Bank of travel logs around Slovenia

Brainstorming on Ljubljana

2012-02-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

we are five students with different cultural background studying Tourism Management at Ålborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark; Mette - Denmark, Judit - Hungary, Kasia and Magdalena – Poland and Petar – Bulgaria.

We have been assigned to work on a case concerning "Ljubljana and the outskirts-creating synergies and unique experiences".

We are in the phase of brainstorming and doing some desk research at the moment. The aim of our group is to find an innovative way to develop Slovenian tourism which might be done through improved marketing or product innovation.

Besides our academical objectives we are very much looking forward to experiencing the Slovenian culture and the local people’s hospitality. :)

Getting ready for Bohinj

2012-02-17T07:31:00.001-08:00

Only 3 days to go and we finally fly out to Slovenia! An all-girls international group made up of a Dane, a Bulgarian and a German is very excited to travel to Bohinj and investigate the challenges of the Bohinj EKO Park Hotel.

We all know that green travel becomes more and more important and that a growing number of tourists are very eager to stay in environmental-friendly hotels. Our research and investigation will focus on promoting the Bohinj Park Hotel to foreign countries. We want to find approaches to market the one-of-a-kind hotel to the American, Japanese and Scandinavian market. We will also concentrate on finding solutions to prolong the logical tourist season and will try to distinguish which part of the public is most suitable to traveling in spring and autumn.

We are so happy to have the opportunity to experience an all-around tour through the Bohinj Park Hotel and discuss the hotel’s vision, goals and strategy with the director Anže Čokl. We are also eager to meet Klemen Langus, the director of the local tourist organization and learn more about the destination’s tourism objectives and be given examples of good practice.

Our group is very looking forward to a challenging and stimulating experience for both sides and we can’t wait for it to begin!

See you next week! Elena, Anne Cecilie and Tatjana

Going to Bled

2012-02-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

So, we are leaving in a couple of days for Slovenia. I honestly confess the only image I had on this country was of a small island in the middle of a beautiful lake. Lucky me and lucky us, that’s where we are going, in Bled.

We are going as tourists and amateur researchers. We really hope we can get a clue on why tourists are not going anymore in Bled for the winter. That’s kind of the picture.

P.S. We are Maninder, Katka and Diana

Revitalization of the Koper port - preparations

2012-02-17T06:04:00.000-08:00

Studying on the 8th semester on the Tourism Master program at Aalborg University we are a part of an innovation project where we should develop Slovenia as a tourism destination. In connection to this we are working on developing the city of Koper from being an industrial city to an attractive tourism destination, which means changing the tourism from mass to class.

Before arriving to Slovenia we have been reading about the city and different travel blogs in order to get a better understanding of the history of the city and to know about the image it has among tourists.

After looking at this we realized that the city has a lot to offer, but that there is also room for improvement if it wants to attract more tourists. Our plan is therefore first of all to focus on what Koper can offer the tourists and here the port is of course going to be an essential part. Furthermore, we want to look at what the target group of the city should be and if the city should develop new offers in order to attract more tourists. When we have studied this we are thinking about using our findings to develop the most appropriate marketing strategy for the city and to find the best brand/slogan for Koper.

We look forward to experience what Slovenia, particularly the city of Koper, has to offer. Also, we expect to develop skills that are essential for our future career and professional performance.

Celica going Green - preparations

2012-02-17T05:59:00.000-08:00

We are five students from Aalborg University Copenhagen. All of us are from different countries in Europe, yet no one has ever been to Slovenia.
That is the reason why all of us are very excited and looking forward to our trip to the country. We think this is unique opportunity to develop our skills in real life business, while helping Slovenian tourism to develop.

The case of hostel Celica who wants to strengthen the eco-friendly side of the business is very interesting and unique. The brand and authenticity of the place are well branded and would be a challenge to work on the case. During our stay in the country we are sure to fulfill the purpose of our research but at the same time to have fun and explore and experience Slovenia to the fullest.

Kranj - preparations

2012-02-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

When asking people whether they have been to Slovenia, common responses are either ”No”, or “I have driven through Slovenia, but didn’t make any stops there”.

We are a group of three students, doing Tourism Master Program at Aalborg University in Copenhagen. We have got the opportunity to do a case study in Kranj, a town that wants to attract more tourists by re-establishing itself as a picturesque and culturally appealing town with rich traditions and archeological heritage. Our task is to go to Kranj for a couple of days and observe the town, and then come up with solutions of how this can be done. The big challenge is though: How can Kranj use its sources in order to create a strong profile that differentiates it from other similar towns in Europe? How can we make people make a stop in Kranj instead of just driving through the country?

We are really excited about this project, where our academic skills will for sure be put to the test and where we get the opportunity to use them practically. None of us has been to Slovenia before, and our research is at the moment limited to desk research, until we head down to Slovenia on Monday. We do though see this as an opportunity to look at Kranj with the eyes of an outsider. Perhaps we can see some links and potentials that locals don’t see.

See you on Monday, sLOVEnia! Pernille (Danmark), Pia (Denmark) and Anna (Iceland).

Innovation Camp in Slovenia

2012-02-17T05:41:00.010-08:00

From Monday, 20 Feb, to Friday, 24 Feb, a group of 23 Danish students and their 3 professors from the University Aalborg in Copenhagen will visit Slovenia with the aim to help various tourism destinations and facilities solve their real-life problems.

Over 10 challengers have gotten in touch with the Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia who is hosting the students and in the end, the following seven challenges have emerged for the students to be solved:
Case 1 - Tourism Innovation Policy in Slovenia: BTPS today and tomorrow
Case 2 - Tourism in Ljubljana and Central Slovenia: making it work in a package
Case 3 - Hostel Celica Going Green
Case 4 - Winter in Bled
Case 5 - Bohinj EKO Park Hotel
Case 6 - The Case of Kranj
Case 7 - Koper: Revitalization of the Port

Students have prepared short descriptions of their challenges in advance that will be followed by their impressions from the field trip in the next weeks. Stay in touch!

Taking a look back

2012-02-02T00:03:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

Sitting home in my warm kitchen feels good. I travelled 12 hours changing trains in Munich and Nuremberg. It was as long as a flight to San Francisco, but I enjoyed it anyway. The old-fashioned slow-motion journey took me through the beautiful snowy alpine landscapes of Slovenia, Austria and Bavaria. Here in Saxony, it's -10 degree Celsius outside, finally the winter hit Germany. Not much snow in my garden, though. This is my last post - after 4 months writing for the BTPS blog, it is time for some closing words. I've seen most of the chicken: the heart, the bottom, one foot, the back and the throat. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the head which is one good reason to come back :-). You don't know what I'm talking about? Look at the map and then you'll see...

I now have a pretty good picture about Slovenia's variety:
I discovered amazing natural phenomena like the sinking lake, I tasted eco wine and home-made food in some vineyards and medieval villages, I spoke to employees of the Slovenian Tourist Board about innovative strategies, I enjoyed the Christmas "wonderworld" in Ljubljana, I joined the "Days of Slovenian tourism" and learned more about the future development strategy of tourism, I could experience authentic tourism on the coast and on the edge of the Karst, I shared my experiences with "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme" during several occasions, fairs, presentations and even on TV, I stayed at one of the most innovative hotels of Europe in the Slovenian Alps and talked to the director of this tourism area and travelled to "bravest city in the world" Maribor (this years European Cultural Capital) and finally saw one of Slovenia's many castles.

Slovenia has it all: mountains, caves, coast, vinyards, flat land and forests. All within a 1-2 hour drive. The landscape outside the two biggest cities Ljubljana and Maribor is rather unpopulated and untouched. Not even wind turbines. Sometimes I felt like being put back in time. I spent my last weekend in Ljubljana by walking up the castle hill together with my Slovenian friend and enjoyed a cappucino afterwards on the oldest skyscraper Ljubljana's with a beautiful view to the city. I also went to the "Alpe-Adria Tourism and Leisure Show", one of the biggest fairs in the whole region, to see what the neighbour countries have to offer and I met some old friends: the NEC-team from Cerknica and Nina and Matjaž from Autentica.

I want to thank you all for your cooperation, kindness and openness! SLOVENIA ROCKS!!! I really loved meeting and talking to so many different people and I am happy that I got so many insider-tips and now know places where only locals go. I will tell everyone I know about your beautiful tiny country and who knows, one day I might bring tourists on my own. ;-)

Adijo! Se vidimo!

Final explorations

2012-01-23T03:22:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I was full of expectations when I decided to go to Maribor - this year's European Cultural Capital to work with tour operator Slavija turizem, your "personal travel assistent" specialized in group tours and active sport & fun tours in Slovenia and the neighbouring countries. I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I should have come in the summer...Maribor is the second biggest city of Slovenia with approximately 100.000 inhabitants and suffered a lot since the decline of the industry that came with the fall of Yugoslavia. However, I stayed in a really cool hostel in Maribor Tabor on the other side of river Drava ca. 10 min. away from the city centre. Just ignore the ugly socialist blocks and go to the old part Lent (see photo). There you can see the oldest grapevine in the world which was planted ca. 400 years ago. You can still see the remains of the city walls and some medieval towers. "Glavni trg" - the main square with the city hall looks beautiful and German/Austrian. No wonder, Maribor is actually the capital of Slovenian Steiermark. I recommend the restaurant "HappyPek" where you can eat a daily menu (kosilo) for 5 Euro. Also the rest of the pedestrian zone reminds me of Germany especially because of all the chains of German shops (Müller, dm, backwerk, Lidl...).

I talked to Sašo Cosic, the director of Slavija turizem, and he said he really enjoys living here 'cause there is so much more that you can do around Maribor than in Ljubljana. The Pohorje mountains are just a few steps outside the city, where you can do all kinds of sports: from hiking to cycling in the forests to "night skiing" until 9 pm in the wintertime. There must be wine growing hills and some wellness spa hotels here as well, but I didn't have the time to explore them. Sašo wanted me to help him to find partnes in Germany. I did research on German tour operators with a similar programme as Slavija turizem and biking clubs from my area and contacted some of them. I know that many people in Germany have never heard of Slovenia and if they did, they have no idea how beautiful it actually is and are also afraid of communication problems. Even some of my friends think I'm crazy to come back here over and over again. :-)

On the weekend my friend Matej and me went to the nearby castle Štatenberg in the region Makole which is ca. 30 km south of Maribor. It is more like a palace (Slovenian: dvorec) and dates back to 1720. Franc Kociper, volunteer at the local tourist society and highly motivated man welcomed us. He and a bunch of other people founded this tourist society one year ago to bring the baroque castle with its frescoes, old furniture, ethnological collection as well as the restaurant back to life. The actual owner of the castle, a company from Slovenska Bistrica has no real interest in investing. Hard times. The area around is not very spectacular. Franc told us about "the old times" when there existed a hotel in the castle and they offered horse riding and hiking trips in the hilly region around. His son runs the restaurant which is decorated with antique furniture and a hall can be used for special occasions such as weddings or small concerts. It has potential, of course, but when he asked me if German tourists would come here, I couldn't lie. We have so many castles, palaces, fortresses in Germany which are in a much better condition that I think it would be hard to compete. However, if they organized some events and renovated the place, work together with other local tourist societies to offer something else than just the visit of the castle in this area, there might be a chance of attracting Slovene tourists. They think about opening a youth hostel in the future which is a great idea.

On the way back we stopped in Ptuj, the oldest city of Slovenia, again with a caslte. It was 6 o'clock and nobody was on the streets. We couldn't find a descent restaurant, so we returned and had dinner in Maribor.

Alpine valley Bohinj

2012-01-16T00:20:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I didn't consider myself as a mountain person before. I always prefered beaches, cultural and historical places and cities for travelling. But here in Slovenia I became a mountain lover! "On the sunny side of the Alps" you can find inner peace and enjoy untouched nature much better than in the typical "mass tourism" Alpine valleys and ski-resorts in Austria. In the heart of the Triglav National Park in north-western Slovenia lies Bohinj, a beautiful glacial lake surrounded by the Julian Alps. I was very lucky to be invited to stay at ECO Resort & Spa Bohinj Park Hotel, one of the most innovative and ecological hotels in Europe. From there you can easily reach ski-center such as Vogel or go hiking around lake Bohinj in the summertime. The nearby waterfall "Slap Savica" is also nice and very famous for France Prešeren who is considered as the Slovene national poet (he wrote "The Baptism at Savica Falls").

I had a meeting with the hotel sales manager Jana Pekovec and she showed me around the hotel which includes among other things conference rooms, a small bowling center and cinema and of course the Aquapark which is included in the price for hotel guests. I checked the German image brochure and website for any mistakes and also helped to find German tour operators who are specialized in eco/ luxurious hotels. The hotel and the rooms have a simple design in the colors white, black, beige and brown. From everywhere you have a beautiful view to the Alps and the small remote village Bohinjska Bistrica. I missed pictures on the walls and green plants. The corridors are kind of dark and only lit up by small LED lamps - all in the name of being sustainable and saving energy. Anyway, the hotel was awarded with the Green Globe Certificate and won the "Sejalec" in 2010 (Slovenian tourism award for innovation). In addition to the hotel, a project to build a new eco ski-resort under the new brand "2864" (which is the height of Slovenia's highest mountain Triglav) has started. If you want to know more about the story behind 2864, watch the 3-min. film "Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories".

On Wednesday I went to Turizem Bohinj to talk with director Klemen Langus about the situation of tourism in the area and the annual "International Wild Flower Festival". In the area you can find over 1,000 different species of wildflowers. To extend the season and to promote the importance of the natural and cultural heritage of Bohinj they came up with the great idea to organize a festival in May and June. For more information, click here.

Happy New Year

2012-01-08T23:53:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I wish you all a Happy New Year and hope your 2012 will be terrific!!!

Some of my friends have asked me how to start a business, what the requirements are to join the "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme" and especially how the state can support you with the whole process. I know, many of you never thought about opening their own company because it is risky and you will for sure not earn a lot of money in the first years. It is true - you need to be a little dreamer, have courage, initiative and most of all like what you're doing. Anyway, I would hereby like to encourage you a little - maybe someday in your life, there comes the time when you want to do your own thing instead of working for somebody else and become your own boss :-)! I probably won't start my business right after my time here in Slovenia. I feel I still need more working experience first and I also would like to go to England and Estonia to do more research on tourism.

The opening of a new company is an asset for everyone: When a start-up succeeds it is not only profitable for the founder itself, but also for the labour market (because new jobs are created) and the state (through taxes). That is why persons starting up a new business are supported in many ways (here I describe the situation in Germany, but there are similar programmes in other European countries, too). You can get a start-up grant from the "Arbeitsagentur" (German employment office) when you are unemployed and want to open you own company. A good business plan and a certified financial plan (by a tax consultant or chamber of commerce) are necessary. The "Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau" (German bank institute) is providing specific loans for start-ups. In addition to that, founders of a new business are entitled to get 90 % refund on start-up coaching by the KfW. There are many start-up initiatives carried out by universites or other institutions such as "Exist" - a programme of the German Ministry of Economics designed for students, graduates and scientists. "Exist" supports in particular technology oriented business ideas and everything based on scientific realizations.

Sometimes you have to change your perspective to find a new solution! Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme can help you with that! It is designed for young people who either are in the first 3 years of their own business or want to start-up. Go out and broaden your mind! You will be hosted by an experienced entrepreneur in another European country and can learn from him or even make future business contacts. All you need is a business idea and a business plan. Apply now!

Photo: TV-Interview about my working project in Slovenia for Evropski magazin (European Magazine) RTV 2

10 things I like about Slovenia

2011-12-18T23:30:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

As the holiday season approaches, I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to my host entrepreneur Novi turizem and to the four tourism institutions/companies (NEC Cerknica, Vina Štekar, STB and Autentica) I visited so far for your invitation to collaborate with me and your hospitality. Without your support this exchange programme and my future business would not be possible.
I send my best wishes to you and your loved ones and hope that the New Year will be filled with happiness and most of all business success. I look forward to working with you in the coming year!

Being a "young ambassador" of Slovenia, I feel I should say some things about what I like most about this beautiful tiny country:

1. The variety of landscapes that can be discovered: from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea within one day!
2. Unspoiled character of nature.
3. The hospitality and modesty of the people.
4. Many people are multilingual: they understand and speak at least English and German. On the coast Italian is very common.
5. The hearty and natural food: some dishes are very German/Austrian/Hungarian-like :-). But also Slovenian pizza tastes fresher and more natural than Italian! My favourite food is jota and koruzni kruh.
6. The historical and cultural richness: Over centuries Slovenia was part of different kingdoms and empires and has been influenced by the Slavic, Roman/Venetian, German and Austro-Hungarian culture which can still be seen today in the architecture of the cities. My favourite cities are Piran and Ljubljana.
7. Since 2004 Slovenia is part of the European Union and introduced the Euro as a currency in 2007. This made travelling and economic cooperation much easier.
8. Slovenia as starting point for travels to Eastern countries: Experience and enjoy Slovenia and "the forgotten Europe" by going to Croatia, Hungary and the Balkans in just a few hours!
9. A Slovenian friend is a friend for a lifetime.
10. Relaxed atmosphere and attitude: since I have been living here I'm enjoying life more and I'm always late (yeah I know, these punctual Germans...)

Vesel božič in srečno novo leto 2012 :-)

Photo: Promotional presentation for "Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs" at youth club Cerknica (11.11.2011) for young people in the area including a group of young project managers. I was talking about the application process and my experiences with the programme as well as competitiveness of tourism in the Notranjska region.

Authentic Experience

2011-12-16T01:10:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I spent the last days working with travel agency Autentica in Koper. Thank you Matjaž and Nina for showing me some of the attractions in Istria and on the Karst edge: we went to Hrastovlje, a small village below the Kraški rob (Karst edge - a natural border between Karst plateau and Slovenian Istria) with an old church surrounded by walls and world-famous frescoes inside (see photo). In Marezige, the "center of Refošk wine", we tasted typical Istrian wine at Dean Plahuta's ecological wine estate. A very spiritual place for me was "Slovenian Stonehenge" ;-) near Krkavče. Well, actually it's just one stone on a hill above the Dragonja valley which dates back to the 1st century. Anyway, just as we arrived at noon all churches on the hills around this strategical place started to ring their bells. Amazing!

"In search of the white gold" - "Night walk by torchlight" and "Become a caver for a day!" are just some of the charming slogans of authentic experiences that you can enjoy in the Slovenian Istria and around with Autentica. I translated some of their tours for MICE guests in Portorož into German. I hope I did the job all right :-).

Until now, I wasn't really sure if I was able to open my own business in the future - well I have all the ideas in my head. I like to create individual tours to Slovenia and Estonia and I know from family experience what it means to manage your own business, but I'm actually not sure if I would find enough people to sell my tours to. Since I've seen what Matjaž and Nina are doing and that they really have success with the concept of offering authentic tours, I'm now getting much more motivated to try it on my own. They told me to be brave and think positive ;-) and most of all to pick the right target groups and find financial support for the first three years. We were also talking about working together in the future. Besides being manager of Autentica, Matjaž also works for the "incubator" of the University of Primorska in Koper, which gives innovative small and new companies and young entrepreneurs a platform and support to keep their business flourishing in the first years. I have to find a similar institution in Germany!

Days of Slovenian Tourism

2011-12-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

On 8 and 9 December the Days of Slovenian Tourism took place at the Congress Center Bernardin in Portorož. The two-day event brings all tourism institutions of Slovenia together, including Slovenian Tourist Board, Ministry of the Economics, Tourist Association of Slovenia, Chamber of Tourism and Catering, Chamber of Crafts and Entrepreneurship, Association of Tourist Agencies of Slovenia as well as Slovenian Convention Bureau to talk about the future of Slovenia as a travel destination.

I joined Novi turizem team Tina and Dejan on Friday for the plenary session at the 14th Slovenian Tourism forum, where the new Development Strategy Plan for Slovenian Tourism 2012-2016 was presented. Thanks to headphones and translators I could understand everything :-)! There is still much debate on the vision and mission of the strategy. Some argue for instance, that Slovenia should focus on one main product. Others say, that there is no single USP that could work for Slovene tourism. The complexity of the brand Slovenia is the true advantage. All in all, the Slovenian Tourist Board wants to focus and encourage sustainable, high-quality and responsible tourism by promoting a GREEN sLOVEnia.

What I found really interesting was the presentation of Daniel Levine (Avant Guide Institute, New York). He talked about "The New Future of Tourism: How Slovenia will thrive beyond 2012" and showed us how Slovenia could and should use global trends in the tourism industry - personalize your products and services, post on social web, know who talks about you online and respond, think mobile and promote meaningful experiences including health, learning, environment, friends and family to name just a few of his tips.

Thanks for letting me join the event with you Novi turizem :-)! I met many innovative and inspiring people such as Tomaž Štefe, the initiator and former manager of Hostel Celica which is an old prison turned into a hip hostel, and Miha Anzelc from Židana Marela, a private company of three guys who found a market niche by organizing unique Slovenian evenings, special tours for photographers and stag parties for mostly British tourist.

