Photos: Tina Stariha / Kino Šiška

We’re aware this might sound like one of those insufferable travel essays where someone discovers authentic gelato and suddenly they’re all Eat Pray Love, but let’s talk about Ljubljana:

This charming Slovenian capital where heraldic dragons guard bridges and the food operates on a new level of deliciousness, there exists a small festival that has earned a disproportionately large place in our hearts.

The festival in question: Tinta Stripa, which happens every October.

Photos: Tina Stariha / Kino Šiška

The itinerary went like this:

We opened our exhibition “Apocalypse Now” (Oct. 11-31), which sounds more horrible than it actually was. We participated in the market, where we sold out our entire inventory in two hours – two hours – which was either a testament to our work or evidence that Slovenians are the most impulsive comic buyers in Europe. And then we did an on-stage interview and comic reading in an abandoned cinema that’s been repurposed as a concert venue, which is exactly the kind of atmospheric detail that makes you wonder if someone’s deliberately staging your life for maximum aesthetic impact.

We loved every second of our stay. Watch the interview here:

The German comic duo War and Peas (Elizabeth Pich and Jonathan Kunz) and their recognisable characters have already attracted over a million readers worldwide. In a talk moderated by Izar Lunaček, they shared insights into the behind-the-scenes process of creating their webcomic series, how it has evolved over the years, and how they manage to pack an entire story into just four panels. As a special treat, they also performed live interpretations of some of their comics.

Photos: Marcel Obal / Kino Šiška

Special thanks to Tanja Skale and Izar Lunaček!