. There are several misspellings and several totally wrong words, as well as grammatical inconsistencies in this part (jabolka is plural, yet the English version uses apple in the singular form, which should be jabolko etc.) Misspellings and other mistakes are strewn throughout the entire book. I believe it would be advisable to hire a Slovenian proofreader for those parts, and I’d be glad to take that role…

Another section that was a slight disappointment is the photo and map section. There are only four photographs in the book. I’d like to see more of them, since I believe that they would give one a better appreciation of the beauty of Ljubljana. The maps are not very detailed and the transportation map won’t be of much use to somebody unfamiliar with the city without marking at least the most important bus stops on the regular map as well.

Overall I found this guidebook useful and well written. The authors are clearly enthusiastic and appreciative of all that Ljubljana has to offer. As to the mistakes, I am certain that they will be corrected in the future editions. This, after all, is only the first edition.

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