Crazy! Already Christmas time?

2011-12-06T03:40:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

It feels really strange to see all the Christmas decorations in the city centre in Ljubljana. I mean it looks nice, but where have all the last weeks gone? Still weather is playing tricks this year with around 10 degrees Celsius and just a little rain. Give me snow, then I might believe that Christmas time is here. Maybe some hot mulled wine on the Christmas market will help me to get into the holiday season feeling. Different to Germany, they serve mulled wine here either white (belo) or red (rdeča). Along the Ljubljanica river you can find hundred stands to gather your friends and colleagues.

Do you know what? I will become the next Slovenian TV Super Star! Seriously.

Mrs. Mojca Reček, journalist of the national TV Slovenia, would like to make a promotional videoclip of Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme for the TV show "European Magazine" and asked me and Kamila, another young entrepreneur, to join the show. They will film us at work and do a little interview. I've never been on TV before. So, wish me luck :-).

Hey, did you hear about the new challenge of the Slovenian Tourist Board and Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia? On the platform Challenge:Future you can still submit your innovative ideas (deadline: 12 December). It's all about "Old stories 4 new adventures" and young people from all over the world take part.

Take care and stay tuned!

I feel SOCIAL MEDIA

2011-11-25T00:30:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I've been following the development of the website and the marketing strategy of the Slovenian Tourist Board over the past 5 years. I think both improved a lot and I especially became a huge fan of the new brand "I FEEL SLOVENIA".

After all those years being a supporter of Slovenia as a "new" travel destination, I was able to set foot in the institution where it is all promoted: the Slovenian Tourist Board in Ljubljana. Here I learned a lot of things about the work of STB and all that innovative stuff they are doing. I had a meeting with STB web editor Luka Sever and Nina Cvirn who is responsible for social media (see photo) and they told me about the innovative strategies of STB in general and for e-marketing and social media.

What they are doing was at first not quite familiar to me. Of course, I know Facebook and Co., but there is so much more that you can do in the world wide web and SOCIAL MEDIA:

In the field of domestic marketing and public relations the STB established Next Exit and uses Foursquare. Both to simplify your travel and motivate you to go "off the beaten track" by using new routes and be able to get information via your mobile phone.

Facebook advertisements are used for specific target groups as well as the Facebook App "Slowwwbus", a game where you can win an adventure trip like rafting in Slovenia dependent on how high you scored.

STB also uses QR (= quick response) codes at their information stands during fairs and exhibitions. They even won a price at this year's World Travel Market in London for the Best Stand for Interacting with Travel Agents - Slovenian Tourist Board was singled out for the access to information made available to travel agents. Instead of weighing them down with brochures, agents could simply download everything they needed to know. A big screen where agents could also flick through digital brochures proved to be not only eye-catching but a good way of getting the information out.

Time doesn't stand still - every day there is something new. That is why the overall social media strategy of the STB including Facebook, youtube, Twitter, Google+ and Foursquare is under constantly development.

Another innovative thing I like to point out is the GREEN sLOVENia campaign:
They take part in the European Project called EDEN (European Destination of Excellence) and award best practise of green tourism e.g. ecological tourist farms.

On the next day I was kindly invited to the STB Motivational Event at Hotel & Castle Drnča near Radovljica with presentations and workshops about social media and web analytics to improve websites and user activities of all members of the portal slovenia.info.

Hvala lepa Luka and Nina for sharing your knowledge and ideas with me! And thanks also for the invitation to the Motivational Event!

Don't forget to visit FEEL SLOVENIA on Facebook!

Martinovanje

2011-11-18T00:53:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

Last weekend some friends and me went to Nova Gorica and nearby Goriška Brda. "Brda" means hills in English and the region is situated in western Slovenia near Italy. Again, I was astonished about another area I've never heard of before: with beautiful vineyards, medieval villages and many kaki trees - its fruits also ripen around St. Martin's Day.

Nova Gorica I didn't really like so much. The town was buiIt in 1948 after a newly established border between Yugoslavia and Italy. If you like casinos and an average "American style" town, it might be something for you. The old town (Stara Gorica) is nicer, but now lies behind the border in Italy.

The events organized around St. Martin's Day (so-called martinovanje) in Slovenia celebrate the time when grape must turn into young wine and are getting livelier every year. Not only in Goriška Brda, but also in one of the other 13 wine regions such as Slovenian Istria, Karst, Vipava Valley, Dolenjska, Prekmurje and Štajerska/Steiermark.

Back to Goriška Brda:

It's a picturesque area with around 80 different wine-growing estates. No offense, but it is more developed for tourism than the wine region in northern Portugal which I visited 2 years ago. There are signs everywhere leading you along "vinska cesta" (wine road) and many "kmetijas" (farms) have a restaurant and on average five guest rooms (Bed & Breakfast).

I had a meeting with Jure Štekar at Vina Štekar in Kojsko. They produce ecological wines and offer home-made food in their restaurant. You can also stay in one of their four cosy rooms.

Don't miss it - it is really nice and the house was renovated last year.

Or visit their website for more information:

www.stekar.si/ in three languages

www.vinastekar.si (wines, only Slovene language)

Jure gave as a little tour around the winery and we also tasted wine.

To be honest, I am not an expert when it comes to wine. I'll try to improve :-). But I can really recommend the following wines which I tasted in the last month and are typical for Primorska region (including Goriška Brda, Karst and Istria):

- Rebula (white wine from Goriška Brda)

- Kraški Teran (Teran from Karst region, a dark red wine)

- Refošk (Istrian red wine)

For matinovanje we went to the medieval village Šmartno and enjoyed a hearty jota (traditional soup) with white wine in a cosy gostilna (pub).

Thank you Jure for the great wine!

Don't forget to visit him at his wine farm ;-).

Na zdravje!

Mysterious Disappearance

2011-11-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I would never have thought about visiting Cerknica and the rural area around called "Notranjska". Even many Slovenians don't know much about it, which is strange for me, because it is so close to the capital Ljubljana. Thanks to Anja from NEC Cerknica, who invited me kindly to stay at her home for one week, I could experience all the natural and cultural wonders Notranjska has to offer.

The biggest "disappearing lake" in the world (Cerkniško jezero) is an amazing natural wonder - it lies in a depression of the limestone plateau known as Karst and looks different in every season. Sometimes in summer it is completely dried out and you can walk across to see its sinkholes to subterranean caves.

If you're "lucky" you can meet bears in the Notranjska Regional Park - Slovenia has one of the biggest populations of brown bears who live here in natural forests. They are even exported to other countries ;-).

Together with Anja's colleagues we took an individual guided tour through Križna Cave. It was much better than the popular Postojna Cave which is too touristy for my taste. We walked 20 min. equipped with boots and our own lamps to a subterranean lake (one of 22! in the cave) and continued the trip by boat. The guide was very funny and multilingual.

What else? You shouldn't miss Rakov Škocjan, a valley (Karst dolina) and natural reserve with natural bridges. And then, to my surprise, we visited a hunting castle in Snežnik, which belonged to the Saxon family Schönburg of Dresden (a little piece of home in Slovenia :-)).

Not to forget the many "kmetijas" in Notranjska! Kmetijas are tourist farms that give you insight in their traditional work and producing of for instance jam, wine and brandy. We tasted home made brandy in Kmetija T'Dolenj with a beautiful view of the Cerknica Lake.

The region has a very good potential for natural tourism - in many ways. I recommend it especially for research and educational trips for instance for schools and students of geography/geology and hydrology. There is a interactive museum/interpretation center in Dolenje Jezero where you can learn more about the process of the disappearing lake on the basis of a living model.

Thank you Anja for the great time! I learned so many new things about Slovenia and the work of the Ecological Center which among other things deals with the so-called "interpretation of heritage" - one way of exploring and proving authentic tourism.

My head is full of new impressions and ideas!

Adijo!

My travel plans

2011-11-07T01:44:00.000-08:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

One month of my stay is already over - three months to go!

I worked out the dates of my travels around the country. So far I want to visit eight different places all over Slovenia:

1. Notranjska Region and Ecological Center in Cerknica www.nec-cerknica.si/domov

2. Nova Gorica/ Brda wine region on St. Martin's Day, wine-estate Kojsko http://www.vinastekar.si/

3. Slovenian Tourist Board in Ljubljana http://www.slovenia.info/

4. Travel Agency Autentica in Koper http://www.autentica.si/

5. Castle Štatenberg and Tourism Association in Makole www.slovenia.info/?grad=3622&lng=2

6./ 7. Bohinj Turizem & ECO Hotel http://www.bohinj.si/ & http://www.bohinj-park-hotel.si/

8. Tour Operator Slavija Turizem in Maribor http://www.slavija.si/

I will do longer and shorter visits, bigger and smaller projects. With all of them I will talk about their business and situation in the Slovenian travel industry and try to learn about their products and offers in general and also if they are doing anything innovative. Others asked me to help with creating a product, how to put this especially on the German market and to find contacts in Germany. I will also look at their German websites if any correction is needed.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone and willing to learn & help as much as I can!

Check out my travel route (pic)!

Ariane

Getting started

2011-10-20T03:51:00.000-07:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

I've had some time now to reflect on the few weeks I've spent here and to clearly define my goals for the upcoming months.

Meanwhile it has been great weather for Ljubljana ;-). I remember being here last year during the same time and it was raining cats and dogs! I couldn't get my shoes dry for over a week and got a cold just right after I arrived. A Slovenian friend told me that Ljubljana has even more rain in average per year than London. Unbelievable. Anyway, this year it's a whole different story. With almost 30 degrees Celsius by the end of September it is said to be the hottest summer in 100 years. Well, it just started to rain today....

Last week I joined Tina to the opening of a new tourist agency here in Ljubljana called PREMIKI (which means movements). It's a further development of Turag4all and it's all about accessible tourism. They focus on target groups with special needs such as disabled people, old people or pregnant woman. It is a really interesting concept, I think, and I wish Dolores will have a fruitfull business! We'll see if there is a possibility for cooperation in the future.

Yesterday I met Sebastjan Rosa, the Slovenian coordinator, and we presented the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneur Programme together with a young entrepreneur from Spain at Studentska Arena, the biggest event for students in Ljubljana. That is where the photo of this post was taken :-).

I was thinking about how to make the best out of my stay here. Tina posted the news about my stay on the BTPS website and I got many emails from tourism providers. YEAH!

I already got in contact with Anja from Notranjska Ecological Center and we agreed to do a little project together. I will visit her and the ECO Center in the beginning of November and we want to try to create something together, which is great and exactly what I was looking for. Of course, such things take time - so I decided to do a longer project with her lasting until January.

You probably won't believe it, but I seriously did some research at the library of the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. There you get access to search engines for academic journals and I found loads of papers in English on Slovenian tourism.

So, my mission is to find and/or create innovative and authentically tourism products with the help of any tourism player who is interested to collaborate with me. Hereby I would be happy to help and promote rather unknown places in Slovenia, you know, everything except the top destinations >Postojna Cave, Bled and Ljubljana<.

It's getting better and better!

Stay tuned about my journey around GREEN sLOVEnia!

Lep pozdrav,

Ariane

Hej Slovenija! - Hello Slovenia!

2011-10-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

Ariane Goerke, young German entrepreneur discovering innovative Slovenian tourism

Here I am - a young ambitious girl from Germany :-)! Being relieved that all my university final exams are behind me, I will discover innovative tourism in Slovenia for the next 4 months.

Actually, this is not my first time in Slovenia. I fell in love with the country 5 years ago when visiting a friend and keep coming back every now and then. After 5 years of studying Geography, Business Administration and English at the University of Trier (Germany), I am now ready to do my own thing.

I intend to open my own travel business (a tour operator) with special focus on small and rather unknown countries like Slovenia and Estonia - a market niche in Germany. Looking for and providing authentically and innovative tourist products is my overall-goal. I am glad to be able to do this exchange with the New Tourism Institute sponsored by Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs programme. Hvala lepa Tina and Dejan!

An important part of my stay will be visiting Slovene tourism businesses of any kind. So, if you are a hotel, cultural or natural sight, restaurant, travel agency, tourist information, city marketing agency or any other tourism player in Slovenia who has creative ideas and offers some kind of innovative or authentic product - get in touch with me (ariane.goerke@googlemail.com) and we can arrange a meeting!

I'll keep you posted!

Ariane

Podravska

2011-06-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

The Podravska region lies in the northeast of Slovenia. Its name derives from the main river of the region: river Drava. The area is about 2,170 km² big and there live 319,144 people. It has one of the best transport infrastructures of Slovenia: an excellent motorway connection with Graz (Austria) and Ljubljana, good railways and the airport of Maribor.

Maribor
Most of the city’s historical sites are situated in the old city centre, so actually all cultural and historical sites can be visited by foot.
Bee keeping is a local tradition in Maribor and the rest of Slovenia. For the people who would like to learn everything about the local bee keeping, there is a Bee-Keeping Centre (Address: Streliška 150). You get to know why honey is so healthy and how it is produced. You can taste different types of honey, e.g. chestnut, acacia and linden, without any costs at all. In summer, you can see the bees working through the sides of a glass beehive. If you would like to buy a souvenir, you should buy the homemade honey wine, various honey liquors and champagne.
If you are on a business trip and want some rest or if you are stressed of all the travelling during your holiday, you might like to take a walk in the Maribor’s City Park (Pri Parku). This peaceful park, just north of the historical town centre, is absolutely one of Maribor’s best recreational sites. Funny are the squirrels up and around the trees, always searching for food. If you like classical music, you really should go to the park on Sundays because then there are several concerts held in the pavilion.
Maribor Castle (Address: Grajska 2) doesn’t really look like a medieval castle, but more like a City Hall. This is mainly because the current building has gone through various style periods. However, the original castle was built in Gothic style in 1555 to serve as a noble residence. But in the 17th century, fortifications were added in the Renaissance style. It was in this time that the southern façade was added as well. In the 18th century the staircase was added as we still can see it nowadays. Currently, the castle is home to the Regional Museum of Maribor (Muzej Pokajinski) with local artefact collections.
The synagogue (Address: Židovska 4) was built in 1465 to serve as a Jewish house of prayer, but also as an educational centre of the Jewish religion. The city’s Jewish community has ever since 1290 lived in the this street. The tower in which the synagogue is housed, was a part of the medieval fortified part of Maribor. It currently serves as a photo gallery, showing various photos about Jewish culture. However, the building’s original character is still present and it is considered to be one of the city’s main heritage sites.
The remarkable Water Tower (Address: Usnjarska 10) is called ‘Vodni stolp’ in Slovene. It was built in 1555 as a part of the city’s fortifications. These fortifications were set up against the Turkish invaders. Currently it functions partially as a wine shop. The upper floor of the tower is like a medieval dinner hall and serves as a place of wine tasting.
Maribor Cathedral (Address: Slomškov Trg 20) was built in 1248 as a Roman basilica, but got its Gothic appearance in the 15th century. The Baroque chapels date from the 16th and 18th centuries. Inside, there is a generously decorated and light giving altar. Quite special is the stained glass
window remembering the papal visit to Slovenia in 1999 by Pope John Paul II. You can have a look from the top of the tower if you would like to. These tours are available between 08:00 and 18:00.
Against the wall of the Old Vine House (Address: Vojašniška 8), you can see the oldest vine in the world. At an age of 400 years, the vine has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records. The vine still bears the Zametovka grape, which is one of the oldest grape sorts in Slovenia. the house is nowadays a museum for people who would like to know more about the rich wine culture of the Styrian region. It offers various excursions for wine lovers. You can buy here some nice Styrian wines at a very generous discount.

Ptuj
Ptuj is the oldest town in Slovenia. It is a colourful city with a flourishing nightlife. And it has a relaxed appearance with its public spaces, parks and its location by the river Drava. It lies in the centre of Slovenia’s most important wine growing region. Its history is very rich and archaeological findings of Illyrians, Celts and Romans prove this. You can see the main sights in just half a day, because everything of real interest is concentrated on or just some metres off the two main squares      (Mestni trg and Slovenski trg) and the main street (Prešernova ulica). Because of a lack of industrial development in the city itself, it still has its picturesque appearance, which is loved by tourists.
If you would like to take some great photos of a typical Slovenian town, you should go to Mestni trg with the muddy-green Town Hall, a beautifully stuccoed corner house (café Evropa), a plague column to remember the people who died because of the plague and a court house with a Renaissance portal.
Very attractive is the Slovenski Trg. The brightest coloured house of the square is Ptuj’s theatre. Very remarkable, of course, is the tower that dominates the square: it is the City Tower (Mestni stolp). The tower was built in the 16th century as a bell tower for St. George’s church, but was used as a watch tower during the 17th century. The tower’s ground floor currently serves as a tourist information centre.
The most impressive of the military and civic tombstones under the tower is the Orpheus’s monument. It was cut from the local Pohorje marble in ancient Roman times and was erected to commemorate mayor Marcus Verus of Poetuvio. It is called the Orpheus’s Monument because it depicts the story of Orpheus. Despite the actual goal of this monument, it was used for public beatings during the Middle Ages.
The church of St. George (cerkev Sv Jurija) has been beautifully decorated. Of special interest are the pews of the choir, which are made of oak wood and ornamented with figures of plants and animals, and the 14th century wooden sculpture of Saint George in the display.
Every year there is a festival called Kurentovanje. It is a kind of carnival celebrated in the region. For more information see ‘Land, People and Culture: National holidays and events: Kurentovanje’.

Ptujska Gora
Ptujska Gora is a very popular place for hikers and cyclists, this is mainly because of the stunning sight on the flatlands of Dravsko Polje and the Haloze Hills.
Ptujska Gora is mainly visited because of its St Mary’s church, which was built in on the peak of a 352 metres high hill and is visible from far away. Unlike other churches across the country, it has no forerunner, which means it is the first building on this location. Ptujska Gora was heavily damaged by Turkish invasions, so the inhabitants of the village fortified the church heavily. It is a pilgrimage church and one of the most beautiful Gothic churches on Slovenian ground. It attracts about 60,000 visitors to Ptujska Gora every year.

Tourist Information Centre
Address: Partizanska 6a
Telephone: 234 66 11
Website: www.maribor-pohorje.si

Tourist information centre
Address: Ptujska Gora 36
telephone: +386 (0)2 7940027 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            +386 (0)2 7940027      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
e-mail: info@ptujska-gora.si

Osrednjeslovenska

2011-06-07T03:39:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

This is the central and most densely populated region of Slovenia. The country’s capital, Ljubljana, is situated in this region. Therefore, there are good traffic connections into every direction. Because of all the facilities located in Ljubljana, the region is economically more developed than other regions in the country.

Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital and the biggest city of Slovenia. There live about 310,000 people in Ljubljana. Most embassies, consulates and government buildings are situated here. It combines the characteristics of a capital with a relaxed town atmosphere. It is easy to travel around the city and see the most important attractions, because the main places of interest are nearly all situated within a small area that includes the old city centre on the right riverbank of the Ljubljanica. After centuries of Habsburg’s rule, Ljubljana almost feels Austrian. In 1985, much of the town was destroyed by an earthquake. The town was rebuilt in the art nouveau-style, because it was very popular in its capital at that time, Vienna. Because of this and because of the huge amount of students, Ljubljana appears to be a young city.
Joze Plečnik is a name you should know before going sightseeing in Ljubljana. He transformed Ljubljana from a provincial town into a real capital, in just three and a half decades. Most of the architectural attractions in the city are his works, e.g. Tivoli Park, the Triple Bridge and the Church of St Francis.
A good place to start your sight-seeing tour, is Ljubljanski Grad (Ljubljana’s Castle). It is located on the top of a hill in the centre, looking out over the whole city and its surroundings. It is a pity that the 800-years-old castle has been renovated instead of being restored, nevertheless you will have a great view from here.
You can go down the hill by using the cable car or the various hiking paths. Down the hill you can find the city’s daily market. Here you can buy everything you need, e.g. fresh fruit and vegetables, cheeses, souvenirs and clothes. There is a great atmosphere, because of the colonnade running along the river. It was built by Joze Plečnik in 1940.
Stolnica sv Nikolaja (cathedral of Saint Nicholas) is the catholic cathedral of the archdiocese Ljubljana and is the biggest church of the city. It has two remarkable green bell towers. There has been a 13th century Romanesque basilica at the same site as the current cathedral, which was also dedicated to St. Nicholas, patron of sailors and fishermen. The present appearance of the cathedral only dates back to 1700, when a new church was built. Be aware that it is generally closed from 12.00 to 15.00.
When you cross the Tromostovje (Triple Bridge), you will arrive in the new part of the city’s centre on the left bank of the Ljubljanica. The bridge consists of an old stone bridge built in 1842 and two newer bridges, which were added by Joze Plečnik in 1931. Close to the Triple Bridge is the city's major square, Prešernov trg. There is a statue of France Prešeren, the most important Slovenian poet. He lived in Ljubljana during the 19th century. In one of the cafes he wrote, probably being drunk, an ode to the Slovenes. In this ode, Zdravljica, he praises the Slovenian wine, but also the Slovenian youngsters as a hope for a better future. His poems have always been loved by the people. One of the verses of this ode has become the national anthem after the independence of Slovenia. If you look into the same direction as Prešeren, you’ll see a bust of Julija Primic, his unreachable lover.
The red Frančiškanska cerkev (Franciscan church) at Prešernov trg was built between 1646 and 1660 by Augustinians, who lived inside this monastery until the end of the 18th century. Because of financial problems, the facade was only finished in 1700. Later the church was taken over by the Franciscans, who’s name it still bears. Francesco Robba, a sculptor, made an altar for the church in the mid 18th century. Because of the damage of the earthquake in 1895, the church had to be renovated, so its present appearance dates only back to that period of time. Masses are held daily in Slovenian, English, French, Italian, Croatian and Serbian.
As a trade-mark of the city, the Dragon Bridge is one of the most famous sights of the city. It is called after the four green dragons, who guard both the bridge and the city. According to a popular local legend, the Greek hero Jason and his followers, the Argonauts, are the founders of Ljubljana. After they had stolen the golden fleece from King Aetes, Jason and his friends fled across the Black Sea. They sailed up the rivers Danube, Sava and Ljubljanica. After a while they stopped at a huge lake near the spring of river Ljubljanica. They planned to carry their ship sneakily in pieces across the Adriatic. Here, while taking the ship to pieces, they found a monster. Jason started to fight the creature and won the battle. The creature became famous as the Dragon of Ljubljana and is nowadays the icon of the city and an important part of the city’s crest. Ladies mind the dragon tails... They are said to wave when the bridge is crossed by a virgin! Made of armoured concrete, it is one of the first bridges in Europe using this technique.
However, according to historians, Ljubljana was only founded around the year 15 BC as a Roman castrum (fort). It was called Colonia Iulia Emona. There were about 6000 inhabitants and it was surrounded by town walls. Because it was a ‘gate’ from the Roman Empire to countries in Eastern Europe, Emona was a rich town of salesmen and artisans. It was part of the Amber Road, which connected the North Sea and the Baltic Sea (St. Petersburg) with Italy, Greece, the Black Sea and Egypt for the transport of amber. The town has also been the site of numerous battles and wars. The last battle was the one against Attila and his Huns in 452 AD. Unfortunately the Huns won the battle and burned down the entire town. Nevertheless, still nowadays you can find Roman tracks throughout the city, e.g. town walls, gates, an early Christian baptistery, burial grounds and insulae (apartment buildings). For guided tours and various exhibitions of Emona (Roman Ljubljana), contact the City Museum at: t +386 1 241 25 00 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +386 1 241 25 00 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
On Trg Republike, visitors can see the Slovenian Parliament building, which is the heart of Slovenian politics. It is a modernist palace, which houses the bicameral (National Assembly and National Council) Slovenian government. It was built by the Slovenian architect Vinko Glanz between 1954 and 1959. The building has formerly housed the tricameral communist government, but after the independence it has become the political centre of the new republic. The facade has been decorated with marble from the Kras region and with granite from Oplotnica. The Trg Republike is enclosed by the skyscraper TR3, the Parliament, the Ljubljanska Banka and the Cankarjev dom. It is a place for mass gatherings, for protests and speeches.
Because of all the students, Ljubljana has a flourishing artistic scene. There are various galleries and museums.
The National Museum of Slovenia (Muzejska ulica 1) dates back to the foundation of the Provincial Museum of Carniola in 1821. However, the neo-Renaissance palace in which it is located, was built between 1883 and 1885 by the Slovenian construction firm of Viljem Treo. The museum is Slovenia's most important museum of national history. Therefore, it keeps various archaeological finds from Slovenian territories. The collection is believed to be important to the world's cultural and historical heritage. The masterpiece of the Slovenian collections is probably the Neanderthal flute of 55,000 year old, which was found near Cerkno. The masterpiece of the foreign collections is probably the ancient Egyptian mummy, which dates back to the 5th century BC. A wheelchair entrance can be found on the side of Prešernova Cesta.
Tivoli Park is close to the old town. It is a bird’s and squirrel’s paradise. It is great place for a walk, because of the various paths. Not all are signposted but all paths connected in some way. If you have plenty of time to spend, you can go deeper into the wood part, where you have a big chance of being alone to rest and enjoy nature. Without traffic you might think you are not in the centre of a capital. The locals go here to walk, jog and cycle. There are creeks, ponds and lawns.
The Ljubljana Zoo (Večna Pot 70)is quite small, but it is a place of relaxation within a natural forest close to Rožnik Hill. The price is reasonable. At the weekends there are usually guided tours and workshops. Under the supervision of a zoo mentor, you can help feeding the animals, or hold real spiders, snakes and scorpions in your hands. The zoo can be reached by foot, bike, car or bus.
The Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theater (Zupančičeva 1) was built in properly grand style in 1882 by the Czech architects Jan Vladimir Hrásky and Anton Hruby. It currently houses the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet companies, which both mainly play well-known favourites by Verdi, Mozart and Smetana.
The Slovenian Ethnographic Museum (Metelkova ulica 2), which was founded in 1923 when it separated itself from the National Museum, is home to a collection of Slovenian and non-European materials, concerning social, spiritual and cultural aspects of life. However, its earliest collections date back to the Provincial Museum of Carniola, which was established in 1821. The museum runs a programme of various exhibitions, events and it releases a range of publications to present the rich culture of Slovenia (minorities, expatriates, etc.) and non-European peoples. You can also visit the weaver’s workshop of the museum, where you can find the traditional art of Slovenian weaving.
Ljubljana's Railway Museum (Parmova ulica 35)is home to a gathering of historical trains including steam locomotives, coaches, railroad cars and wagons. There is also a permanent exhibition on a range of railway sectors, e.g. Station Master's Office, Communication, Signals and Security.
The Slovenian School Museum (Plečnikov trg 1) was founded in 1898 and has gathered a large variety of materials on the history of Slovenian education and pedagogy. Most interesting are the notebooks, school furniture, diplomas and report cards. The library of the museum contains a large number of original Slovenian educational literature (currently more than 55,000 books). Most of the books date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, but there are also incunabula which were printed before 1500.
The Ljubljana's Sports Museum (Kopitarjeva ulica 4) houses an exhibition on the national history of sports. Because it was just founded in 2001, its permanent exhibition is still in preparation. It is planned to consist of 8,000 displays with written documents and other materials bearing witness to the rich and diverse history of sports in Slovenia. Part of this exhibition can already be visited. However, there are also various well-known Slovenian athletics, and there is more than that to be seen in the museum.
The just reconstructed Philharmonic Hall (Kongresni trg 10) was first built in 1898. The custard-yellow hall has a modern backside which faces the Ljubljanica, but the facade towards Kongresni trg, is more pleasing to the eye. It is home to the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, which was founded in 1701. It is one of the world’s oldest philharmonic orchestras and has a great reputation because of various well-known members, e.g. Haydn, Beethoven and Mozart.
The Robba Fountain is situated at Mestni trg. The artist Francesco Robba was inspired by Bernini’s Four Rivers Fountain at Piazza Navona during a visit to Rome, so he designed a similar fountain to represent the three Carniolan rivers: Sava, Krka and Ljubljanica. The steps to the fountain represent the Carniolan mountains. Unfortunately, the ordered Italian marble sank near Trieste, so Robba only made the figures of real Carrara marble. Finally the fountain was finished in 1751. The original fountain has been moved to the National Museum in 2006 because it fell into decay, however an exact copy of the original has been placed on the square.
The Botanical Garden of Ljubljana (Ižanska cesta 15), was founded in 1810. It is the oldest cultural, scientific and educational institute that has been running uninterruptedly from the time when it was founded. The plants collection exists out of 4,500 species. One third of the species are foreign, while two thirds came from different parts of Europe. The garden has international maintaining contacts with more than 270 botanical gardens. It is used for scientific research and educational activities. It plays an essential role in the research of growing and protecting endangered species in Slovenia.
The Serbian Orthodox Church was built in 1936 by the Serbian architect Momir Korunović. The building contains an iconostasis made by Mirko Šubic and several notable frescoes.
Stična Abbey (Stična 17, Ivančna Gorica)
In 1135, there was established a Cistercian monastery in Stična. Although it was (and still is) the only operating Cistercian monastery in Slovenia, it became the religious, economic and cultural centre of the whole southern part of the country, within just a couple of years after it was built. For a long time
it even exceeded Ljubljana in influence and status, the capital city of Slovenia.
The monastery was a centre of education, and was famous for its production of manuscripts ever since the 12th century. The monks have created the oldest and most important collection of Latin manuscripts of the whole country. Some manuscripts were written in the Slovenian language, which unmistakably demonstrates the cultural origin of several monks and their concern for their Slovenian community. So in the Stična monastery not only the common Latin and German languages of the higher social groups were taught, but the Slovenian language was played a major role as well. The monastery offered theological studies, served as a school of music and even housed an early version of a medical school. The pharmacy which was founded, achieved nationwide fame and still exists nowadays.
The monks were important to the local population as well, because they trained local farmers in sophisticated crop growing techniques, among others the introduction of the iron plough. They built roads and even bridges, from which both locals and trekkers could take advantage. The monastery also offered shelter to trekkers, in consequence making travelling easy and stimulating mercantile activities.
According to various Slovenian and foreign art historians, Stična Abbey is nowadays one of the most important ethnic monuments of Slovenia. In addition to the skilfully painted ceilings and statues made to order of various abbots throughout the centuries, there is a Renaissance church with an extraordinary floor-plan with five apses and an exceptional cloister (krizzni hodnik).
Currently the Sticcna Monastery is still in use by the monks. It has been opened as a museum to people who are interested in the centuries-old history, dynamic and flourishing, with its wealth reflected in the stunning building complexes, the well preserved and painted interiors and wother art works. The museum has a keeper who takes care of the interiors and makes the first moves to do the necessary improvement and preparation of various exhibitions.
Admission fees:
PERMANENT EXHIBITIONS
Adults: ..................................................................................................... € 4,50 Students..........................................................................................……. € 2,00
Seniors: .................................................................................................. € 3,00
Families (at least three people): ............................................................. € 7,00
TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
Adults: .................................................................................................... € 2,00
Students: ................................................................................................ free of charge
People with special needs and children are free of charge for all exhibitions.

Obalno-Kraška

2011-06-01T04:20:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Obalno-Kraška is a statistical region in the south-west of the country. The region exists out of 7 municipalities and covers an area of 1044 km². In 2006, there lived about 106000 inhabitants, of which almost a half live in the city of Koper. It has 24.5% of all tourists in Slovenia.

Hrastovlje

The hamlet of Hrastovlje is not very interesting, though its church is. Sveta Trojica cerkev (church of the Holy Trinity) is a fortified church, on a hill just outside the village. It was built in the 12th century. The outer wall was built to defend the sanctuary against the Turkish invasions. In the past it was also used as a shelter for the local people, when the enemies were on hand.
The interior of the church is tunnel-vaulted and divided into three naves by four pillars. The walls, ceiling and pillars are completely covered with early Gothic frescoes, that were painted in the 15th century by Janez iz Kastva. They were hidden under plaster for years, but were found back in 1949. In the 1950’s the frescoes were thoroughly renovated. The wall paintings represent country life scenes and various biblical happenings, e.g. Genesis and the life of Jesus. The most famous fresco is the Death Dance (Dance Macabre). This wall painting covers the whole southern wall and is mainly a reminder of life. It shows the theory of justice: completely honest and unavoidable for everyone, baby and grandpa, king and farmer, Pope and monk.

Tourists can visit the church every day from 9:00-12:00 and from 13:00-17:00, it is closed on Tuesday.
I am very sorry, but you are not allowed to take photo’s inside the church.

Koper (Capodistria)
Koper has always been an administrative and judicial important city on the Istrian peninsula.
Throughout history, Koper has had several names, e.g. Aegida, Justinopolis and Caput Histriae.
It has a picturesque town centre, because it has kept its medieval character. At first, it was built on an island, but in the 19th century it was connected with the mainland by a causeway. After they had drained the marshy area between the mainland and the island, there was left behind a plain, on which they later would develop the largest port of Slovenia.
From 932-1797 Koper was part of the Venetian Republic. Under the name ‘Capodistria’, it became the capital city of the Venetian province of Istria. The Venetian influence is still reflected in its streets, squares and houses. After WW II, Koper became part of the Free Territory of Trieste (Italy). Italian schools and a bilingual principle still show the Italian influence on the city. In 1954 it became part of Yugoslavia. Slovenia gained independence in 1991, therefore Koper became part of Slovenia again. Koper is an essential port for the non-coastal countries of central Europe (Austria and Hungary).
There are many fountains and squares in Koper, but the most impressive of the squares is Titov trg. It is the main square of the town. The cathedral of the Assumption and some Venetian palaces stand on this square.
One of the palaces is the Praetorian Palace, which dates from the 15th century. The palace was built on the site of two older houses from the 13th century. In the second half of the 13th century the buildings were linked by a loggia and were rebuilt several times and completed with the typical features of Venetian Gothic. After the Venetian Republic was occupied by the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, the Praetorian Palace lost much of its importance. It fell more into decay, when the Austrian rulers moved the municipal seat of Koper to the Armarija Palace in the 19th century. Some serious renovations begun in 1991. It took ten years and € 3.34 million to finish this. The palace regained its historic role as city hall in May 2001, when the renovations were finished. Nowadays the offices of the mayor and the municipal council are located there. When passing through the loggia of the Praetorian Palace, you can see a small opening on the side wall. It is called a bocca del leone (lion’s mouth). Here citizens could post anonymous letters and requests for the Mayor.
The cathedral of Mary’s Assumption was built in the 12th century, when the city got its own diocese. The current façade unites both Gothic and Renaissance styles. The interior is baroque. The cathedral keeps various treasures: the large altar painting “Madonna with Child on the Throne and Saints”, painted by Carpaccio in 1516; the stone sarcophagus of St. Nazarius, Koper’s patron saint, which dates back to the 15th century and more. The organ of the Cathedral has been decorated by Carpaccio’s paintings “The Slaughter of the Innocents” and “The Presentation in the Temple”. The inside of the cathedral was redecorated by the well-known draftsman Giorgio Massari in the 18th century. The bell tower dates from the 14th century. You can climb the tower to have a great view over Koper and the Adriatic.
The Koper Regional Museum is housed in the beautiful Belgramoni Tacco Palace. Its collection contains a wealth of information about archaeology, history and art of the coastal and Karst regions. It cooperates with several Slovenian, Italian and Croatian institutions in Istria. The indoor and the outdoor collection, in the palace garden, both present the cultural history of the coastal and Karst regions. The collection contains sculptures, paintings and beaux arts products, displayed in chronological order and by subject. Its Pinakoteka presents Venetian 17th - 18th century furnishing and medicine, Enlightment and political material from the 18th - 19th century in the Koper region. On Gramsci square, the museum houses a permanent ethnological collection.
There is no beach at Koper, but there is a water park where you can rent sun loungers and swim from a pier. There are relatively few tourists in Koper, because the harbour doesn’t make it very attractive to a lot of people, and even in the high season it doesn't get crowded.
Koper is easy to reach by bus or train. The train and bus stations are neighbouring and are about 1 kilometre away from the town centre. The nearest airports are in Trieste (64 km)and in Ljubljana (124 km).

Lipica
Lipica is located in a landscape covered with low shrubs and pine forests. The well-known stud farm has developed for more than four hundred years.
Its history is very much connected with the Habsburg monarchy, who needed horses in their army. At that time, the Spanish horse was thought to be a perfect breed. Archduke Charles therefore let build the royal stud farm in the Karst region, because its soil and climate are almost the same to the Spanish climate. After the Turks had left the region in 1545, the summer residence of the bishop of Trieste was damaged and finally deserted. Archduke Charles decided in 1578 to start a royal stud farm at this site. In 1580, the bishop and he signed an agreement to repair the manor. In 1581, 24 mares and 6 stallions were bought in Spain and in 1816 the first Arab stallion was used at the stud.
During the World Wars, it was necessary to look for a safe haven for the herd in other countries. Therefore, they were brought to Hostau in Czechoslovakia by the Germans, during WW II. After the Yalta conference in 1945, Czechoslovakia was Soviet Union territory. The chief of the US cavalry, colonel Reed, asked general Patton to realise a military operation to save the horses from the Russians. The American supreme military command refused to operate on Red Army territory. Though, general Patton took performed a daring military operation on the 28th of April 1945, and moved the horses to a region that was ruled by the Allies.
Today there are about 400 horses in Lipica. The shows of its traditional riding school are an memorable experience, especially for horse lovers.

Piran
Piran has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the town’s name derives from the Greek word pur (pyr), meaning fire. That is because in ancient times, fire was lit at Piranska Punta, the tip of the peninsula. This was to direct ships to the harbour of modern Koper. Because of its old city walls, Piran is a member of the European Walled Cities Association. The locals earn their income for the most part by tourism. When you visit the city, you must take a look at its architecture, which has been strongly influenced by the Venetian Republic. It has, just like Koper, kept its medieval structure with the typical clustered houses, squares and churches. But the town has a lot more to bid than just history. It is nice place for people who like to go outside. There are several beaches, hotels and hostels, restaurants, sports facilities, an aquarium and a casino.
The oval inner harbour, was replaced in the 19th century with a stylish plaza, Tartiniev trg (Tartini square), the heart of the town. It concentrates on the statue of Tartini. GiuseppeTartini was a 18th century composer, violinist and local of Piran. There is always happening something at the feet of his statue: the youth meets there and cyclists and skaters come along.
When the Venetians came to Piran in the 13th century, they built a lot of buildings as a reminder of their power. One of them is the most striking building of the Tartini square: a red woman’s palace with a typical balcony in Venetian Gothic style. During the Venetian occupation of Piran, there was a rich (married) merchant who fell in love with a local maid. He came often to the town and brought his love precious gifts. In time, he even built her a palace near the harbour. When he was away, evil tongues made the maid's life always difficult. So the merchant decided to place a stone plate with the words "Lasa pur dir” (Let them talk) on the house. Nowadays, there's a small shop selling salt from the close by saltpans of Sečovlje. It is called the Venetian House, which is sometimes confusing for tourists because there is not just one Venetian House in Piran.
The cathedral of St. George (cerkev Sv. Jurija) rises high above the city. It has just been renovated and it is worth a visit. The cathedral was most likely built in the 12th century, but no accurate data exist. The beautiful 17th century campanile was designed by Giacomo di Nodari, an artist from Koper. On the top of it, stands the archangel St. Michael. It was copied from the St. Mark’s campanile in Venice. Between 11am-5pm, you can climb the wooden steps to the top of the tower, for a small admission fee, to have an amazing sight of the town and the Gulf of Trieste. The church is almost always closed, though visiting the museum (open between 11am-5 pm)for a small admission fee makes it possible to get in the church. The interior is very fine, with a large medieval crucifix, a 2nd century Roman sarcophagus, a statue of St. George killing the dragon and St. Nicholas, who is the patron saint of sailors.
Piran's aquarium is a very small one and it's hosted in an old building by the harbour. It is under the management of the Maritime High School of Portorož. You can learn there about the fishes, sea plants and sponges of the Slovenian Adriatic sea.
From St. George’s cathedral down to to Tartiniev trg you will find a Minorite monastery. The monastery and the church are dedicated to St Francis of Assisi. They were originally built in the 14th century but were renovated over the centuries. Inside the church are frescoes, an enormous clam shell for donations and the family tombe of the Tartini family. Don’t forget to have a look at its beautiful cloister.

Socerb
The hamlet of Socerb is located on the border of the Zgornji Kras region (Upper Karst) and the Spodnji Kras region (Lower Karst).
Because of its nice climate, exceptional geographical and strategic situation, people already settled here very early in history.
There has been done a lot of archaeological research and there have been found various ruins of all times, from a castle and ruins of the parish church of St.-Socerb till tombs from prehistoric and Roman times.
Socerb Castle is situated on the cliff, that a long time ago formed the political border between the Venetian Republic and Austria. It had an essential tactical and political purpose during the Middle Ages. The castle was only in hands of the Venetians for half a century. Most of the time, it was in hands of the Austrian Markgrafen (margraves). It was also important because it controlled the trading route, from the Adriatic to the Kranjska province.
Currently, the castle is a state property of great importance and hosts a high-quality restaurant. From the walls of the castle, you will have an extraordinary view on the city of Trieste and on the Adriatic sea.
The well-known Sveta Jama (Sacred Cave) is located close to the castle. It is the only underground church in Slovenia, and it is 44 m deep and 189 m long. Legend tells us, that St. Socerb has lived in the cave once he was converted to Christianity. Therefore he was executed by the governor of Trieste in 1284. Inside the cave a mass has been held every year on 24th May (his name day) since WW II. You can find the entrance in a small valley. You can go down (45 stone steps) into the cave. There is water in a shallow basin, just behind the altar, which is dedicated to St. Socerb. Baron Janez Vajkat Valvasor already mentioned this shallow basin in the 17th century, saying that it would never run out of water. Some columns form the shape of a bed, where St. Socerb would have slept.

