Here in Ljubljana, mixology has gone from a niche interest to a full-blown movement. Whether you’re a seasoned spirits connoisseur or just someone who loves a good negroni in the right setting, Ljubljana has a bar stool waiting for you. So, what’s been shaking—literally—in Slovenia’s capital? From the much-anticipated annual Brina Festival to the coolest cocktails bars, and mixologist names to know, this episode has your nightlife covered.

This episode is all about learning Slovenian as a second language. It’s considered difficult to learn by many, but is it really so tricky? To find out I spoke to two anglophone expats to hear of their ex-perience, as well as with two leaders of the Center for Learning Slovene as a Second Language, part of the University of Ljubljana. Whether you’re just language-curious or trying to learn your-self, you may be surprised at what I learned. I’ll also share some of my own adventure stories in speaking the language—one I never studied but speak, well, fluently-ish, as long as it can be con-sidered fluent if I have at least one grammatical error in every sentence. Welcome to the Ljubljana Podcast: Learning Slovenian edition!

Visitors to Ljubljana with an eye for design and architecture cannot help but notice the striking buildings, bridges, and urban design of Ljubljana's genius loci, Modernist mystic architect Jože Plečnik. This episodes provides a self-guided walking tour through the city center that lasts around one hour--a perfect introduction to the "eternal" architect's work in the heart of the city. Your guide and the podcast host, Noah, wrote his doctoral thesis on Plečnik, so you're in good hands!

What do chefs love to eat in Ljubljana? Want to eat like top chefs? We’re going to do to two episodes on recommended restaurants and specific dishes in Ljubljana. One will be recommendations from local eaters, and I’ll save my personal favorites for that one. But this episode has a twist to it: I’ve asked five top chefs, two of them with Michelin starred res-taurants in Ljubljana, for their recommendations. Where do chefs like to eat when they eat out in Ljubljana? And more specifically, what do they order? Because while it’s interesting to learn which establishments are preferred by professional chefs, I think it’s a step more interesting to find out exactly what dishes they crave and what they’d recommend to the rest of us. With that in mind, I spoke to Jorg Zupan and Igor Jagodic, the Michelin-starred chefs, as well as Riki, the chef and owner of my favorite local place to bring tourists—Pr’Jurju in Kamniska Bistrica, about thirty minutes from Ljubljana into the mountains. I brought a pair of expat former chefs—Brit Jason Hartley and American Jake, editor in chief of Guts Magazine, there for an outra-geously good lunch, including schnitzel the size of a snowboard, and asked them for their favorites.

This podcast is not only about Ljubljana, but also about interesting folk who live in Ljubljana. And it doesn’t get any more interesting than Slovenia’s most beloved musician, Vlado Kreslin. Kreslin is a national institution in Slovenia, having achieved the status of folk hero. This episode features an exclusive, deep dive interview with Kreslin, one of Noah's old friends and his favorite musician. Listen to his music to understand the Slovenian soul.

Welcome to Ljubljana and The Ljubljana podcast. In the first episode of Season 1, Noah offers an insider expat's guide to his basic recommendations for tourists visiting Slovenia's capital. Based on an article of his that ran in The Guardian, now expanded and updated, it's a great place to start for an introduction to what insiders recommend you see, do, explore, and eat in Ljubljana.