Metelkova mesto - I see future!

Metelkova mesto – I see future!

Last year, when September had its first weekend we’ve decided to give our son something valuable for the beginning of a school year. We wanted something he’ll remember and what is better than a trip, short and sweet citybreak. Although the weather forecast was calling for rain and bad weather we didn’t give up because life is not perfect and sometimes you have to work with what you have. I think that Swedes say: “There is no bad weather just insufficient gear.” So we went and I can only say – dear friends, just go and have fun!
Metelkova mesto

Metelkova mesto

Friday evening I told our cub 🙂 that we have a surprise and didn’t even finish my sentence he was yelling “Family trip! I knew it!”. He had to guess where we were going so my clues were:

  1. We are going to a country that has a border with Croatia on land and sea. Since he is always in a hurry and doesn’t have time and patience his first thought was Italy because I said sea, but he was wrong. So, he had to think harder and his second guess was correct. Of course, Slovenia!
  2. Then, I said that we are going to a town in Slovenia that is famous for its dragons. You should see the look on his face. “You mean like real, Harry Potter, dragons!?!” Well, my dear and sweet child, they are real as much as you want them to be 🙂

I had to help him with one more clue – this is the biggest and capital city of Slovenia. “Ljubljana has real dragons!?!”. Oh, yes it has, real, big and petrified.
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We talked about Ljubljana several times prior to this conversation and his first question was “Are we going to the Hiša eksperimentov!?!” Yes, we are and we can spend as much time as you want. You can try to imagine how happy he was knowing that his favourite museum in the whole world is the Natural History Museum in London. We had to go there for two years in a row and I had to promise that we’ll spend a whole day there and I won’t whine until closing times, hahaha. So, Hiša eksperimentov was on his wishlist for quite some time after he had so much fun in London.
I gave him a small booklet that I made especially for him but I’ll share it with you if you need it. Just contact me through our Facebook page Paulin World and I have to remind you that booklet is in Croatian since Matija wasn’t happy when I gave him his copy of the booklet for Australia in English 🙂
Low budget tips

Hiša eksperimentov

Hiša eksperimentov

Call your friends to go with you and you can split gas and vignette expenses, or go by train for only 9€/adult and 4.5€/kids 6-11 years from Zagreb by Hrvatske željeznice.

Bring some food and snacks in your backpack so your child won’t be tempted to ask you everything it sees in stores and bakeries that you pass by.
After we packed just necessary clothes and rain equipment along with food and snacks, of course, we headed to the border crossing where we bought a vignette for Slovenian roads. Overall expenses for the car and road tolls were around 50€ together for both ways and driving around the town.

Hiša eksperimentov

Hiša eksperimentov

Nature was beautiful with no sign of rain even the weather forecast on my mobile phone was showing rain. No, reasonable explanation for that 🙂 Diving across the country was a pleasant experience since Slovenia is so magnificent and divine with all the hills and greenery around.
My suggestion prior to visiting Hiša eksperimentov is to sit with your child/children and study this appetiser. To prepare yourself and the kids where you wish to spend the most time and what experiments are the most appealing to you. You will enjoy for sure and you won’t have any regrets besides it was too short to try all that you planned but that’s ok – you have to leave something for your other visits in future years.
Low budget tip
Entrance ticket for Hiša eksperimentov was 6€ (5-99 years) but you can always ask friends and family to buy it for your kid/s as a birthday present.
After the visit, Matija was so excited and overwhelmed that lovely lady at the entrance desk said: “I’m sure we got a visitor for a lifetime.” We grabbed some street food and went to enjoy the city by night and discuss all the
Ljubljanski dvorac

Ljubljanski dvorac

experiments with Matija so he could get some sleep in the evening and not be so excited when bedtime came, but…despite all our effort he was dreaming and talking (and redoing experiments!) for the whole night 🙂
Make sure to take your kid/s to see Dragon Bridge because there are real dragons, right? 🙂 But also Tivoli Park, Tromostovlje, Prešern Square, Ljubljana Castle etc. You can help yourself with all kinds of apps or we found “kids map” that Ljubljana Tourist Information Centre (TIC) kindly prepared. All the fun stuff and restaurants that are kid-friendly are on that map. Ljubljana is a magical place for kids and you should make sure to take time and enjoy it to the fullest.
Metelkova mesto - wise words

Metelkova mesto – wise words

We spent that night in a lovely house in the green and lush neighbourhood near the small stream. During the night it was raining cats and dogs but the next morning was sunny and great for new adventures. We visited Zoo that day and there was no sign of rain, again. Ljubljana Zoo is really worth a visit because of all the efforts that management and the staff are implementing into it. I know that I have friends that are strongly against the zoos. In that one day, we saw that the zoo’s staff are organizing and leading educational projects and programs with kids (overnight camping inside the Zoo is one of it). I strongly believe that the benefits outweigh the risks. I believe that among kids that visit the Zoo are future scientists and ecologists, and some of these kids will save the lives of endangered animals someday. Just because the zoo educators are doing great things and they are eager to teach every child as much as they can in any language they know. Great job you guys!
Metelkova mesto

Metelkova mesto

Low budget tip
Entrance ticket is 9€/adults and 6€/preschoolers and school kids but as I mentioned above, find some holiday that you exchange gifts with family and friends and problem solved. 🙂
And to sum up finally! Just go! Enjoy life and give your child your time, not plastic or electronic presents. And have fun!