Krkavče

There are lots of unexplained and forgotten stories about Slovenian Istria. Just outside the village of Krkavče stands a monolith of about 2,5 metres high, known as the Krkavče Stone. No one knows exactly when it was erected and by who. Therefore it has inspired scientists for years. Various archaeologists, historians and art critics tried to solve the mystery, which resulted in a range of ages and purposes of the monolith. It also resulted in a lot of stories about this interesting stone:

They say it was used as a ‘whipping post’ for criminals in the nearby Castle of Gradišče. Others say that it once has been a part of an old house. Some also suggest that the image of a human with its crown of sun rays depicts the Persian god Mithra or the Slavic god Svarog. Some more creative people think it proves an ancient visit of aliens from outer space. It is said that the Krkavče Stone releases unusual energy, so some locals visit it with wishes and appreciation. They even bring candles and flowers as a special sacrifice to the stone. There are locals that believe that if you hug and caress the stone, it gives you strength and fertility. Whatever the case might be, locals always know how to convince you of their beliefs regarding the stone and are always willing to tell their story about it.

Koroška

2011-05-26T00:20:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Koroška is a statistical region in the north of Slovenia. It has the highest employment rate of the country due to the various mines and manufacturing plants. There live about 73,839 people on a surface area of 1041 km².

Dravograd

During WW II the basement of what is now the town hall was used as a prison by the Gestapo. During the WW II, Slovenia was under German occupation and the town of Dravograd was used as a centre of operations for the Koroška region. The local people didn’t like this at all and the local resistance was well organised, which resulted in a lot of attacks on the Germans. The Gestapo had no trouble at all filling their prison, not only with the local partisans, but also with Russians who were forced to work on the water-energy plants on river Drava.
Nowadays, the former Gestapo prison is home to a small, but fascinating museum. The local Tourist Information Office holds the key to the museum and you need to contact them in advance by phone or email. I really would recommend it if you have an hour to play with in the Koroška region. After a short introduction, you can walk around and explore the cells. You can have a look in all five of them. Two of them were punishment cells, in which the ceilings were even lower so the only possible position of the prisoners was to stoop. Graffiti was found in all of the cells, explaining the thoughts of the prisoners. A couple of the cells contain show cases, showing some objects that had been found in the building after it was deserted. There is no admission fee. Visits only by appointment from Monday to Friday between 8.00am-2.00pm. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.
Very special is the 12th century St. Vitus church (cerkev Sv. Vida), which has survived the wars throughout the centuries. It is one of the most important Slovenian Romanesque buildings in existence and therefore is part of the Transromanica project of the EU and UNESCO.
Interesting to encounter are the traditional charcoal burners in the Kobansko Hills, which are an important part of the local cultural heritage.
The tourist office can arrange rafting tours on the river Drava. This will cost you only € 16 for three hours of fun. The price includes food and drinks.
The region is also interesting to bird spotters because in the marshes live numerous bird species like the sandpipers, egrets and various gulls.

Contact the Tourist Office on:
Address: Trg 4. julija 50, 2370 Dravograd
Phone: +386 2 871 02 85
e-mail: info.dravograd@triera.net

Notranjsko-kraška

2011-05-23T00:36:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Notranjsko-kraška is a statistical region in the south-west of the country. It is the least densely populated area of Slovenia and is famous for its nature: the Postojna cave and lake Cerknica.

Cerknica
Cerkniško Jezero (lake Cerknica) is the biggest lake of Slovenia, though only if it’s there. It is a seasonal lake. The water of the lake is directly connected with the underground waters, because of all the karstic tunnels and caves. So when the groundwater level rises or falls, the surface water of the lake will also rise or fall.
The bed of the lake is connected to a huge but for the most part unapproachable system of caves that drain the water away or eject the water. The bizarre behaviour of the lake was already observed by the Romans, who made notes of it, but never had explanations of why it happened. At the utmost, the surface area of the lake is about 26 km², however during rainy periods it can reach a size up to 38 km². In summer, the lake shrinks into some small pools, of which only one is permanent. At the centre of the lake there is an island with a small village.
Museum Lake Cerknica
There is a small museum with a unique presentation of how the water system of the lake works and where the water goes. I has a 3D model of the valley and the lake. They give some special explanations for tourists in English, German, French and Czech and for children. To book one of these tours, please contact the museum:
Museum Jezerski Hram
Dolenje Jezero 1e, 1380 Cerknica
telephone: +386 1 7094 053
e-mail: jezerski.hram@siol.net

Postojna
The largest known cave system in Slovenia, is in Postojna. There are a lot of caves in the world, but a visit to the cave of Postojna is exceptional because of the variety of shapes, widespread cave areas, the enormous amount of stalactites and stalagmites and the subterranean water systems. Well-kept tracks for tourists cover most of the Postojna cave, making it possible for almost every visitor to see most of these various shapes and formations. So not only cavers with special caving equipment, but also tourists can visit the cave. An electric train will take you to the cave, where guides accompany visitors for a one and a half hour tour through the cave. The last hall of the cave has a pool in the middle with a number of cave salamanders in it. They are caught in a cave close by and released again after a few weeks.
People who are not afraid to show some physical effort, can visit the more difficult parts of the cave with narrow passages and flooded areas that are not open to the general public. For those daring people, there are unique adventure tracks. These require special tools and qualified guides and are organised for small groups of 3 till 15 people.
An indication of life in the cave is given by the Proteus Vivarium, which is located about 100 metres from the entrance of the cave. The Postojna cave is a home to 84 subterranean animal species, of which 36 are land-living and 48 are aquatic. In the vivarium you can watch a multimedia presentation about karstic caves. In the Passage of New Signatures there are two separate sections about cave fauna, there you can have a glance at the proteus anguinus, an amphibian salamander, and the drobnovratnik beetle.
Christmas in the Postojna cave
During the winter holidays, there is always a series of tableaux that tell the biblical Nativity story placed in one of the most wonderful parts of the cave. There also is a Christmas fair a chocolate fair. Booking is recommended, because everyone wants to see this wonderful sight and there is only a limited amount of places available for each performance.
Telephone: +386(5) 7000 100

PredjamaPredjama Castle (Predjamski Grad) lies in the village of Predjama, about 10 kilometres north-west of Postojna. The castle was most likely built in the 12th century. At that time it was controlled by the counts of Gorizia. In 1478 the castle became the home of the well-known knight Erazem (Erasmus). He was doubtless the most legendary resident of Predjama Castle. In 1483 he killed Field Marshall Pappenheim at the Royal Court in Vienna during a dispute. But Pappenheim was a relative of the Emperor so, to escape his punishment, Erazem fled to his castle. The castle was afterwards sieged on the Emperors instructions by Lord Gaspar Ravbar of Trieste. Ravbar tried to let him die of hunger but was shocked to see that he always had fresh food on hand. At last Erazem was killed by a cannonball. Later they found out that he had got his provisions through an underground passageway through the caves. The castle is situated in the middle of a 123 metres high, overhanging rock face. It was built in the entry of a cave. The river Lovka runs underneath the castle. A smaller cave has been used as a horse stable. The interior of the castle can be visited and gives you a good view of how much the castle and the life of the residents was adapted to the cave and the cliff. Every year in July, there is a medieval tournament named after the famous 15th century baron Erazem of Predjama.

Snežnik Castle
Snežnik Castle is the only castle in Slovenia with authentic furniture that has survived the centuries. The museum inside the castle was opened to public in 2008 after the restorations of this romantic castle had been finished. The building is owned by the state, but the museum is maintained by the Slovenian National Museum.
It was built on the edge of the Lož Valley, which is of course a very strategic site. The Romans had already built a stronghold on the same site, from which some remains are found and exhibited inside the museum. However, the Lords of Snežnik were first mentioned in the 13th century. The word Snežnik means ‘snowy one’, which is a slovenised form for the name of the initial owners: the royal house of Schneberg (German for snowy mountain). During the following centuries, there have been a lot of owners, of which most were members of prominent Carniolan noble families, e.g. the Lambergs, Scheyers, Raumschissls, Eggenbergs, Auerspergs and Lichtenbergs. A large area in the Notranjska region was governed from the castle during the 17th century. Yet, it only got its current appearance from the 19th century. It was in that time that the estate had been bought by the princely Saxon family of Schönburg-Waldenburg. They converted the castle into a hunting and holiday residence, because of its enormous forests. It was on this site, that Prince George founded the first Slovenian forestry school in 1867. The Schönburg-Waldenburgs were good for the environment: Endangered species were not hunted, a steam saw stimulated the development of woodworking industry in the valley and electricity was not only provided in the castle, but also in the surrounding villages. The castle owners offered of course a range of jobs to the villagers. This ended after WW II, when Leon Schauta had saved the castle from destruction and so fulfilled his job as caretaker of the castle.
Exceptional is the Egyptian room from the early 20th century. The furniture of this room has been given to the owners by an old friend from Egypt. Interesting as well are the piano, the billiard table and the theatre corner which reveal the owners' hobbies. Because this castle has been a hunting residence, there are a lot of interesting old hunting trophies, of which the most interesting is of course the stuffed bear. In the entrance hall there are ancient Roman tombstones and a large map of Carniola from 1744, which was made by an Italian monk. The wooden boat under the hanging wooden gangway is was used by the villagers to cross the flooded grasslands.
Funny to know is that Tito was a great fan of hunting. At one of his trips he slept over at Snežnik castle, because he could go hunting in its forests.
The gardens of the castle are great to walk through. There are two hiking routes close to the castle, the Krpan route and the European 6th route. The area is also great for cycling and horseback riding. Perhaps you will spot some of the Slovenian wild animals yourself.

Pivka
The Park of Military History (Kolodvorska cesta 5, Pivka) in Pivka is a museum and experiential centre. It hosts the national tank-artillery collection, which is exhibited and so offers visitors a unique view into the military-historical heritage of the country. Its purpose is education, research and exceptional experience.
The park hosts an exhibition about the several thousand years old fortification heritage of the region. The exhibition shows the visitors military history from the oldest periods of ancient history and the Middle Ages to contemporary history. The Latin name for the region Regio Carsica Militaris already suggests the military importance of the Karst region, which nickname is the open doors of Postojna. It has always been a strategic site due to its dominating high position and the important trade routes running through the multiple river basins of the region.
If you make a reservation prior to visiting the museum, you can participate in spy games or play with remote control tanks. For bigger groups it is also possible to organise military demonstrations. Each year there are special military demonstrations in September.

Jugovzhodna Slovenija

2011-05-03T01:05:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Jugovzhodna Slovenija is a statistical region in the southeast of Slovenia. It has about 2,675 km² and there live 139,095 people. The population grows steadily because of positive net migration, which is a result of the increasing amount of recreational areas in the region. A second reason is that it has the highest share of young people in Slovenia, about 15.8 %.

Novo mesto
The "Breg" area of Novo mesto is one of the most pictoresque places of the city. The name literally means ‘steep riverbank’, that is because the buildings of "Breg" were at first built on the rocks of the riverbanks of river Krka. Most houses were built in 1786 following the outline of the ruins of the medieval city walls, which still can be seen in the cellars of the houses. Because the people that lived in these houses were really poor, the housewives of "Breg" had to rent rooms to grammar school students until WW II and were therefore called "Student Moms". The roofs of the buildings parallel to the street were first covered up with wooden panels until the 20th century, when they were replaced by roof tiles. The area of Breg in Novo mesto has been declared a cultural monument of local importance by the Novo mesto Community.
High above the Old City, you can see the 15th century Gothic chapter cathedral of Saint Nicholas (stolnica Sv Nikolaja). It is one of the most important historical monuments of Novo mesto. The bell tower once has been a medieval defence tower. Imposing are the painted ceilings and the painting of Saint Nicholas, which was painted by the Venetian master Jacopo Tintoretto (1518-1594). If the church is closed, you can always ask for the keys at the Provost’s House (Proštija, Kapiteljska ulica 1), which is the yellow building to the northwest of the church. It was built in 1623.
Nice to visit is the Dolenjska Museum. The oldest building once housed the Knights of the Teutonic Order, but nowadays houses an archaeological collection of findings that were done in the suburb Kandija: a helmet from the 4th century BC, a bronze pail decorated with hunting scenes and Celtic ceramics and jewellery.
The church of Saint Leonard and the monastery attached to it, were founded in 1472, when Franciscan monks fled for the Turks from Bosnia. Its library contains over 12,000 books.
South of the Provost’s House, there is a part of the 14th century medieval town walls.

Tourist information centre Novo mesto
Address: Glavni trg 6
telephone: +386 (0)7 39 39 263
e-mail: tic@novomesto.si

Goriška

2011-04-20T02:58:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Goriška is a statistical region in the west of the country on the border with Italy. Its capital city is Nova Gorica. The area is 2,325 km2 and there live about 119,622 people.

Bovec
Bovec is situated in the middle of Triglav National Park. It is a perfect destination for people who like to go outside and like an active holiday. In summer there can be canoed and rafted on the rivers and in winter there can be skied at the Kanin ski resort. Close to the town are the river Soča and the river Koritnica joined together. At that place there are arranged some camping sites.
You might not have heard of it but maybe you have seen it before, because the mighty skirmish scenes at the end of Disney's film The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian were filmed near Bovec. In June 2007, they shot these scenes in the valley.
Trouts love the cold and clear water of the river Soča and they get to huge sizes that every angler would like to catch. Marble trout, Brown trout and Soča grayling are native species of the river. The best time to fish at the Soča river is late August and September.
In the parish church of Bovec there is a notable painting: Archangel Michael fights with Hitler and Mussolini. They represent God’s enemies, the foes of society and the devil.

Idrija
It was in Idrija that a loaded deposit of mercury ore was exposed in 1490. Idrija’s famed mercury mine, once was the second largest mercury mine in the world. It has served for 500 years, but now it has closed. The Anthony’s Shaft is the oldest part of the mine and dates from the 16th century. There also is a subterranean chapel that dates from 18th century. Both the mine and the church are open for visitors.
The glorious Gewerkenegg Castle, which dates from 1533, is a home to the wide-ranging collection of the Idrija Municipal Museum. The courtyard of the castle serves in summer also as a scene of summer cultural events.
Very famous is the centuries-old lace making tradition, which has been practiced in the area for more than 300 years. Its lace making school is more than 120 years old. You can buy its products all over the town. Every year there is a traditional Lace Festival at the end of August.
The famous Johannes Antonius Scopoli, an Italian physician and naturalist, was a practicing doctor in the town in the Switzerland building. He was the first doctor of medicine, appointed in Idrija in 1754, who described in great detail the symptoms of mercurialism among smelters and pit workers. Mercurialism is caused by mercury vapour over long periods of time. Some symptoms are inflammation of the mouth, loose teeth and blue lines on the gums. So this really was an important discovery of him.
There are lots of local "gostilnas" and farms where you can enjoy the local cuisine. The home-made dish žlikrofi (a kind of ravioli) is really worth a try.

Kobarid
Kobarid was populated as early as the Hallstatt Age (700-600 BC). During ancient Roman times, Kobarid was an important stopover on the road from Aquileia to Noricum. And in Medieval times the settlement was owned by the Cividale Chapter. But Kobarid is well-known for its tumultuous past:
In 1688 a devastating fire swept through the settlement; the Turks invaded the region and Napoleon's army past through the valley. The greatest highland battle in history took place around the town during World War I. The first "blitzkrieg" of the world took place in the valley.
The Kobarid Historical Trail has been set up for visitors that are interested in the local historical, cultural and also natural points of interest. The trail is approximately five kilometres long and you can walk this in about three hours. Some interesting spots on its way are the Kobarid museum, a Roman settlement on Gradič Hill, Tonocov grad, Kozjak Waterfalls and the Napoleon Bridge.
In the small village of Zatolmin are many Cheese Houses that make their own cheeses. The owners would be pleased to give you a short explanation about the process of making cheese. When you have finished the tour, you can take a look around in their cheese cellar.
If you like hunting and fishing, Kobarid is a great place for you. There is plenty of small and big game and also a lot of fish in the rivers.

Nova Gorica
The city of Nova Gorica was only founded just after WW II (1948). According to the 6th Paris Peace Conference the city of Gorizia would become part of Italy, and as a result the Slovenian region of Goriška lost its centre. Therefore the Slovenes decided to build a new town: Nova Gorica, which in Slovenian literally means ‘New Gorizia’. However, the history of the Goriška region is very old and there are some significant archaeological sites.
The city is also known as the Slovenian Las Vegas because it attracts many tourists to its casinos, discos and entertainment centres. Locals prefer walking in the hills, with their unspoiled milieu. The city is really worth visiting, together with its Italian neighbour Gorizia, because of its historical monuments, concerts and choirs.
There is a red rose on the crest of the municipality, because this flower has an exceptional historical importance for this region: before WWI, it delivered roses to the Imperial Court in Vienna. Nowadays there are numerous roses and gardens that beautify the city.

Just on the border between Slovenia and Italy, lies Kostanjevica Hill. It houses a 17th century Franciscan monastery. Attached to the monastery is the church of the Annunciation of Our Lady. There is a crypt below the church, in which the last members of the French royal family, the Bourbons, were buried. Charles X fled from France because of the revolution in 1830. He found a safe haven in Gorizia, and in time the death.
North of the town is another Franciscan monastery on the Holy Mountain (Sveta Gora). It has attracted pilgrims for five centuries. The sight from the peak is great, and when the sky is clear, visitors can see the whole of Istria, the Dolomites, the Alps and sometimes even Venice. There are often concerts in the enormous basilica. Other buildings on the peak are the Battle of Isonzo Museum and a cosy tavern.
The charming building of Vogrsko Mansion is an excellent example of Mediterranean Baroque. The construction of the building began in the 16th century, but the building was totally renovated in the 17th century and completed in the Rococo style. Nowadays it is used for many purposes, e.g. grande cuisine, lodging and recreation.
From the Medieval castle of Rihemberk you have an impressive sight of the Vipava Valley. This valley is well-known for its wines and prosciutto. In summer the castle becomes a place for people to meet up and for various events and shows.
There are lots of things to do for outdoors sport enthusiasts, who can take pleasure in parachuting, hang-gliding and canoeing on the river Soča. River Soča is famous for the green colour of its water. Therefore, the river is also known as the Emerald Beauty. It is one of the exceptional rivers in the world that keep their clear, green colour throughout their length.

Gorenjska

2011-04-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Gorenjska is one of the oldest and most traditional regions of Slovenia. Its capital city is Kranj, but interesting as well are the cities of Bled, Bohinj and Škofja Loka. There live about 193,375 people and the surface is approximately 2,272 km² big.

Bled
Bled is well-known for its lake, Blejsko Jezero, which was formed when a glacier melted during the last Ice Age. When walking around the lake it might remind one of the Sound of Music.
The church of St Mary’s Assumption (cerkev Marijinega Vnebovzetja) was built on the island in the middle of the lake. It probably is the most famous sight of the lake and photo’s and post cards of the island with the church are spread all over the world. Archaeologists have concluded that there already was a church on Bled Island in the 9th century, but the current church dates back to the 17th century. Though there still are frescoes from the 15th century and a wooden Madonna statue that dates back to the same period of time. However, this was not the first construction built on the island: The island has served as a Stone Age burial ground before the church was built. If you would like to visit the church and the island, just take a gondola at the tourist office or hire a boat at Mlini. The church is used for weddings and is available for Slovenes and foreigners. If you would like to marry there, please contact Bled’s Roman Catholic parish at 04 574 4046.
Bled castle, or Blejski Grad, (Grajska 25) looks out over the lake from a 139 metres high rock. It is said to be founded by bishop Albuin of Brixen, after Emperor Heinrich II had donated him the land. Unfortunately the castle fell into decay after the earthquake of 1510. In the 1950s the castle was renovated in Baroque style. Nowadays it houses a museum dedicated to the regional history.
At tourist agency AlpinSport (Ribčev laz 53), you can hire canoes and kayaks. They also offer full programmes like rafting, mountain trekking and paragliding.
Interested in fishing? Fishing for catfish, pike, carp and lake trout is permitted. You can buy licenses at the local tourist office.

