The Secret Jewel of Europe!

Slovenia is a country located in southern central Europe, at the crossroad of the European trade routes.  It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and tiny slither of the Adriatic Sea to the southwest.  It covers 20,273 square kilometres (almost the same size as the Kruger National Park in South Africa) and has a population of 2.06 million which is just below the population of Paris.

Slovenia is mostly mountainous, with a significant biological diversity and is one of the most water-rich countries in Europe. Over half of the territory is covered by forest. The people have a huge respect for the environment, the country is super clean and people value the role of nature in their daily life.

OMW – what a tumultuous history (take a breath before you read-on)

Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different states, including the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Carolingian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg Monarchy, Republic of Venice and the Austrian Empire. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. 1929 brought another merger, this time with the Kingdom of Serbia, Croats and Slovenes and renamed to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia. Slovenia was a founding member of the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, later renamed the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In June 1991, after the introduction of a multi-party democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Finally, in 2007, Slovenia became the first former communist country to join the Eurozone.

As the locals say: “It is small but has a bit of everything for everyone” and they are so right.

From our side, we loved the small super neat and cute villages, each with a balcony beautifully decorated with colourful flowers pots. It is so green and indeed everywhere you look you see rivers and lakes. But the one river which stole our heart was the Soča River. Due to its glacial-blue/green water, the river is marketed as ‘The Emerald Beauty’. The Soča is also well known for its unique marble trout. We went hiking, swimming, rafting and experienced the largest European Zipline. The whole area has a fairy-tale quality.  We also loved the Julian alpes, we made it up the Vrsic Pass (the highest mountain pass in Slovenia at an altitude of 1661m) connects Kranjska Gora with the Soca valley where we found Planica a world famous winter ski sporting complex and were lucky to see some of the athletes in training. The first ski jump over 100m was achieved here in 1936. At the time, this was the biggest jumping hill in the world, sometimes called “the mother of all jumping hills”. It is amazing to see.

During WW1 the Soca, valley was the one bloodiest frontlines where approximately 1.7 million soldiers were wounded/died or attempting to navigate the steep mountain slopes and un surpassable canyons. Patrick convinced me to go explore one of the old abandoned bunker complexes. It was an amazing experience,  pitch dark, the perfect setting for an horror movie and I had to call it off, when I discovered the amount of giant spiders (well they looked giant to me) on some of the walls and the presence of bats in the narrow corridors. Patrick was not so impressed, I could see I was killing his archaeologist/Indiana Jones spirit.

Then you can only love the romantic setting of Lake Bled and the capital Ljubljana.

Thank you to the special Slovenian people who helped us better understand the country and its culture. Slovenians are incredibly welcoming and inviting.

We arrived in Hungary yesterday and what a first night it was. We were invited by Kati and Józsi (Joseph) who we met in Croatia, to experience an authentic Hungarian evening at their house. What a reception we have had. Unforgettable. Check our upcoming posts for more on this special night :-)