Authentic Experience

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!