Tourist office
Address: Cesta svobode 10
Telephone: +386 (0)4 574 11 22
E-mail: tdbled@telemach.net

Bohinj
Bohinj is also famous for a lake: Bohinjsko Jezero. It is a glacier lake, just like the lake of Bled. It is the biggest lake of Slovenia (1 km wide and 4.2 km long) and attracts lots of tourists and locals that yearn for a dive in the cold water.
Bohinj once has been the centre of alpine dairy farming in Slovenia and therefore houses a Dairy Farming Museum (Stara Fužina 181). Interesting are the reconstructed alpine huts and dairy exhibits.
It is possible to take a ride aboard a steam train, which will ride you all along the charming Bohinj railway. Tickets should be booked in advance at +386 059 070 512 or send an e-mail to abc-tourism@europcar.si

Tourist Information Centre
Address: Ribčev Laz 48
Telephone: +386 (0)4 574 76010
E-mail: info@bohinj-info.com

Škofja Loka
The area around Škofja Loka is perfect to go cycling or hiking. It is famous for its well preserved medieval character. The town dates back to 973, when Emperor Oton II donated the land of Loka to bishop Abraham of Freising.
In the Middle Ages the people of Loka were starting to spread around the place where the rivers Selška and Poljanska flow together. Loka means grassland by the river. Soon after the bishop of Freising renamed the governmental and financial centre of the lordship to Škofja Loka. For security purposes the town was protected by a town wall that was constructed in the 14th century.
There were five gates to the town and each of them was protected by a watchtower. Nowadays most of the town wall is still fresh-looking.
Škofja Loka is now well-known as the best conserved mediaeval town in the country. The old town centre is has two major squares: Plac and Lontrg, which are both dominated by the Castle.
The Granary has probably the most reputable historic value in the town. In the past it was one of the most important buildings of the town, because it kept the natural taxes. It was controlled by a bishop's administrator: the granary-man.

Tourist information centre
Address: Poljanska cesta 2
Telephone: +386 4 517 06 00
E-mail: info@lto-blegos.si

Land, people and culture

2011-04-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Landscape and Geology
Although Slovenia is a very small country, there are a lot of different landscapes: the Alpine area, which includes the Julian Alps, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, the Karavanke and Pohorje; the hills to the south of the Alps; the Karst area from the south of Ljubljana towards the Italian border; a short Adriatic coastline of only 46.6 kilometres; numerous rivers to the east and a small area of Pannonian plain near the Hungarian border.
Most of Slovenia has a karst topography and is composed of limestone. Kras is the Slovenian name for these landscapes, and that is also where the term karst derives from. Nowadays this term is used all over the world to describe the dissolution of one or more layers of soluble rock like limestone. You can clearly see the results of this in the landscape because it allows water to sink directly into the soil. Therefore there are several periodic lakes. These are lakes that come and go throughout the year. The most famous periodic lake in Slovenia is the lake of Cerknica .
There are around 7000 caves in Slovenia and every year there are even discovered more. Some of them reach a depth of 1000 metres. Most famous of them are the caves of Postojna and of Škocjan. The Škocjan Caves are even on UNESCO's list of natural and cultural world heritage sites.
The lowest point is 0 metres above sea level on the coast, and the highest point is 2,864 metres on mount Triglav.

Climate
The different landscapes result in different climates. There is a Mediterranean climate on the coast and a continental climate with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys in the east.

When to go
In Slovenia every season has its attractions. There can be snow in the mountains until late June or even July. Spring is a great time to spend in the lowlands and in the valleys, they will be covered with flowers. Be aware that it can be pretty wet in May and in June. When the days are getting longer, the cultural events like theatres are in full swing and off-season rates are generally still available.
Summer, from mid-June to September, is great for hiking and camping, but be aware that it is the peak season for visitors. This also makes accommodation and dining in restaurants hard to come by without reservations, and it is most of the time also be more expensive.
September is a great month to go to Slovenia. There is plenty of local fruit and vegetables and the prices are going down again because tourists are heading home. The Adriatic sea is still very comfortable to swim in.
Autumn is beautiful, but by October lots of camping sites have closed down. October and November are the best months for hiking and climbing. Please be aware that it can be very rainy in autumn.
The best time for skiers to go is in winter. It can be very cold. But most museums and tourist sites have closed down. It can get very crowded during the winter holidays. The winter holidays for school children are about ten days between Christmas and New Year. They again have holidays for a week in the second half of February.

History of Slovenia
The Slavic ancestors of the Slovenes came in the 6th century AD from eastern Europe. They started to live in the northern part of modern days Slovenia. They found a state called Carantania (Slovenian: Karantanija), which was an early parliamentary democracies in Europe. The Knez (ruler) was elected by popular vote.
During the following years, the Carantanians were defeated by both Bavarians and Franks, who eventually assimilated them. They were Christianised, but kept a lot of their rituals of their heathenish religion and, most important of all, they kept their own language.
The Slovenian territories were part of the Holy Roman Empire and also of Austria under the Habsburg dynasty up to 1918.
In 1918, the Slovenes, the Serbs and Croats formed a new state ruled by the Serbian Karadjordjević dynasty. It was called ‘the Kingdom of the Serbs, the Croats and the Slovenians’ (Slovene: Kraljevina Srbov, Hrvatov in Slovencev), and was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929.
The country was occupied by Germans, Italians and Hungarians during WW II . At the same time, there has been a civil war between the procommunist liberation formation (the Partizani) and Roman Catholic anticommunist formations (the Belogardisti and the Domobranci), therefore collaboration with the occupational forces took place. The victory of the allies and as a result also the Partisans, resulted in mass departure and mass execution of members of anticommunist formations.
After WW II, Slovenia became a part of the new Yugoslavia. They were Communists, but they distanced themselves from Russia. This resulted in a system between the East and the West. Frustrated with the power of the majority Serbs, the Slovenes succeeded in certifying their sovereignty in 1991 with minimal violence.
In 2004, Slovenia became member of both the EU and NATO. In January 2007, Slovenia was the first of the new member states that joined the EU in 2004, to adapt the euro as its official currency. And Slovenia held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2008, as the first new member state to do so.

Costs and money
Slovenia adapted the euro in 2007 as its official currency, before it was the tolar. The most important goods cost in Slovenia just as much as they do in the rest of Europe but, though the prices are rising, Slovenia is almost a third cheaper than its neighbours Italy and Austria. Hungary stays cheaper and everything will cost at least 33% less than in Slovenia, but Slovenia always has been cheaper than Croatia.
When you stay in a guesthouse or private room, eat average-priced food at restaurants and travel 2nd class by train or bus, you should manage to pay everything with ± €50 each day. Travelling in greater comfort (active nightlife, bottled wine in restaurants, etc.), it will cost you €75 - €80 in the provinces and ± €100 in Ljubljana. People who spend the night at hostels or college dormitories and eat simple food, e.g. burek (pastries), for lunch and eat in self-service restaurants or fast food for dinner, should come by on €30.
Travelling 100 kilometres by train or bus will cost you €5.50 - €9. Bicycle rental for one day will cost you €4.20 - €5.45. A bottle of ordinary Slovenian wine will cost you about €6. A cup of coffee in a café will cost you only €0.75 - €1.

Government and politics
The President of Slovenia is the Head of State. He/she is elected by the Slovenian people every five years, and can be president for a maximum of two terms. The President is officially the Supreme Commander of the army, but his/her power is mostly reduced to ceremonial powers.
The Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government, and the Cabinet form the law-making power. They are both elected by the parliament.
The Slovenian parliament is bicameral and is made up of the National Assembly, with 90 members, and the National Council, with 40 members.

People
There live about 2 million Slovenes in Slovenia. There is a confluence of ethnic groups in Slovenia, but the Slovenes form a majority of the population. More than 80% of the population is Slovene. Some other peoples living in Slovenia are Bosnians, Croats, Serbs, Yugoslavs, Hungarians and Roma people.

Religion
Most of the Slovenes are Roman Catholics, but there are also about 40 other religious communities recorded in Slovenia. In Slovenia state and religion are separated and all religious communities have got the same rights, and are allowed to practice their activities freely. The 2002 Census data of religious membership are: Roman Catholic 57.8%, Muslim 2.4%, Orthodox 2.3%, other Christian 0.9%, unaffiliated 3.5%, other or unspecified 23%, none 10.1%.

Kurentovanje in Ptuj (February)
The ten days long ceremony of spring and fertility in Slovenia is called kurentovanje. The origins of this festival are unclear, but it is very likely connected to earlier Slavic, Celtic and Illyrian traditions. Festivities like kurentovanje are found all over Central Europe. Kurentovanje is a unique pre-Lenten festival, so it is a kind of carnival. The name derives from the main figure of the ceremony, the Kurent or Korant. Kurent was the god of uncontrolled pleasure and pleasure-seeking. In earlier times people believed that the Kurent had
the power to drive out winter and to guide in spring.
During the procession through the village or town, crowds of Kurenti (=plural of Kurent) wear sheepskins with cowbells and furry masks with horns and other decorations, e.g. a long, red tongue hanging down to their chest, ribbons, sticks and feathers. The bells are, together with their wooden clubs with hedgehog spines, meant to scare off bad spirits. Traditionally, the Kurent's outfit only could be worn by bachelor men, but currently Kurents can be married men, children and women as well. A devil is the leader of the procession. He is covered in a net to take the souls. Young girls attach handkerchiefs to the Kurent’s belt. The village people break terracotta pots at the feet of the Kurents for good fortune and good health. More info at: http://www.kurentovanje.net/

Festival Lent in Maribor (June)
The International Festival Lent is a festival of more than 14 days of outstanding festival activities with many well-known Slovenian and foreign performers, but also with many amateurs from all over Slovenia and abroad.
The festival offers concerts of all kinds of music, theatre, dance and drama performances. There is always something for the children like a puppet show, sports and artistic workshops. In the City Park there is lots of comedy and folklore festivities. Some events are free, but for others you will have to buy tickets.
More info at: http://lent.slovenija.net/

Ljubljana summer festival (July-August)
The summer festival is held seven weeks long in Ljubljana each summer. It is the biggest cultural event of the year and attracts every year about 50,000 visitors. The first time the festival was held, was in 1953 and every summer it continues with a wide range of music, dance, opera, ballet, theatre, art and films in a variety of venues and locations all over the city. Ljubljana Castle is the most famous location.
More info at: http://www.ljubljanafestival.si/

Rock Otočec near Novo mesto (July)
Rock Otočec is a traditional music festival with that started in 1976. The events take place at a really idyllic location close by the river Krka, just at the back of the Otočec castle. It is situated near Novo mesto, an old town about 70 km away from Ljubljana. At the three days long festival there is always something to do. Aside for the music, the festival is well-known for its wide range of activities, in particular those that involve mud. Half of the tickets are usually reserved before any of the performers are known, so it is very popular. You can buy tickets on-line, but they are available during the festival as well. Parking and camping are also available for all visitors.
More info at: http://www.rock-otocec.com/

Cow Ball in Ukanc (September)
Each year the Cow Ball is held. It symbolises the return of cattle to the valley after a long summer pasture. The event takes place in Ukanc at Lake Bohinj. The cows are decorated and accompanied by herdsmen, dairymaids and cheese-makers. They walk in a parade, carrying all the requirements of a herdsman when he leaves with cattle to the mountains at the beginning of summer. You can buy there the typical home made products of Bohinj: baskets, lace and wooden products. The visitors can taste and buy cheeses and take part in traditional entertainment and sports typical for the mountainous areas: sling shooting, chopping trees with a crosscut saw and throwing horseshoes.

Food and beverages

2011-04-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

Food
Slovenia has more than 1200 national dishes. Slovenian traditional dishes differ very much from region to region. It’s however not easy to find a traditional Slovenian dish like mlinci (pasta tatters) or ajdovi žganci (dish made from boiled cornmeal). If you wish to try traditional Slovenian dishes, the best places to go are gostilna or gostišče (local pubs). If you want to enjoy the food in a Slovenian way, you will have to eat slow, because in Slovenia slow and organic food rules. Slovenes normally eat three meals every day, with lunch being the most important.

Sok (fruit juice), kava (coffee), or čaj (tea) and žemlja (a type of hard roll) are common for zajtrk (breakfast).

Lunch generally starts with juha (soup). It generally includes a meat dish, a starch dish (e.g. bread, pasta, dumplings or potatoes), vegetables and a salad (e.g. francoska solata, cubed potatoes and vegetables with mayonnaise). Bread almost always goes with both lunch and dinner. When a meal is taken at a restaurant, the waitress expects the diners to report the number bread slices they wish to eat during their meal. Most restaurants will serve homemade olive oil with their meals.

To drink at lunch or dinner, there generally is vino (wine), pivo (beer) or malinovec (a drink made with raspberry syrup).

Dinner is usually light. Salads and yoghurt, accompanied by leftovers from lunch, are characteristic. When invited to dinner, Slovenes consider it decent to bring small presents. Flowers and wine are usually given to the host, and sweets is offered to children. It is considered impolite to refuse any food that is offered, even if you don’t like it. So you better tell your host what you like, some days before visiting.

Eating at restaurants is considered luxurious by the Slovenes, so it is normally only done on special occasions and for celebrations. Nevertheless, many Slovenes do often have a meal at a gostilna or a gostišče (local pub). The traditional Sunday lunch in a local pub may include beef or chicken soup with homemade noodles, pork or veal roast, sautéed or roasted potatoes, salad and strudel for dessert.

Young Slovenes may go out for pizza and like eating at fast food places. A very popular fast food dish is burek (a layered pie with cheese, meat or apples). You can buy it at most of the takeaway places.
You can eat fresh fish of a good quality throughout the country. Both, fresh water and salt water fish are served, e.g. pike, trout, scampi, squid and different kinds of perch. Most of them are grilled or fried.

The Slovenian cuisine has been strongly influenced by its neighbours. From Hungary there are palačinke (pancakes), paprikaš (chicken or beef stew) and golaž (goulash). Austria has put in dunajski zrezek (schnitzel), klobase (bangers) and zavitek (a kind of strudel). The ravioli žlikrofi is typical Italian. And čevapčiči (grilled minced meat) comes from the Balkan.

A Slovenian meal is not complete without a juha (soup), like goveja juha z rezanci (beef soup with thin egg noodles), gobova kremna juha (creamed mushroom soup) or a zelenjavna juha (vegetable soup).
Please don’t let pass trying potica (cake roll filled with dried fruit, walnuts and a range of herbs) or maybe you like gibanica even more (a pastry filled with walnuts, apple, poppy seeds and cheese and a cream topping). Another Slovene specialty is štruklji (cheese strudel), which is a terrific way to start a meal. Sliced raw onions mixed with pumpkinseed oil are a delicacy and are often served.

There is always special food on St. Martin's Day (11th of November). St Martin is the patron saint of wine, so his feast day is the day that grape juice officially becomes wine, and that is always celebrated. Red cabbage is prepared sweet and sour and a well roasted goose is traditional. Another unusual dish is mlinci (pasta tatters), that have been roasted with the goose.
And of course, previous year's wine and the new wine are both drunk!

Drinks
Wine is the main drink in Slovenia, and a big industry in the region surrounding Ptuj. Wine growing in Slovenia has very good results, because it lies on the southern hills of the Alps and touches the Mediterranean sea. And so it is blessed with climatic changeability from the north and the south. Very interesting in the Ptuj region is the practice of offering water to mix with the wine. This practice is not common in other regions to the west. Bottled water, either with or without bubbles, is offered along with wine. The amount of water in the wine is up to the drinker. In the cafes, a glass of homemade white wine will cost about € 0.75, while coffee will be several times more expensive.

The opening drink in the morning is usually sweetened herb tea. So you better taste it first, before adding sugar! The tea is often followed by very sweet, Turkish coffee, which is boiled with sugar in a small pot with a long hold. The sediment is divided over the cups. It is usually served with cream, kava s smetano. It normally is offered in the morning but is available whole day long. Some slivovka (plum brandy) might be offered with the coffee as well. Slivovka can be offered at any time of the day since many locals make it themselves. There are also a lot of beekeepers in Slovenia, so you can buy homemade med everywhere. Offering a toast to everyone's health is considered polite.

Brezalkoholne pijače (soft drinks) are often available. Pivo (beer) is common and might be offered anywhere. Everyone has their preference for one of the national brands, either Laško or Union and there is a real beer rivalry. Laško is brewed in the town of Laško near Celje and has a green label with a set of mountain goat horns. The Union brewery is in Ljubljana.

Flora and Fauna

2011-03-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

There are more than 15,000 animal sorts in Slovenia and more than 3,200 plant sorts. This is because of its amount of varying landscapes and climates. It results in one of the most diverse flora and fauna of the world.
Slovenia is also included in the Natura 2000 list of the EU of nature protection areas. This was set up to protect the biodiversity. More than one third of the country is on this list. The largest protected area is the Triglav National Park, which is 848 km² big. It is the only national park in Slovenia, but there are also three regional parks and 45 landscape parks.
The Škocjan caves were put on the UNESCO world heritage list. The Sečovlje Salt pans and Lake Cerknica were put on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance.
Almost 55% of the country is covered by its most typical landscape: Forests. Unlike the forests in other parts of the world, the forests in Slovenia are getting bigger. This is due to the growing over of deserted farm land in the more isolated parts of the country.
The largest animals in the Slovenian forests are the wolf, wildcat, deer, lynx, mouflon, wild boar and the brown bear. Some smaller animals are the marten, squirrel, badger and red fox.
Very famous is the Proteus Anguinus, or olm, which is a blind, amphibic salamander that lives only in karstic caves along the Adriatic Sea from Slovenia in the north to Herzegovina in the south.

The brown bear
Nowadays Slovenia is one of the few countries in Europe with a stabile and vital brown bear population. They have a fast expanding habitat and their amount is also strongly increasing. The Slovenian brown bears are very important for the relocation of bears in Italy, Austria, France and Spain.
The brown bear can often be found in the forests of the Karst mountain range at a height of 400-1200 metres. The largest Slovenian brown bear population is found in the forests in the south of the country.
The bear's senses, except for its eyesight, are extremely well developed. So it is very difficult to surprise or approach bears without being noticed. The bear hunts seldom and does not see people as a prey. We can say that in their meeting, the human and the bear feel quite the same: both human and bear want to fly.

Bear watching holidays
There are a lot of brown bears in Slovenia. The British tour operator Just Slovenia makes it possible to go for bear watching holidays. The price is £ 523.- per person and include flights from Stansted, three nights at a family-run tourist farm in the south of Slovenia with breakfast and dinner, car hire and an overnight, guided bear watching excursion. You will be taken to the woods, to a specially designed hide watch for the European Brown Bear. There are about 700 in Slovenia so there is a good chance of you seeing them. You may also see deer, foxes, wolves and wild boars. Most suitable season for bear watching: 15 April to 31 August. More info at: http://www.justslovenia.co.uk/

Triglav National Park
Triglav National Park was called after Mount Triglav in the heart of the park. This mountan has the highest peak of Slovenia (2864 metres). Triglav is Slovenian for Tree-headed, what of course refers to the three peaks of the mountain.
The mountain is a national symbol and is in the national coat of arms and the flag.
It is the only national park in the country and also the biggest it extends along the Italian border all the way to the Austrian border. The park covers 3% of Slovenian territories. It is also one of the oldest national parks of Europe, as it was first protected in 1924. The main task of the Public Institution is to protect the flora and fauna of the park and also carrying out research tasks concerning nature and nature tourism.

Saltpans of Sečovlje
The most important saltpans for Slovenia were the saltpans of Sečovlje. The first records of them date from the 13th century. From the 14th century onwards the salt trade expanded and influenced the development of the coastal towns a lot. In the Slovenian saltpans, salt is still produced in a traditional and natural way by using 'petola' crust, an artificially grown carpet on the bottom of crystallisation basins that prevents salt from mixing with sediments.
In 1989, the Sečovlje saltpans were declared a landscape park which was separated into four smaller areas or natural reserves which are of special botanical or zoological importance.
Nowadays there grow approximately 45 endangered Slovenian plant species in the saltpan area. There are only a few vertebrates that can stay alive in the extreme ecological conditions of the saltpans. The saltpans are a kind of natural fish farms and they are well known as an extraordinary nesting area for various birds. There is a fish that is very adapted to the salt conditions, the so called solinarka salt-fish (Aphanius fasciatus). The area is the Mediterranean most northern station for migrating birds. Sometimes there are even more than 270 different bird species in the saltpans. In spring and autumn there are crowds of birds in the area on their way between Europe and Africa. Throughout the year there are three sorts of herons, but they don’t nest there: the white heron, the little white heron and the gray heron. Some other animals that have been spotted in the saltpans are the European pond turtle, red foxes, the greater flamingo, kingfishers and the black snake.
As part of the guidelines of the protection of rich natural heritage, Slovenia has worked hard for the conservation of these ecosystems by placing the Sečovlje saltpans on the Ramsar list in 1993.
During the last ten years a museum complex was built at the Fontanigga area (the southern part of the saltpans) . The complex includes two restored salt-makers' houses, two neighbouring salt fields and the Giassi canal which is the main canal for the entry of sea-water. I really recommend going there.
You can choose to run, jog or having a romantic walk in the morning or evening, because at day it will be to warm. Don’t forget to visit the small shop where you can buy chocolate with salt flower:
Soline Pridelava Soli d.o.o.
115 Seča
Portorož - Portorose 6320
http://www.soline.si/

New Travel Blog Author

2011-03-23T02:28:00.000-07:00

Pascal Aerssens, young Dutch student writing Tourist Guide to Slovenia (more photos)

My name is Pascal Aerssens. I live in Assen, The Netherlands. I wrote the tourist guide from which extracts will be taken for this weblog for my Personal Project at the Maartens College. In the final year of the Middle Years Programme (MYP) of the International Baccalaureate Organisation, each student has to complete a personal project in order to get his certificate, so that includes me. A personal project is an important work that is the result of the own ideas and ingenuity of the student. In addition, Mr. Leon Marc, the Slovenian Ambassador to The Netherlands has written a preface to the guide.

