…which is a good thing, because of all the places we’ve been, it’s one of the few places I want to return to sooner than later. No less than a half-dozen separate people would tell me something like, “You can be on the beach in the morning and skiing in the mountains by afternoon in Slovenia”. It contains multitudes.
Notable Slovenia Tidbits:
1) It is possibly prettier than my beloved Pacific Northwest, more green, more lush, more lakes, more blue sky, like if the drive over the Cascades or through the Olympics took performance-enhancing drugs. It was THAT beautiful.
One of my favorite scenes was church steeples peeking up through the hills and forests. My shots from a moving car window didn’t do them justice, so again, I turn to Bing images.
2) Slovenia was the first of the former Yugoslavia to declare its independence in 1991, resulting in the Ten Day War and about 65 casualties. The Croatian War of Independence, in comparison, lasted four years and resulted in 20,000 deaths. This is not to imply Slovenia is superior to Croatia–it was further from the political power of Yugoslavia and was able to control its own borders quickly.
3) Ljubljana (/YOU BLEE ahnna/ is as close as an American can get to the correct pronunciation) is the capital of this small and beautiful country of 2 million. Even as the biggest city, it is incredibly green, both botanically and ecologically. One of my highlights was borrowing a cruiser bike from our hotel and riding down to the Old Town to meet up with a tour and cruising back at our leisure. When I grow up, I want to live in a place just like Ljubljana which speaks English.
Ljubljana is a beautiful small city, and we found a restaurant that served traditional Slovenian food. I loved their liver & onions, which is a lifetime first. It may have been the best traditional food we’ve had.
4) As soon as we entered Slovenia, we stopped wearing masks. We didn’t see a single mask during our 5-days here.
5) Another thing I gave up once I entered Slovenia was trying to say local phrases. I’m not proud of this, but I thank all fates that made me a native English speaker in a bilingual world where Engish is the most common second language to learn.
| English | Slovene Phrases |
| Greeting | Pozdravi |
| Hi! | Zdravo! |
| Welcome! (to greet someone) | Dobrodošli! |
| Thank you (very much)! | Najlepša hvala |
| You’re welcome! (for “thank you”) | Ni za kaj |
6) In Slovenia, there be dragons! Seriously, Kyla tried counting them all when we were in Old Town and couldn’t keep up. Historically, it comes from the legend of St. George slaying the dragon, the symbol of evil. Now, Ljubljanian dragons are more of a beloved mascot. Kyla and I loved it.
7) The Ljubljana National Library is a much-beloved Slovenian building by a much-beloved Slovenian architect, Jože Plečnik. There is much symbolism in the entire structure, but I love the windows that look like open books.
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