A Surprise Fair in Ljubljana

    Ljubljana Fair
    Photo: M. G.

    Views of homemade food, coffee, sweets, and lots of people socializing under the warm September sun.

    A Surprise Fair was organized today in the center of Ljubljana by an association called ProstoRož, which started out as a spontaneous desire to explore and understand open city space. It is a continuous project of public space cultivation with the goal of developing a method of reviving and arranging the degraded urban spaces.

    They organize events in Park Tabor every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. These events leave visitors impressed. One of these events was the Library under the Treetops.

    Today’s event was put together to say goodbye to their events in Park Tabor till next summer.

    Ljubljana
    Photo: M. G.

    The Surprise Fair was full of stalls with homemade crafts and products. Some stalls were garage-sale style and others were showcasing the work of local artists.

    There was also plenty of homemade food and drinks. You could attend free art workshops, a ping pong, and table tennis tournament, a demonstration of old fencing techniques, and much more, all accompanied by live music. There was even a sushi-making workshop!

    For me, it was very interesting to see all sorts of belongings that were to be put away to another owner. This made me think how much a person’s interest changes over time – in the past you bought something and used it, but now you don’t need it anymore or you’ve grown out of it.

    Or you have many of your grandparents’ belongings and you don’t know what to do with them, so you decide to give the forgotten things from a different era a new life, a new owner, a new story. The old owner is happy, the new owner is happy, everyone is happy.

    making waffles
    Photo: M. G.

    The atmosphere was relaxed. Trying new food, talking to people, looking at vintage and new art accessories, and simply enjoying a Saturday afternoon was perfect.

    I bought a nice-looking dress and finally did some catching up with my dear cousin, what a successful day!

    Vintage jackets
    Photo: M. G.

     “ProstoRož explores, examines and opens new possibilities of public space use in accordance with the needs of its inhabitants and tries to reveal how sometimes minimal means and small interventions are enough to present the city’s inhabitants and visitors with pleasant spaces for hanging out, playing or working in the open air. Our interventions are not mere artistic installations in public areas but also in-depth searching for new city planning options of space use.”

    Cooking in the park
    Photo: M. G.
    home made marmelade
    Photo: M. G.
    A trumphet
    Photo: M. G.
    Garage sale
    Photo: M. G.
    Funny fly
    Photo: M. G.

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    0 thoughts on “A Surprise Fair in Ljubljana”

    1. Wow, this market looks fantastic! I’m heading to Ljubljana next week (Wed 17 – Sat 20 October), so sad that I missed these markets, it’s exactly my kind of thing! I was wondering if you would have any tips for me… I’m into art, craft, good coffee and tasty food, clothes, music and second hand/vintage clothes & homewares… If you have any advice, that would be great!

    2. There is a flea market in Gornji trg every Sunday, very nice!

      There is also a regular market, which is there every day – must see! You have to eat ice cream at cacao, cake at Kavarna Zvezda -both are just next to the main square. Or go to the highest building Nebotičnik. Coffee shopy are everywhere. Stroll down the river banks.

      Bars and clubs: Bikofe, Skelet, Metelkova, Cvetličarna, Orto bar, Top, Cirkus. You can check my older post about Metelkova-alternative space and tips about Ljubljana part 1 and part 2.

      You can get the Event Guide for the month in the tourist office- you will find music, theatre, art events in there. Mostly they are free.

      As for vintage clothes and second hand shops – juyt walk around the odl town – the street on which the City Hall is has many shops like that. All of teh streets on the side, where the castle is, have small shops with handmade products. 🙂

    3. Oh wow! Thank you so much, I’m sure with all of your tips we are going to have a fantastic time in Ljubljana! We’ve spent the last few days near Davica, checking out the caves and the countryside, today we arrived in Bled. Slovenia is beautiful, we love it! Thanks again!

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