I chose to write this Tourist Guide to Slovenia, because I like writing, travelling and photo shooting. I could combine this with my holidays in Slovenia in 2010. I chose not only to write about the common touristic attractions, but also about the less famous attractions and regions. This wasn’t too difficult, since Slovenia has got lots to offer.

Slovenia is a beautiful country with very hospitable people. I hope you will experience this in the same way I did. In the tourist guide I try to inform you about the food and drinks, sports, the language, the landscape, attractions and more. I also try to give travelling advice where needed. Many things I wrote from experience. I took a lot of photos myself. Some data may be barred because Slovenia is a rapidly growing country, I ask for your understanding. I hope you will enjoy your stay in Slovenia!

A letter from the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, signed by Ambassador Leon Marc

I was truly impressed by the Tourist Guide to Slovenia prepared by Pascal M. Aerssens from the Maartenscollege - International School of Groningen. Not only has Pascal thoroughly studied dozens and dozens of websites and book on Slovenia, but he also travelled there and spent his holidays in my homeland.

The Guide is well structured and systematic, the country presented by regions, plus there is a general introduction, which deals with every possible aspect of Slovenia. I particularly value the care that Pascal took to spell names correctly and not to omit special characters in our alphabet: č, š and ž. Identity and language are important!

This book is not only a school project well done and a practical tool for travellers to Slovenia - more than 60.000 Dutch tourists visited Slovenia in 2009, making it our 6th most important tourist market! It is much more: I am convinced that Pascal's work will add to the efforts to put Slovenia on the map of Dutch and other people and help dispel stereotypes about the so-called Eastern Europe. It will assist the reader to discover in between Venice and Vienna (actually west of Vienna!) a land of two million people that in area of half of the Netherlands combine Adriatic Sea, Alps, giant Carst caves, vineyards, endless forests and a fantastic cuisine; a country within Schengen and Euro-zone that already surpasses economically some of the "old" EU Member States.

I thank Pascal for his work and I invite the reader to come and visit Slovenia soon.

Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia, Leon Marc
Den Haag, 27. 9. 2010

HVALA LEPA!

2010-12-23T02:34:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

In this last blog I only want to say everybody thanks for all: “Thanks for your time, for your patience, for the accommodation, for the food, for the transport… These two months have been a great time for me. Thank you Tina and Dejan (my host entrepreneur) you have taught a lot of things about the innovation in tourism and you have helped in all moments. Thanks to Sebastjan Rosa (the intermediary organization) he picked me up in Trieste airport the day I arrived and we have been in touch during this time. Thanks Maja, you showed me the beautiful Kamniška Bistrica and Velika planina (I will never forget the food in Velika planina in that foggy day). Dolores and the girls of Turag4all we had great time together, and thanks for the coffees; I want the best for you in your new business and help everybody to travel. Barbara from Humanitas you opened my eyes to “responsible” tourism. My Portorož friends: Andreja, Neli and Lia, we had a good time at Slovenian coast, thanks for showing me Villa Salina (grear sunsets from there) and Villa Marina… and Mateja the woman who showed me Koper and gave me a bottle of olive oil that they produce. Polona showed me all the corners of the Eco Hotel in Bohinj, an incredible hotel with all the facilities (I hope that your future plans will be successful); and thanks Darko, Roman and your family I had a great week with you in Žetale (Haloze), thanks for showing me the beautiful hills, the ski, the silence, the peace…

Thanks to everybody I have met; I want to be in touch with all of you and I would like to see you soon: if you come to my little Salamanca please write or phone me and I will show you my city or maybe I come back to Slovenia soon. Adijo all my friends and remember that you have a friend in Spain!

Žetale

2010-12-14T07:00:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

I spent the last week in Žetale ; do you know were it is? Don’t worry I'll explain to you where it is and what you can do there. I think that once you have read about it you are going to plan your trip to Žetale. The first thing is that Žetale is part of Štajerska region. The capital of this region is Maribor (95.787 habitants in 2010), the second biggest city in Slovenia. And between Maribor and Žetale there is Ptuj , the most antique city in Slovenia (Ptuj is a historical city with a rich heritage on the banks of the Drava River. The town centre reserved the medieval city core, the castle, churches, monasteries, squares...). Žetale is also part of the region called “Haloze.”
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I have read that “Haloze” is one of the poorest and more rural area in Slovenia. But I like Haloze a lot: here, all is beautiful: I like the green of the hills (now white for the snow), the great sightseeing of Donačka gora, the starry sky; the peace, the silence, the tranquillity, … But what I like the most is the people that live in this region: They are very friendly and they are always wishing to teach you a lot of things about this zone, about the wine, the food, the history…

For me Haloze was a great discovery. I have been in different farms, churches: I recommend that you visit Ptujska Gora (a lot of pilgrims visit this gothic church where the most remarkable one is the statue of Virgin Mary - the patroness with her mantle as she invites people to her side. Under the mantle there are images of more than 80 people) … I have tried its great wine (white wine region) and I have enjoyed the traditional gastronomy… I have walked in the ecological trail… I have been in the Ptuj Thermal Spa… oh yes, I have enjoyed a lot. I think this region is perfect for nature lovers, for people who like tradition, history…this region is perfect for everyone: young, adults, elderly people…

The actual demand of tourism in Haloze is good, but in my opinion it’s necessary to advertise the high points of the region, especially in big cities like Maribor or Ljubljana and try to attract more people from there. (Maybe making weekend’s packages). It would be great if there were more information about this region in travel guides for foreigners… And in the side of the supply I think that now it is good, but it is necessary innovation, supply new things to the customers…

I hope you like the description of Žetale and Haloze and if you have any doubts, don’t hesitate to ask me.

See you soon, Juan

Meetings' week in Ljubljana

2010-12-08T05:45:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

My friends, here I am again; I am going to tell you about the things that I did last week. I was in Ljubljana and I had different meetings:

On Monday morning I had a meeting with Barbara from Humanitas. Do you remember that I had told you about her in my blog? She told me about the things they do in Slovenia and in different countries of Africa (Ghana, Burkina Faso…) and we were talking about the “Responsible Tourism”. But what do we understand under this term? This kind of tourism does not harm neither natural nor social environment of the local communities visited and aims to contribute to its economic, cultural, social and environmental sustainability. It also thrives to connect tourists with local cultures and raises awareness on the problems local communities face. Within the project they have developed seven workshops for tourists (traditional weaving workshops, workshop of bronze making crafts, cotton workshop where participants visit organic cotton farms and get acquainted with the cotton situation in Burkina Faso, mango workshop, local beer production workshop…). Humanitas does not organize travels to Burkina Faso but aims to include workshops into already existing tourist programmes of Slovenian and foreign travel agencies. Moreover, it aims to raise awareness among Slovenian tourists and travellers on the importance of responsible tourism and to encourage Slovenian tourist agencies to include main responsible tourism principles (collaboration with local organizations and communities, financial transparency of collaborations, fair payment of local guides and partners, financial investments in social and development community projects, use of environmentally friendly transport etc.) into business strategies. The meeting was really interesting and I will look into Responsible Tourism in Spain.

On Wednesday afternoon, when it snowed strongly, I met Simona Bandur, journalist of the daily newspaper Delo. We met in Preseren Square and we had coffee in the Kavarna Union. She wanted to interview me and she asked me why I came to Slovenia, what the program Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs was about, how I felt here, what my future plans were etc. Yes, we talked for about 30 minutes and yesterday the interview was published in the newspaper! You can read it here (in Slovenian, sorry!) :)

On Thursday and Friday Slovenian Forum of Innovation took place at the Convention Centre Gospodarsko razstavišče in Ljubljana. I went there with Tina (Zavod Novi turizem) who was there to present the project Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia. They were chosen among 50 innovations to be presented at this fair. There were different exhibitors: electric cars, airplane, strange cellos... On Friday morning me and Tina presented the programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs at a workshop hosted by Sebastjan Rosa (my Intermediary Organization). I told them about my excellent exchange.

On Friday evening me and my roomate Michiel went to the Etnographic Museum and later we watched the turning on of the Christmas Lights... Later some friends joined us and we had dinner and we enjoyed Ljubljana at night. My dear Ljubljana, how much am I going to miss you when I go...!

Slovenian Mediterranean

2010-11-29T00:26:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Only 47 kilometres of coast has Slovenia. Between Italy and Croatia, Slovenian Coast appears proud of itself. Last week I have been discovering the coast from Hrvatini to Sečovlje.

In this area the wind, the water and the salt of Mediterranean Sea join with the olive trees, vineyard, khakis, etc… Here, you can see the most beautiful colours of the sea and the earth; hear the wages, try different tastes…

My trip started in Portorož (Port of roses), I was working there in Istriana Tourist Service Portorož with Andreja Humar Fatorič and Lia; they explained me how they operate their business and showed me Vila Marina, a luxuries villa with 8 apartments, close to Marina Portorož. I stayed in Villa Salina during the time I was on the coast. The view from the Villa is incredible, you see the Sečovlje Saltpans (the photo of this blog is from there) and I recommend you go to the Saltpans and visit them. In Portorož, Andreja and her husband gave me to try: olive oil, cheese, khakis… Oh all it was very good!

Portorož was born as a thermal centre in the 18th century: water, salt, mud … with the years Portorož has become in an important tourist destination and hotels, restaurants, pubs, casinos… await the arrival of tourists (specially in summer). Only 2 kilometres from Portorož is Piran. The whole city is a monument. The first thing you see upon the arrival is the Saint George’s church Tower (similar to Saint Mark’s tower in Venice) and the most important place of the city is the “Tartini Square” I invite you to get lost in the side streets, go up to the walls and see the wonderful sightseeing of the sea and the white peaks of the Alps.

Continuing along the coast lies Koper (Capodistria), a beautiful town where Greeks, Romans and specially Venetians have left a great influence. When you go there you have to go to Tito’s Square and see “The Praetorian Palace”, “The Loggia” and “The Cathedral”. When I was in Koper I met Mateja Kozlovič, she showed me the apartments and rooms she rents: Kozlovič rooms in the middle of nature, with great views of the Adriatic Sea and the countryside. Mateja and her husband have an olive oil factory Oljarna Hrvatin and they gave me an olive oil bottle (I have tried and it’s exquisite.)

I came back to Ljubljana yesterday, I was very happy on the coast. And the weather was good (except one day when it rained all day), it was warm and sunny. Yesterday upon the return I saw snow. It was snowing a lot in all Slovenia except on the coast. So I have to prepare my winter clothes because cold and snow are now in Ljubljana.

See you soon and I am enjoying the first snow and be careful if you have to drive!

Dobrodošli v naravi! Dobrodošli v Bohinj!

2010-11-22T02:19:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Incredible, wonderful…! All the adjectives are few to describe the beauty of the lake Bohinj and the Julian Alps! Last Thursday I took the bus from Ljubljana to Bohinjska Bistrica and I spent two days there and I visited The Triglav National Park.

When you arrive to Slovenia, the first thing you see is Slovenia’s flag. There are flags everywhere; you see the colours: white, blue and red and in the coat of arms you could see three stars, the Adriatic sea and the Triglav mountain. If there is a symbol in Slovenia this is Triglav (2,864 metres) and Slovenian people told me that you aren’t a “true Slovenian” until you climb the Triglav mountain. Last Friday I saw Triglav from Bohinj Lake; I think I’m going to learn to climb and the next time I come back to Slovenia I could try to reach the top.

And what can I say about Lake Bohinj? It is the largest lake in Slovenia (maximum length 4,2 kilometres, maximum width 1 kilometre), its primary inflow is the Savica River (I recommend going to see the Savica waterfall, even when you have to climb more than 500 steps) and its primary outflow is the Sava Bohinjka.

This is the environment where I was last week: mountains, lake, rivers, forest… pure nature! And when is the best moment to go there? In summer you can enjoy walking, rowing in the lake, riding horses … In spring and autumn you see the different colours of the nature, climbing, hiking…And in winter, skiing is possible in different ski centres like Vogel or Kobla.

What is the best place for accommodation in Bohinj? There aren’t any doubts: the five star Bohinj Park EKO Hotel. This new hotel offers to their guests all they need: different kind of rooms (presidential suite, business suites, family suites, standard rooms…). All rooms with warm natural materials and high standard equipment offer a magnificent view towards Julian Alps. The hotel provides 8 different sized conference halls. Restaurant offers a pleasant ambient in selected natural materials, diverse and excellent cuisine and fast room-service. Guests can choose from authentic home meals, international cuisine, vegetarian and diet offer. The hotel has its own bowling area with 5 professional bowling lanes. Park Hotel is connected with Aquapark by an underground corridor and thus offers a unique water experience: swimming pools, saunas, fitness, wellness… What more can you request?

I want to highlight one thing about the hotel. Bohinj Park EKO Hotel is one of the most advanced ecological constructions in Europe. They use a system which consumes less energy. They recycle water; they spend less electric energy with Led technology; walls are very well isolated. When you remove your card from its dock a system activates a time delay before disabling. On every window there is a sensor, which shuts down the air-conditioning after a certain amount of time. Computer system regulates climate conditions in the room; it adapts to the outdoor climate as well (temperature, moisture, sun, part of the day ...) and makes optimal living conditions. It’s essential that we take care of our environment; if not, will new generations enjoy the nature?

So if you had read the blog, and you would like to discover the beautiful Slovenian nature, it’s the moment to go to Bohinj! I invite you to go. When? Right now! Prepare your ski equipment because it's starting to snow in the mountains.

PS: I prepared some Spanish recipes for the employees of the hotel. Here is an advice on how to prepare famous paella:

PAELLA

Ingredients for 6 people:
7 cups of rice (cup coffee)
3 cloves of garlic.
3 ripe red tomatoes.
1 / 2 cup olive oil.
1 / 2 rabbit or 1 / 2 sliced chicken.
150 grams of cooked peas.
6 small lobsters
6 king prawns.
150 grams of sliced squid.
250 grams of mussels.
250 grams of clams.
Condiment saffron yellow.
Sal

Preparation
Place a paella pan on the fire and add the oil. When the oil it will be hot add grated tomatoes and minced garlic.Then lay the pieces of meat and fry them lightly. Then add the rice and mix well with a wooden spoon, then add the peas, squid, mix again and add water (twice that of rice), add the salt and saffron and let high heat for 5 minutes. After this time, lower the heat and keep cooking for another 15 minutes. When you still have some souo, add clams and mussels, cooked in advance and place the prawns and lobsters decorating over rice.
When the rice is just right, remove from heat, let stand for 5 minutes and serve in the same paella.

Let’s help all people travel!

2010-11-19T05:27:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Hello, I am here again. Ten days ago I wrote the last blog and I anticipated some things about what I would write in this blog. So, I’m going to start:

From the first days of November I have been working in the company PREMIKI on a project Turag4all (http://www.turag4all.eu/). As you know this company focuses on accessible tourism, they want that all people could travel (specially the people with disabilities), so I went to their office and I help them. The first day I went to Turag4all I was with Dolores (the boss) and Dolores’ team: Kaja, Fanika, Kristina and Silvia. All of them are very friendly and I have enjoyed working with them.

The company started as a project financed by the European Social Fund and Slovenian Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs and it is at the beginnings. So, I have seen how an enterprise is born and how it grows.
At the start they are getting in touch with different Slovenian associations, and hotels in search of collaboration. They visit the hotels and if the accommodations have facilities for disabled people they give them the certificate “Disability Friendly” and they promote these places. At the moment they promote different hotels in Slovenia.

The company has taken part in the World Travel Market in London (from 8th to 11th November 2010), in this fair there were more than 5,000 companies from all over the world (18 of them were from Slovenia) and more than 24,000 visitors attended. At that event people from the company met people from all over the world and they have established contacts with people and companies from Croatia, Bulgaria, Italy, U.K…. In the next days Dolores is going to Valladolid (Spain), very close to my city, to participate in the third international congress on accessible tourism for all.

I helped them translate the turag4all.eu webpage to Spanish and I have looked at some contacts with Spanish companies to try establish some links with Slovenia. I’d like to highlight the organization FEAFES, Spanish Confederation group of federations and associations of people with mental illness and their families. They organize trips for people with disabilities in Spain and in Europe (París…). In my opinion I think it could be very interesting if Turag4all could work with them or other similar associations.

I have worked very happy and I have learnt differenent things that I consider very useful in my life.

Now, I’m going to prepare the suitcase because I’m going… I´m going to Bohinj, because Bohinj Park Eko Hotel is waiting for me.

See you soon.

Happy to be here

2010-11-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

I want to write right now, yes it’s my birthday! I’m getting older and older, but I’m very happy. I’m lucky to be here in Slovenia, I’m blessed to work here, I’m pleasant to discover this country.

I have a lot of things to tell you, so I’m going to start at the beginning. On October 29th I went with some friends to Budapest (Hungary) and we spent there some days; on October 31st we visited Bratislava (Slovakia) and on November 1st we were in Vienna (Austria), we had a great time and enjoyed it a lot.

But now I will tell you about my work. At the social tourism workshop I attended last week I met Barbara Vodopivec from Humanitas. Humanitas is a society for human rights and supportive action. It is a voluntary, non-governmental and non-profit organisation. Its principal aims are to offer assistance to less privileged groups at home and around the world, to represent and assert their interests, and to promote tolerance. And during this week I’ll make an appointment with her because I’m interesting about the things they do. So, in the next blog you will find more information about Barbara and Humanitas.

During this week I have worked on my business plan. When you start your business plan it’s difficult because you don’t know exactly what you want, you can hardly predict things such as the expenses and incomes that you will have …but in my opinion it’s useful because it can help you think about the target audience, define comparative advantages, threats in the environment etc.

Also, I have been investigating innovation in Spanish tourism since this is the area my host entrepreneur Dejan is most interested in. There is a public company whose objective is to merge new technologies and tourism: SEGGITUR. That company aids in the management, development, implementation and maintenance of various projects. I’ve read about different projects and I think there are two very interesting: the first one is the webpage http://www.spain.info/ they run because it writes about all the most interesting things in Spain. The second one is http://www.europeseniortourism.eu/, the webpage that promotes Spanish tourism for people over 55 years old.

Also I have searched for innovative tourism products in the region where I come from: Salamanca. Salamanca is not a very big town (160,000 habitants) that lies in the centre of Spain, 210 km (2 hours) from Madrid. Salamanca is very famous for the University and a lot of people visit the city because of their studies (about 30.000 students every year) and for the monuments (the old town is a Unesco World Heritage Monument). So, Salamanca is a city with a lot of tourism potential but if people don’t offer new and different products, I believe that tourism development will stagnate.

The last things that people have done in Salamanca to attract tourists are:
-    Build and Promote Golf Courses
-    Promote Rural Tourism.
-    Experiences new sensations in Palaces or Castles.
-    Enjoy the food and the wine: catas de vino, vinoterapia, chocolaterapia
-    Spas & Health Resorts
-    Visit bulls in their environment
-    Academies where they teach you to cut the jamón ibérico
-    Outdoors Sport: cycling, hiking, trekking, canoeing, ride horses, paintball
-    River Cruises

And I’ve started working in tourist agency Turag4all, a company that promotes tourism for people with mental or physical disabilities. In the next blog I’m writing more about the things I’ve learnt and the things I’ve done with them.

To finish I’d like to tell you that on Thursday 4th November my sister and her boyfriend came to Slovenia to visit me. Like a good host I showed them around Ljubljana, we took hundreds of photos: the castle, Prešernov trg, river Ljubljanica, Dragon bridge, old town, the Town hall, Saint Nicholas Cathedral, Kongresni trg, art deco buildings… and all the places that make Ljubljana a small, but very beautiful jewel. On Sunday 6th November we discovered Bled Lake and Bohinj Lake (the last one in Triglav National Park). What can I tell you about these places? Bled is all beautiful: the castle built on top of a 130 meter cliff overlooking lake Bled, the church in the middle of the lake, the sightseeings of the alps mountains… and later we went to Bohinj… I will not tell you anything about Bohinj because I’m visiting Bohinj Park Eko hotel in mid-November (so you have to wait until I write to discover Bohinj area).

As you can see, dear readers, I don’t have a lot of time to waste in Slovenia, time flies so quickly… and I have to discover so many things…. I hope you like my blog and I'll see you soon.

