Ljubljana's Church of Saint Francis of Assisi stands in the Šiška district, north-west of the old centre, and it is one of the buildings by Jože Plečnik that UNESCO listed in 2021. Plečnik was born in Ljubljana in 1872, trained in Vienna under Otto Wagner, and worked in Prague, where he renovated the castle for the first Czechoslovak president, before returning to his home city in 1921. He spent the next decades remaking Ljubljana in his own style, with bridges, markets, a library and gardens, mixing classical forms with a personal, almost playful imagination. The church in Šiška, built in the late 1920s, is among his strangest and most original buildings.
From the outside the church looks a bit like a fortress, with a massive brick belltower rising beside a plain nave, and inside you find a wide hall with a flat ceiling and rows of pillars, lit from small windows. Plečnik used humble materials, brick, concrete and wood, but arranged them with such care that the effect is solemn and warm at once. It is a church for the neighbourhood, a place where people still come to worship, so be quiet and respectful.
Šiška was once a village outside the city and still keeps a slightly bohemian air, with a lively cultural centre and a mixture of old houses and new apartment blocks. Nearby, the wooded hill of Rožnik rises above the city, and the park of Tivoli, with its long avenues and Plečnik's promenade, makes a pleasant walk. In the evening, the cafes fill up, and the whole city feels relaxed, with cyclists everywhere.
The rides from here start easily. South, the road heads onto the Ljubljana Marsh and the quiet lanes around Brezovica and Dobrova, and north, a few kilometres away, the Karavanke mountains are the doorway to Austria through the Ljubelj pass, which climbs steeply on the way to Carinthia and the lakes near Klagenfurt, such as the Keutschacher See. The pass road has tight bends and can be busy with trucks, so allow extra time. Summer and the start of autumn suit it best, while winter puts snow and ice on the higher section.
Fuel is easy in the city, with stations on all the ring roads, and parking is easy around Šiška except in the centre. Slovenia requires an e-vignette for use of motorways, so check it before getting on the fast roads, and enjoy a coffee and a slice of potica, the walnut roll that every Slovene grandmother claims to make best.