Ljubljana, Slovenia
The Best of Europe without the Worst of Europe
"What I discovered over the next six days was nearly the full bounty of Europe packed into a succinct swath of mountains, lakes and Adriatic coastline, topped off by the gorgeous and entirely cosmopolitan capital of Ljubljana, where that river and those plazas mingle. It was the best of Europe without the worst of Europe -- the hassle, the crush, the sinking feeling of watching something grand and authentic turned into a gaudy, unruly, costly theme park. Even in June, locals handily outnumbered visitors, and I walked the streets and drove the roads with the giddy, beaming sensation that I had stumbled onto a secret. I was not at all sure that I wanted to tell."
Frank Bruni, The New York Times, August 5, 2001