Social Tourism

2010-10-28T23:35:00.000-07:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Today me and Tina from New Tourism Institute went to the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce to attend a conference about social economy. We arrived in the afternoon for the workshop "Social Economy and Tourism”. At the beginning I didn’t know anything about what I was going to listen to, but at the end of the conference I was very pleased with what I have heard. I'll tell you about the workshop:

It was about tourism, but what is tourism? The World Tourism Organization says that tourism are all the activities that people (tourists) do during their travels in places different than their own place, for a consecutive period inferior to one year and major a day, with leisure proposals, business or other motives. But I want to highlight the existence of sustainable tourism; in this tourism profits are important, but it’s necessary to merge them with the environment and social necessities. The answer on how profits can be merged with social necessities is Social Tourism.

At the workshop there were three speakers, all in charge of different Social Tourism projects.

First, Dolores Kores spoke on behalf of the Turag4all tourist agency. The idea of the Slovenian Association for Mental Health ŠENT was to establish a travel agency for people with special necessities. They think that tourism is not a luxury, but a basic right that all the humans have, so people with disabilities should not be discriminated. The agency wants to help people with mental problems to get employment and also sells tourism products for the disabled guests. Dolores told us that she wants to cooperate with new partners and we agreed I can work at her tourist agency in the next two weeks.

The next guest was Antonio Zurino from Italy. He explained us the idea behind "LE MAT.” He told us about the Social Cooperative System that they use: in these cooperatives workers own co-operatives, self-help entrepreneurs action for empowerment and decent salaries for their members, and many of the workers are exclusion people or people with disabilities. This system is used in different fields, such us agriculture, tourism… In the tourism sector there are “LEMAT” resorts in Italy (from Trieste to Bari or Palermo) and even in Sweden (Vägen ut! Kooperativen). People who work in these resorts are ex-prisoners, ex-alcoholic, ex-drug addicts… Antonio believes that Slovenia is also ready for such cooperatives and why not start one?

The last spokesperson was Andreas Zebisch from Austria. He is the manager of Seminarkultur an der Donau, a hotel in Wenesufer. This is the only hotel in Austria where the employees have mental problems. He told us that work with these people is a gratifying experience, and amongst the ten objectives of success in his experience are flexibility and struggling against the superficial.

To sum up, tourism is a right for all the people and with tourism we can help people with problems or disabilities to integrate into the society. I am looking forward to learning more about social tourism while working in the specialised tourism agency in the next two weeks.

My first adventure: Kamniška Bistrica and Velika Planina

2010-10-26T23:18:00.000-07:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Sunday 24th October 2010, 06:00 a.m. Ljubljana (Slovenia) the alarm clock went off. Time to get up. Darkness. I left home, I was prepared for the adventure that awaited me that day. In the street all was silent and the darkness was only broken by the full moon light. I went to the bus station and went to a place that had never before heard of: Kamniška Bistrica.

In Kamniška Bistrica, Maja expected me. Maja is a nice lady who among her many jobs promotes tourism in the area. But, what is there to see in Kamniška Bistrica?

Kamniška Bistrica is an Alpine river in northern Slovenia, left tributary of the river Sava. It springs from the Kamnik Alps, near the border with Austria. It is 33 km long. Kamniška Bistrica flows through the town of Kamnik, where it is fed by the river Nevljica. So Kamniška Bistrica is in fact a river, but also the name of one of the most beautiful valleys I have seen in my life.

As a good hostess Maja showed me the most significant places of the valley, among which are the following:
• The spring of the river Kamniška Bistrica: The water springs from the moss-grown rocks and then stops for a short period of time in the artificial lake. The lake is a good place for refreshment.
• Predaselj gorge: The gorges Veliki and Mali Predaselj present the narrowest part of the riverbed of the Kamniška Bistrica. A few minute walk along the gorge opens a beautiful view on the riverbed and the colour of the river pure.
• Plečnik's Mansion: This building was built by the architect Jože Plečnik and was The Royal Hunting Lodge of the King Alexander (Yugoslavian King).
• Memorial Park: It’s a park which includes the memorial tablets of all casualties in The Alps. There is also a memorial tablet for Tomaž Humar, one of the best Slovenian alpinists.

Maja and her Tourism Association can help you organize your trip to Kamniška Bistrica, she will show you the most beautiful and hidden places, and organize all kinds of activities such as hiking, mountain biking, archery, fishing, kayaking, zip line ... and she could prepare a typical Slovenian food.

After seeing the wonders of Kamniška Bistrica, Maja, a friend of hers and I went to Velika Planina. Velika Planina is a grass plateau located at 1,500 meters altitude (Kamniška Bistrica is 600 meters high). From Bistrica, Velika planina can be accessed by the cabin lift or through the mountain road. In Velika Planina, you can do all sorts of activities. In summer, you could go hiking, mountain biking, visit the typical shepherd houses, see the church of Santa Maria. In Winter, Velika Planina is a perfect place for snow lovers: skiing, sledge-runs, cross-country skiing, snowshoes walks ... But we were in the autumn: at first the sky was overcast, but when we started climbing, fog broke out so we could barely see 10 meters far which made it easy to get lost. But going with these two experts, there was no problem. After an hour and a half we saw the houses of shepherds and arrived at the church of Santa Maria. All was quiet, silence, harmony ... The tiredness and the cold was coming over us, so we went to eat at Jarški Dom. As we were cold, we drank dušica (a traditional herbs liqueur) and the soup obara with žganci, so pretty quickly we were warm again. Finally we tried the traditional dessert štruklji. Everything was delicious. We were in heaven. On the way back the fog lifted and we could clearly see the traditional houses of the shepherds and the nearby Alpine peaks, such as Grintavec (2.558m).

In the evening we had dinner at the International Center Picnic "Pri Jurju" where we enjoyed a traditional Slovenian dinner and we talked animatedly to Marjan, the owner. And to finish the day, I stayed at the hotel Pri Orlu, a cute hotel, where in every detail there is a good taste.

I want to thank all the people I’ve met on Sunday, but especially Maja. Thanks for all and we are meeting soon!

Why Slovenia? Why not!

2010-10-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

Juan Lopez, young Spanish entrepreneur discovering Slovenian tourism (more pictures)

Hello everybody,

I’m Juan López and I’m from Salamanca (Spain). I arrived to Slovenija on 14th of October and I’ll be here until mid-December. I’m here as a part of European Commission program “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs”. This program is a new cross-border business exchange programme aimed at helping new or would-be entrepreneurs to acquire the relevant skills for managing a small or medium-sized enterprise and experienced businessmen or women, looking for fresh perspectives and international cooperation opportunities.

When I saw the “Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs” webpage I thought why not start a business? And I thought it could be a good idea to meet different entrepreneurs and different companies from which I could learn many things. I was sure I wanted to participate in the program. But where to go? I could choose between the 27 European Countries forming the European Union (except Spain) and I chose Slovenia, but Why?

I have travelled through Europe and I have been in big countries like France, Italy or Germany. These countries are wonderful but are often crowded and people are very stressed. I wanted to visit a small country that is not very well known or at least not known in depth. Discover its cities, its people, its food, its landscapes. And so I thought why not go to Slovenia?

I know some people who have been here and they have told me that Slovenia was a beautiful country and that people were very hospitable; I have watched some TV-documentaries and I have read some books. Then I wanted to go there, the European Commission approved my request, I packed my things, I took the plane… and here I am in Slovenia.

I found a Host Entrepreneur that wanted to take me in, his name is Dejan Križaj and he is the director of New Tourism Institute and the initiatior of Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia project. Through the Bank, NT cooperates with numerous tourism businesses and organisations so he can help me get in touch with tourism companies that I will visit.

During these two months I will write about Slovenia, so I can help people get to know this small great unknown country, which is at the crossroads of Central Europe, the Mediterranean and the Balkans.

I hope you like this blog and if you have any questions, suggestions or comments do not hesitate to be in touch with me by email: juanloopez@gmail.com

See you soon!

New blogger starting his Slovenian journey

2010-10-14T00:38:00.000-07:00

In August, you could follow the adventures of Adam McRae, winner of StormIt Challenge Give me three days of GREEN sLOVEnia. We would like to thank Adam for his excellent writing and reporting and of course please, do all follow his advice: Go to Slovenia.

From Canada to Spain. Tomorrow, Bank of Tourism Potentials in Slovenia team will be joined by a young Spanish entrepreneur Juan Lopez, 28, who will visit Slovenia as part of EU business exchange programme Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs. Juan will stay in Slovenia for two months during which he will be discovering the country not only from the tourist point of view but mainly from a business point of view. His long-term goal is to open own tourist agency in Spain and Bank of Tourism Potentials will help him meet as many tourist workers, professionals, agency owners, volunteers, managers and other key tourism players as possible.

Same as Adam, Juan will report on all the activities in our blog so do not forget to tune in on regular basis for the next two months! And of course, shall you wish to meet and greet Juan and host him in your organisation, do not hesitate to contact us at info@btps.si!

Final Entry - Looking Back

2010-09-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

I have had some time to reflect on my trip now that I have been back at home base for a little while. Any of the trials and tribulations during my month long trip have now settled as pleasant memories and entertaining stories. I do my best not to embellish to many of the details, but of course this is unavoidable. I really did have a good time. The regular Slovenian people I met were all so friendly and accommodating that I never felt like I was a stranger in a strange land. It was the easiest travel I have ever experienced. I have since taken to recommending the places I saw to other people. I do feel that this country should be included on anyone's European tour. In fact, once I got back I noticed an article in the Toronto Star travel section echoing my thoughts on the country. (Read it here http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/863687--from-slovenia-with-love-really). I have now also checked off a few more countries on my list and have added some new stamps to the passport.

Things are getting colder here in Canada. There is a mayoral election underway in Toronto, bringing to attention all of the things that frustrate me about my hometown. I have not killed off this travel bug yet, and the creeping winter and ridiculous sounding public transit overhaul plans are making it hard for me to plant some roots here.
I am glad that I had the opportunity this summer to get out and see another part of the world. Hopefully I did a little bit of good for the tourism folks. I have been telling everyone I know to get themselves over to Slovenia, but there is only so much I can do. I got to give my friend Jocelyn an escape from Canada for a while as well, and I can finally stop teasing her about having a blank passport. The first night I had out here in Toronto, I made sure to pick up some Lasko from the liquor store as part of my welcome back.

If anyone has any questions about my trip or wants to get in contact with me for whatever reason, my email address is adam.c.mcrae@gmail.com.

Thanks for reading my stories. Go to Slovenia. The End.

Last day in the land of Slovenia

2010-08-31T00:35:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

Last day in the land of Slovenia. It's been hectic at times, but that's always part of the fun. I've made lots of friends who I hopefully will stay in contact with. I always have the best intentions with my collections of email addresses, but nothing ever seems to pan out. Perhaps I'm a bad person. I say my goodbyes to my gracious hosts before having a little nap before my 2:30am train. I cut it pretty close and have to do a little bit of running to augment my otherwise not-fast-enough stroll to the station. I can see it at the platform when I get there and run down the tunnel to catch it in time. Phew. I don't know how I would have gotten out of that mess if I missed the train. Maybe some more hitchhiking. Then it dawns on me that maybe I shouldn't have been so excited to make this train. I don't really want to leave, plus the seats are crammed with an assortment of bodies and luggage. Sigh.... I wedge myself in and curl up as best I can. Arriving in Venice now feels a bit routine. I get off at Mestre, take the bus to the airport and wait. I'm tired. The plane is late. There is extra security because I am flying through the USA. The flight is fine, I like flying. The cabin is not full, so there is some room to stretch out. I always specify a vegetarian meal when I can. I like when they bring my 'special' meal because it makes me feel 'special'. Now that we're back across the Atlantic, I suppose this is the end of the journey and the end of the blog. There is the usual long wait times to be processed through US immigration even though I will be spending all of 20 minutes in the country. This is just how it work. Next time I'll splurge on the direct flight to avoid this silliness. Now that I'm back on home turf, I feel like I can relax. However, there are other matters to attend to back in the real world. Back on the hunt for a real job. Finding a new place to live. Arg, I wish I could just be a nomad. But I have made it back in one piece. I'm sure my family and friends will be excited to see me. I owe so much to the land of Slovenia for all of the adventure it has shown me. I sincerely appreciate all of the help I have had along the way in making this trip happen.

It's raining in Laibach

2010-08-30T00:27:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

Ok, so the weather decided to rear it's ugly head and cancel my intended trip to Croatia. Fine. It was not on my list of things to do anyway. But the rain is a downer no matter where you are, and has rendered today unusable. Board games and Chinese food are the order of the day. It's a shame to be wasting my remaining days in Slovenia like this, but the weather is outside of my control. I do not want to walk around in the rain.

Last night was the final night of Trnfest, and to be honest, I was dissappointed. The main attraction, Laibach is maybe the most well-known Slovenian band outside of Slovenia. Their name is even the German name for Ljubljana. Cool name, super lame band. I was anticipating some mosh pit freaking out and dancing, but.. no luck. The best song was played during the credits after the set. What kind of band plays credits after their show? This band really takes themselves too seriously.

Oh well.

The rest of the evening was really fun though. Ample friendly people to hang out with and more than enough music to dance around to. There was an Alice in Chains cover band playing, which I found to be an odd choice for the closing night, but they were great. I'm not even a huge Alice in Chains fan, but these guys rocked it.

I met a girl by the name of Iva who I met the following morning after not having the most restful of sleeps. I hope I was coherent and didn't look like death, but I guess that will up to the readers of Delo to decide. I'm not sure when the interview will be printed, if at all.

I am beat. Luckily I have generous friends who own a comfortable couch. It's raining some more again today.

Small country sarcasm

2010-08-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"I got super rained on yesterday. Bleh, it had to happen sometime. I left my friend's place to go to Trnfest and got caught in the thick of it. But it's my own fault. The sky was giving enough warning signs. Tonight's events take place inside, so are unaffected. There are still lots of people. The next night is a Canadian punk band, so fingers crossed for no rain again.

I think my friends may be going to Croatia this weekend. I have avoided car travel as much as possible, but it is hard to turn down a free ride. It will also complete the set for visiting all of Slovenia's immediate neighbors. That seems like something the tourism office would be ok with. I am interested to hear what they have to say about my exploits over the past few weeks.

I love the 'small country sarcasm' that is built into the people here. They think it's great and also funny that I have been here for so long. They say I could see Slovenia in a day if I tried. I always get a chuckle out of them as they list off things I should see and I keep saying that I've already been there.

Everybody waits for the little walk/don't walk signal at traffic lights, even if the street is empty. It's cute. Little things like that make me smile.

I met some nice people who let me sleep at their place last night. It's the real Adam way to purposely not book a bed as to push fate in the direction I want. I don't need much, and can rely on the kindness of strangers. I'm probably supposed to be spending more money, right? What's the point of tourism if the tourists don't buy anything. Sorry, Slovenia, you already got all of my money, I've got bills to pay back on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, too.

I have so many emails exchanged back and forth with Slovenian people I have met so far. And not just a 'hello, nice to meet you, bye' kinda thing. Genuine interest in my trip and helpful suggestions on what to see. And people inviting me to stay at their place when I just met them. It's amazing how friendly these people are. I don't know what makes them that way. I think it goes back to the small country thing I was talking about before. A kind of built-in modesty, Canada is like this as well. I think we are not so different. But this is the kind of thing that I wanted to see and document more than the physical sights. The people are the important part to me."

Nights in Ljubljana Old Town

2010-08-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"It's nice to have a relaxing sleep and a good breakfast. I purposely make things hard on myself when I travel, I usually need a vacation from my vacation when I get back to home base. I saw my friend Dejan and his girlfriend today in Medvode outside the city. He seems to get what I'm going for. Travel does not have to involve built up areas and continental breakfasts. The new generation doesn't always want that. Oh well, form your own opinion on this.

I was in Kranj today. It reminds me of when you go to a website and it says 'sorry, this page is under construction, please check back soon!' Too bad, maybe next year. The tourism office was closed, and the rain was about to come crashing down. I did a couple of circuits around the empty old town and then hopped on the train back to the center of the Slovenia universe, Ljubljana.

There is a hustle and bustle downtown. Stages are being set up all around and I can smell meat being bbq'd. I buy a beer from a stand and sit in one of my 'free Internet spots' by the river. I wish the camera on this thing could capture nighttime shots, but it's hopeless. Anyway, this is part of a 'Nights in Ljubljana Old Town' festival, now 22 years running. I think I picked the right month to come here. There is something going on every day if you are up for it. I take in some free music and drink another 2€ beer. It's pleasant, but I could use a companion. I have friends here, but nobody is around tonight. I walk home to where I'm staying to rest up for a trip to Croatia tomorrow morning. Why not, free ride.

I feel like I'll be missing out on something here in Ljubljana, but i'll be back for the final day of Trnfest on Sunday. I've even got people to go with."

Chemical engineering graduates wanted?

2010-08-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"That was quite a good time. I read back a bit of this stuff to myself and enjoyed it all over again. Even the frustrating parts were fun, or at least interesting. That's where the 'real' travel happens. I'm glad I was asked to keep track of this trip in writing, I would never have thought to do it on my own. Since the train wasn't until 2:28, Jocelyn and I called up our friend from the bar and she told us to come to Trnfest. I hadn't actually been yet, and we missed whatever was happening that night, but the place was still packed with people, and there is an impressive looking stage set up. I can't wait to see what it's like tonight. Also, just as we get there, our friend is out front waiting for a cab, she apologizes and asks me to call her tomorrow so she can make up for it. Fine with me.

I'm going to take it easy today now that I don't have to deal with the self-imposed stress of travelling with someone else. Maybe I'm just a born loser.

And really, all of my objectives have been accomplished. I think I have seen more of Slovenia than any other tourist here. Maybe even more than some Slovenians. It is a good feeling, and this is a fun place (people still can't believe that I'm spending a month here). Ljubljana will be my home for the next few days. Maybe I'll just try to find a job here to avoid the 10 hour flight home. Is this country in need of chemical engineering graduates?"

Gaining perspective

2010-08-23T04:29:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt Challenge (more pictures and comments)

"At home Jocelyn always gives me a hard time about tipping, so it's nice to show her that the whole world doesn't operate that way. I get a little sense of redemption when I show her by trying to tip a waitress, only to have her run over to us to say I gave her 20 extra cents by accident. Sweet.

This guesthouse family is super nice (I suppose it is their job), but we feel welcome. This day is the most relaxing so far. Sleep in. Walking to Otočec castle is pleasant through the forest. It is a hotel now, but it still is nice to look at. I keep poking Jocelyn to give hitchiking a try, but she is discouraged from the start, so we just walk to the nearest town. Even here people speak perfect English. I am pretty impressed. I prefer a little language struggle in my travelling, makes it seem a little more authentic. But man, is it ever easy to get around here. We eat maybe the best pizza I have ever had, and chase it down with a bottle of Cviček.

On the walk back, I try to prove that hitching a ride is not impossible. An old man stops and picks us up. Told you so, Jocelyn. But for all the glory of proving myself right, we end up driving way past where we were supposed to go. Oops. But we are on free time now and there's a sign for a bar in view. We go in, I order in Slovenian. Eventually I run out of words, but of course she speaks English and has just been humouring me. Nice that I gave it a try anyway, I think people appreciate it. We aren't far from where we have to go. Saunter back to the guesthouse pick up our bags. Jocelyn is now more inclined to give the thumb a try even though out last ride didn't work so well. We get a ride into Novo Mesto no problem and make the train to Ljubljana. I'm excited to show off the city, I've been back here enough times now to have my bearings. We check into a crappy hostel to give Jocelyn a different flavour of travel. No hot water, hassle about staying past check out. The place sucks, but you've gotta stay at the poor places too if you're gonna have any perspective.

We wander around, grab some food, drink some pivo. Meet a cool waitress who seems to be moonlighting as a tour guide and turns us on to some cool things going on in the next few days and invites me along with her. Exchange numbers. I give her a sticker for my band. I brought a stack of them to carpetbomb the country with. All this Slovenian travel is going to provide fuel for some new songs. Check it out at www.myspace.com/reykjavictim and see what I come up with. Some of these town names are pretty musical.

So I guess I have some things on my plate for the next days. We go get some more beer in Metelkova with my friend Ema when she gets off work. She's a cool cat, I'm glad she's on my team. Provides a little insider information about this place.

We drink until 4am. It's hard for us to wrap our brains around being able to buy beer from a bar, and then just walk away with it. Silly Canada doesn't quite have it's act together in this department.

Next day we go to the Challenge Future office for a little interview with the prize winner. I think I give them what they need. We take photos and get some t-shirts. The place is a pain to get to. We don't have a transit card (and don't want to buy one) but the bus driver just groans and lets us on anyway. Free ride. It goes in the right direction, but we still have to walk a bit. It's nice to have this goal for the day, makes me feel important.

Back to the city center for free again. Walk up to the castle, wander around the river. It's really a nice city. I give Jocelyn all the that I have, afterall, I am an expert on Slovenia now.

