Not long ago I mentioned those steep-pitched roofs on houses on Idrija and Postojna Street in Ljubljana. Tall houses are the exact opposite of what you’ll find in Murgle, another neighborhood not so far from here, that is known among locals. Very well known in fact. Mainly because hot shots like former presidents lived there (Milan Kučan and Janez Drnovšek), but also because of its green urban plan.
The idea behind the residential development was designing family houses with gardens and other green spaces and while keeping to as few cars as possible. One block of houses is approximately 35 houses connected with foot paths and surrounded by a small street, where the parking spaces and garages are ‘stashed’. And this was built in the 1970s, in our long-departed Yugoslavia!
Semi-detached or single ground-floor houses, each with an atrium, are planned simply but with extra caution with their ground-level plans to be utterly functional. Architectural plans incorporated nature in every possible detail, from sun movement to positioning houses to fit the environment that was here before. Trees along old ditches were suddenly the theme for the newly built streets of the Murgle neighborhood.
And this is the most unique aspect that you can find here. There are some streets around Slovenia that carry names from trees, but Murgle consists only of those.
‘Beneath the birches’,
‘Beneath the oaks’,
‘Beneath the chestnuts’, 
‘Beneath the alders’,
‘Beneath the linden trees’,
‘Beneath the ash trees’.
These streets got their names from the trees growing in that street. So imagine a beautiful walk, a relaxing bike ride and learning all the trees you might have forgotten in a quiet and charming neighborhood, Murgle. No tourists there, guaranteed.