Back to hostel Celica to rest out legs. This is my home base. I like to think that I'm getting special treatment by using the Internet and storing our bags in the luggage room, as if I have wooed the reception girls with my endless charm. But in reality they are probably this nice to everyone; that or they just can't remember if I'm actually a guest tonight or not.

This is the last night for Jocelyn. I think I put together a good trip for her (us). I had a good time. She'll catch the night train to Venice and then get on a plane tomorrow.

And then there was one."

Delays in green travel

2010-08-21T04:23:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"Where we last left off, everything was going according to plan. Cancel that. Next is a slippery slope of delays and missed deadlines. However, this is a little more my usual pace. See what happens when I try to plan ahead? The train to Divača is 20 minutes late, not a problem in itself, but the 'walking trail' to the Skočjan caves is.... loosely marked and the signs perpetually say 15 min away. Prepare to walk 45min if you go. A tad frustrating, but the walk is actually nice, and if we had no agenda, would be relaxing. So we don't get there in time for the 1pm tour and have to wait for the 2pm one. Our train from Divača station is at 4:16, and the tour lasts 1.5 hours, ok, still doable. The tour is great. The caves are amazing. If you have to choose between Postojna and here, choose here. It's a litle more rugged, but way grander. Make note of the former stairs and tour route carved into the cave walls, it makes you feel like a baby in comparison. Really great, UNESCO agrees. I'm not even really a cave guy. As with the Postojna caves, my iPhone pictures are... useless; no point in even trying capture it.

So we get out, the tour has taken almost 2 hours, try to run back the top, I'm quicker than Jocelyn and getting there realize we're not going to make the train at this rate. I run ahead and order a cab. When I go back to get her, she is gone. Bathroom maybe? No, restaurant? No. So I've already lost my friend. I can only assume she took the path to the train station and abandon the cab and resign myself to the surely fruitless trek to the station.

There she is. We miss the train. There are no more to Nova Gorica in time to catch the one to Bled. Ok, find a bus. I try to persuade Jocelyn to hitchhike, but it's a no-go. The bus arrives in Nova Gorica early, but sadly not at the train station.

We go as fast as possible but miss the last train to Bled. This is only 7:30pm right now, mind you. But the trains are all done and there are no busses and we are stranded. Oh Slovenia, why must you shut down so early on a Friday? Some friendly people at the station have a laugh with us about our situation, and recommend that we sleep at the train station and take the train the next morning. Done. It would't be the first time. So, a night to kill, and an uncomfortable place to sleep, if there ever was a time to get drunk, this is it. There is a lot of stuff going on despite how small the town is. We watch a free outdoor concert. I forget the name of the band, but they were good enough for us. Slovenia seems to be full of things like this at this time of year. We make enough friends and drink enough beers to make the night a success, eat a drunken Kebab (as far as I can tell, the most popular food in the country), buy cigarettes at the ridiculous casino full of italians and pass out at the train station. We were hoping to see the wonderful scenery on the way to Bled, it was part of the plan by taking the train. We just both curled up and slept the entire way, woke up luckily in time, and with tired eyes saw beautiful lake bled at 7am from the train station.

It's a nice walk to the town, but we are so tired. We also have a day of biking planned. The hotel is the best one that I've never stayed at. The staff takes pity on us and we have a laugh. It's really not so bad, we've all slept in worse places than a train station. There are bikes waiting for us, and a breakfast in the table which we were kindly invited to. I ask if we can wait for someone to check out so that we can use a room for a little while to get showered up and start the day off right. Riding a good bike makes such a difference. After a nap and a red bull, and with a bag full of fruit and drinks, we explore the region. I think I had been a little optimistic in my plan to bike to lake Bohinj. It is certainly doable, but we are feeling like trash today. It's all mountains. Biking is hard, we are out of shape. We do our best. It's still a nice place to see. There is a reason why it is such a popular tourist town. Look up photos, or better yet, just go for yourself.

We decide to take more care in getting to the hotel on time tonight. It's easy, stop in Ljubljana for 35 minutes gives Jocelyn a taste of the city. The only real taste we get it of the Chinese restaurant near the station. I order our food in Mandarin and blow the staff away. I don't know how many Chinese speaking white guys they get in there normally; I assume zero based on their reaction. I love it, I think I'll be moving to China soon. Taxi from Novo Mesto, and we get to the Vovko guesthouse. Finally a place to rest."

Postojnska jama

2010-08-20T04:08:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt Challenge (more pictures and comments)

"Waiting at the Postojna train station fresh from the caves. We made a point to get up early and beat the crowd, a good call because on our way out the lines looked ridiculous. The Postojna cave system is set up for a quick get-in-get-out visit, which is exactly what we were after. There us still a lot of walking to do once we get to stop number two on this cave-related leg of the trip. The little cave train makes the tour so easy, albiet a little gimmicky and hurried. We get off and there are signs corresponding to which language your tour guide will be. Very organized, little confusion, an all-business tour-lady who has I'm sure said the same thing 1000 times. I like it. I never even knew about these 'curtain' stalactites, ribbons of twisted-looking formations that, yes, look like curtains. And here I was thinking I was smart knowing the difference between stalactite and stalagmite. It's not unbearably cold. I'm still in shorts and sandals, but of course, for me the only other option is pantless and barefoot. It is not a problem and the floor, although wet, is not the least bit slippery. We see the tank of 'human fish' salamanders, I want one. Fun fact, bats don't live here because the temperature is too cold, they need about 15 degrees to be happy. We should have left our backpacks at the hotel, because we walked right by it on the way to the train station. But honestly the cave tour is more a relaxing pace than I normally walk so it is not a problem at all. We snagged some fruit and hardboiled eggs from the breakfast at Hotel Sport (where we had a discounted stay, the 'media rate'... ooh la la) for our lunch in the Skocjan caves park. We are right on time. Train to Divača."

Jocelyn is here!

2010-08-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt Challenge (more pictures and comments)

"Just look at me now. Laying in a hotel room in Piran, on the Slovenian coast. The trip to Venice went as well as can be expected. The train ride was bearable, but it didn't leave me with many sleep hours banked. The party is now two of us. Jocelyn made it across the Atlantic. Originally, my good friend Isaac was going to join me, but he had to work... Blah blah blah. Funny thing is, because he couldn't go, I am now taking his girlfriend instead. But don't worry, I'm not in danger of ruining any friendships here. Went to San Marco, pushed through the crowds at the Rialto bridge, photo op, photo op, bought a train station slice of pizza (if only so Jocelyn could say she had a real pizza from Italy) and then got ourselves out of there. It took us a while to get to Piran, the sun was barely in the sky but we found a place to stay (too nice). I have almost a moral aversion to nice hotels. All you do is sleep there! What else do you need but a bed. But with two people, it makes it almost the same price as a hostel so whatever, here we are. I realize i haven't even seen a television in a few weeks.

I received an email from Challenge Future earlier with an invite to have coffee in Bled. It makes me feel like a bit of a celebrity, from now on I will tell people that my band is famous in Slovenia. Speaking of Challenge Future, I don't think I have mentioned them yet, but they are really the reason I am here. If you didn't arrive at this blog from their site, you should visit (http://www.challengefuture.org/) I believe they are starting up a new season of competitions, hopefully another Stormit one so I can win another trip back here. You can see my proposal on the site if you want to see what I have planned. The only clean shirt I have is the one I got from the office in Ljubljana the other day (wearing it now, so the cleanliness is debatable). I will have to make time to go on and thank them properly when I am back in the capital. By that time I hope I have at least done some laundry, otherwise I'll be asking for a week's supply of C:F t-shirts.

I am now soaking up some sun and free Internet outside of the Cafe Teater in Piran. There is a good view of the water and the seawall. It is nice here, another town recommended to me by Slovenian people. The only thing on today's agenda is swimming, sunbathing and eventually making it to Koper and catching a train to Postojna. Caves tomorrow. I'm getting excited just looking at my bundle of travel vouchers and train tickets. Prepare yourself for the prize-winning adventure. I doubt I even scheduled enough time to sleep, let alone write a blog. Čao!"

White lie

2010-08-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt Challenge (more pictures and comments)

"The hostel Celica is my home base even though I've only actually slept here one night. It is relaxed and nobody is bothering me to buy something. I write to you now from a hammock in the courtyard, with my belongings stashed away in the luggage room. It's not really my thing, but this hostel really does it's best to get people to mingle with each other. I grow tired pretty quickly from the ensuing 'who has been to more places' conversation. Besides, I'm here to meet Slovenians, if I wanted to meet Irish people, I know where there's a whole island full of them. Nevertheless, it's not the most fun being a loser. Plus I have instant street cred by pretending I'm an actual travel writer, the most coveted job in hostel land. It's a white lie.

Still in a hangover haze from drinking too many beers and smoking too many cigarettes with the kids in Metelkova. I can't bring myself to take pictures of the place, people live here. But I certainly recommend it. It's nice to escape the meat-market of clubs and bars and let the freak flag fly. It's liberating. Makes me feel young. Also, seems the right venue to pick up drugs if beer isn't enough for you.

The whirlwind best of Slovenia tour begins soon. It's going to be a change for me. Tickets and vouchers, everything booked and paid for. I've really gotta hand it to the tourism guys for setting this all up. Is this how most people travel? It could either be incredibly relaxing or incredibly constricting. We shall see! Really, Jocelyn is the big winner here. Pop in for a week guided Slovenia tour, lucky gal.

The train leaves for Venice at 2:28am. Pretty hard to call it an overnight train, but at least I don't have to find anywhere to stay tonight. I'm dreading going back there. Get in get out, take a photo with Jocelyn. Not buy a single overpriced pizza.

This city Ljubljana, however, is great. Luckily all the Slovenian trains come through here, so I'll be back for sure. Hell, I still have 2 more weeks in this country.

This hammock has worked it's magic, so long hangover."

Open theatre

2010-08-16T04:40:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"Ah, now we're talking. I know that there's lots of tourists in Ljubljana right now, but who cares, it's worth it. I walked over to this Metelkova street which i've heard so much about and find the hostel Celica. It's pretty booked up, and I don't want to spend 26 euro on a more premium bed so I have a drink at the bar instead. I recently learned that tipping is appropriate here in Slovenia (oops), but only on the order of rounding your bill up to the next euro, and only then if you want to. I tip the bartender the 0.3€ from my change, and she offers to let me stay at her place tonight. Who knows what I would get for a full euro.

There is a festival happening in Ljubljana right now, and part of it involves showing movies outside in the courtyard of the castle. It was 'The Hurt Locker' and it's pretty cool to be able to smoke and have a beer while at a 'theatre'. On the way back down to the city, I forgot that there are no lights on the pathway, so I just have to rely on gravity to get me back."

Stop in Celje

2010-08-15T04:49:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"So it's raining in Slovenia, at least in this part of it and I'm partially annoyed partially concerned about wandering around and getting soaked. But after leaving the Ptuj city center (not exactly my kind of music at this festival thing) I meet a helpful woman on her way to ljubljana, the trains are different on the weekends, so we are both at a loss as to how we are getting to our respective places, but at least we're both going in the same direction. She is cool. And once again, my list of things to see and do is expanding. I decide to risk the rain and get off in Celje anyway. As I get off, the clouds part and away I go to where I believe the hostel is. This MCC hostel is maybe the cleanest nicest hostel I've seen. It's new as of June, so that might explain things, and there is even a band on a Slovenian tour playing on the ground floor. I don't know how much government support this place received, but it is certainly a winner in my book. There's even free bike rental.

The next morning is nice out, and after a coffee and checking out I ride up to the lake. It's a short ride, and the bike paths all look brand new. According to my Slovene friends, Celje is where the rich people live.... I guess rich people like bicycle lanes too.

And now I'm the only person here. And I'm talking to the girl at the cafe, who is filling me in on all the interstibg Slovenia stuff from the recent years.

On the train now.

Nearby is the town of Laško, where as far as I can tell, all of the beer in Slovenia is made. I should have stopped, but I wanted to get to Ljubljana again to satisfy my 'city' side. Maybe later."

The oldest Slovenian town

2010-08-14T05:08:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"After hanging out with my young Slovenian tour guides in Murska Sobota, I have some new plans. Apparently there is a really cool venue in Ljubljana to see some of the many live bands, I forget what it is called, but if I look it up I'm sure I will recognize the name. Also, the tourism people told me about a hostel called Celica, which is a converted prison. It is sort of an artist enclave, so I definitely have to make time to stay there for a night. My friends knew about this place as well, so that is a good sign. One of the kids, Rok, was wearing a tshirt from 'Metal Camp', a Slovenia metal and rock music festival held every year. It is in June, so I missed it this year, but apparently it is huge and you can bring a tent to camp there. I saw the list of bands on the back of his shirt, and there was no shortage of awesome artists. So maybe next year I will have to come back.

On my list of things to do for this trip, I have added the town of Piran. This is on the coast, and will be the first stop for Jocelyn and I before we start the meat of our adventure. It will be a relaxing place for her to overcome the jet lag.

As for right now, I am sitting at the edge of the river Drava in Ptuj. This is a pretty little town with a nice old downtown (apparently the oldest in Slovenia). The Ptuj castle overlooks the city and the river, inside is a museum (only 2.5 euro for student admission). There is lots of furniture and old tapestries, and a pretty interesting section on tracking the lineage of the castle's residents. My hotel is across the pedestrian bridge (if you know me, then you know I love pedestrian anything). The hostel I orginally found online was booked solid, full of Italians and polish people... Something to do with holidays in those countries.

It was more lively than I expected at night time, with bars all full of people and music filling the streets. And this morning there was tents and tables being set up for... Fisherman's festival? I don't know what it is about, but the tents all say 'Laško', so how bad could it be? Haha. It starts at 3pm, so I will make sure too check it out. It will be hard to avoid anyway.

We'll see what happens. I have no place to stay tonight, and I think all the hotels are full. If this festival is good, I might just stay anyway. I can always sleep under a tree, or maybe some nice person will take me home. Or maybe I will hop on the train to the next town down the tracks. It rained last night, so I think the sky will be all out of water. This always makes things that much more managable."

More Slovenian neighbours

2010-08-12T05:05:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"Alright, and so concludes my quick jaunt out of the country to see the neighbors of Slovenia. I wish I had longer to spend, but I've got to get a handle on the Slovene life before Jocelyn gets here so I can pretend I'm her local tour guide.

Vienna was nice, and in the day I spent walking around, I think I saw the right buildings and absorbed a little bit of the scene. The train ride in was simple enough even though the south train station is currently demolished and we arrived at an alternate one. A short trip on the S-bahn and the U-bahn and I was at the hostel. I alwayd like to comment on a city's metro system and contrast it with toronto's. In this case, with posted arrival times for trains, simple ticket machines, even the older Vienna system is miles ahead of poor Toronto. Also, the honour system ticket purchasing is a nice touch if you decide to spend your last euro on a beer instead of your ride hone.

Next on the rapid tour is Bratislava, Slovakia. Just a 7.70 euro and 1.5 hour bus ride away. It seemed cool, but I had to get out of there asap because I had just found out about a festival in Budapest and wanted to make it there for the first day. Other than the staff at the hostel (who were nice, mind you) my only interaction with a slovakian person went like this
shop lady: 'djshhso fiscsiahf skxudkakd skifbsjuffb *pause* chicken sandwich?'
Me: 'uhhh, sure, ok I'll take it'

Bus ride to Budapest is only a 2.5 hours away. And this was certainly the highlight of the trip so far. A walk from the hostel to the HÉV station, and 1200 forints later, I am at the Sziget festival. Apparetly one of the biggest in Europe. I would say it's the European equivalent of lollapalooza. It is on a island in the Danube outside of the city, and it a 5 day super fest with camping and music all day long. There weren't even any acts that I was dying to see, but it was still a great time. Dj Shadow, Peaches, The Hives, Bad Religion. And a smattering of Hungarian bands. All good fun. I befriended some drunk teenagers (or, they befriended me) they seemed to love my 'canadianness' and the rest of the night was full of inferjections whenever someone needed to show another Canadian fact that they know, and the constant reminder 'we are not gypsies, don't worry.' cool kids all 'round, but they'd didn't seem to be doing too well in the female department. Oh well. I took out way to many forints at the ATM because I didn't know the exchange rate, so I was being a high roller. Buying these kids beers (which they thought was amazing, and asserted again that they were not gypsies). They showed me a well-known Hungarian punk band (I forget/can't pronounce the name), which rounded out the night nicely.

It was late getting back, and I still have all these forints. Weak.

By now I've taken all the main routes which people enter Slovenia from the EU. It's more connected than I first thought. It was nice to see the Slovenia railway symbol on the train waiting at Deli station in Budapest. It also turned out to be cheaper to buy a return ticket to Slovenia than a one-way, so I now should find someone to give this free ticket to. I chose Murska Sobota because i would arrive here with the sun still a little in the sky, but also because I have it underlined on my tourist map from the STB people. I am staying at the hostel shown on the STB website, and I am really the only tourist. I meet a guy, Leon, who has just started in the Slovenia army and is renting a room here at the so he can attend training during the week. He is from here originally, and so I go out with him and his friends. They tell me that there is a meteor shower tonight, we go to the park and chat, drink Strongbow, smoke cigarettes, and catch the occasional shooting star. Eventually we go for a walk so they can show me some landmarks as well as the regular nightime cast of characters of Murska Sobota. In a town of 16000, it is not diffcult to know who the regulars are.

There was supposed to be breakfast downstairs, but I think I stayed up too late and slept in past the time. My own fault. So I promised I would update more frequently... there is no Internet here, so it will have to wait. I think it is time for a walk to see things in the daytime light."

Discovering Vienna

2010-08-09T05:02:00.000-07:00

Adam McRae, the winner of StormIt challenge (more pictures and comments)

"I get my things together for the impending 6-hour train ride to Vienna. In my homeland 6 hours on a train brings you shy of any provincial borders, but here it takes you to a different country. Travelling alone has it's benefits, and I also am looking forward to being well educated in all things Slovenia before my friend arrives in a week. Seems a shame to be leaving the country so soon, but I promised myself I would make the most of my short time in Europe. The train usually doesn't let ne down, and this journey brought me the beautiful Sanya, on her way to Celje. A pretty girl is always the best way for me to learn about a culture. So we talked about Slovenia... about Tito, about joining the EU, about how ice cream now costs twice as much since the adoption of the Euro... Standard stuff. So now I have a Slovene friend. Perhaps I will pay her a visit on my way back.

All I have now to keep me occupied is a book that I don't want to read and a pile of brochures from the tourist office. All I really want to do is wander around, but maybe writing this blog will be a catalyst for excitment. As long as it doesn't involve too much money, I will be ok. So here I am, Adam McRae - Contest Winner. I will try to report on my travels. I hope they know what they are getting into.... this will likely be full of passages about sitting on a bench smoking cigarettes and reading a book. Or getting drunk on a street corner before I've figured out where I will be sleeping that night. Is this what they are after? I figure if I keep it honest, there's sure to be some underlying value to it no matter what picture I'm painting.

I think back to Venice, my point of arrival. It really is 100% tourist. I mean, the city is beautiful and all, but really what are you getting out of it? For sure someone has a better camera than you, they'll post their pictures online and that will be that. There is some value in seeing it firsthand, but it really feels like a sham when there isn't anything new coming out of the place, you're really just confirming all the things you learned in history class. It is a neat place to see, but you are not going to meet a real italian there. This is why coming to Ljubljana was a nice contrast. It is the city tourist draw for Slovenia, but it is also it's functioning cultural and commercial center. It's nice that you can have the chance of running into a real person on their way to work instead of a tourist trying to find a place to have a beer. Maybe that's just me though. I'm looking forward to getting back there at the end of my trip to satisfy my urban side... I am a city guy, afterall.

My tools consist of one small backpack, my marked up tourist map, and most important, this iPhone. Wi-fi is always somewhere to be found (a short walk around usually leads to some unsuspecting "default" or "linksys" or some such unsecured wireless network). Isn't technology great?

My meeting in Ljubljana with the Slovenian Tourist Board folks was pleasant. We sat down and figured out what to do with me for the next few weeks. I think it has been mostly settled. I will travel around on my own before Jocelyn gets here on the 18th, while the plans for my grand 3-day Eco-tour are put together at the office. I mentioned that I liked the layout and design of the slovenia.info website, and they seemed quite happy to hear it. So, There you go, if you are reading this on a different website and would like to learn about Slovenia tourism, www.Slovenia.info is the place to go. Hotels,maps, events, etc. are all there, plus the site does look quite nice anyhow.

All I've got to do is make it back to Ljubljana on the 17th to pick up my stuff. I will do this en route to Venice. I think things will work out well. I am getting more and more excited to get into my action-packed, super-best-of-Slovenia tour. It was suggested that I add a day on the Slovenia coast before Jocelyn and we start in Postonja. I think this is a good idea as well, plus it is on the way back from Venice. Expect to be updates by me every so often. You'll be able too track where I'm at and what trouble I am getting myself into."