There are so many exciting places to visit and affluent, modern people seem to hit them all! Yet, it is truly unfortunate that some places that deserve more attention from travelers seem to be getting less and less attention these days. So, in this travel blog, we are going to go all out extolling the beauty, charm, and old world modernity of little Slovenia.
Please, Do Not Visit a Land Based Casino
There is so much to see and do in this compact country that we strongly urge you to bypass the temptation to visit a casino. If you would like to play a few casino games, we recommend joining an online casino or simply logging into the one you already are a member of.
You can play at Intertops Casino almost anywhere and to boost your account you can access an Intertops casino bonus. There is so much to see and do in Slovenia that we suggest leaving the casino gaming for late at night as a short unwinding session after the experiences of the day.
Why is Slovenia So Underrated?
Slovenia has so much hidden charm that travelers who are looking for the old tried and true simply miss it. For instance, Slovenia has just a very short coastal area as opposed to neighboring Croatia and Italy with thousands of kilometers of coastlines.
Slovenia doesn’t have any of the major capital cities of central Europe. Vienna is in nearby Austria. Prague is in the nearby Czech Republic. Budapest is in nearby Hungary. Italy has Rome, Venice, and Florence just to start.
Slovenia didn’t win its independence by overcoming a siege as Vienna did. It didn’t play a major role in either World War. In fact, Slovenia won its independence from Yugoslavia by declaring itself independent and waiting for the Yugoslavian Army to go home rather than fight to save a dying communist regime.
Small Country and Small Population
Holland is the most crowded country in the world. Israel, in the northern half of the country is even more crowded than Holland. Slovenia has only 2,000,000 people in a land of 20,000 square kilometers.
Over 40% of Slovenia is forested. The country has over 200 municipalities. One of the jokes Slovenes love to tell tourists, especially Americans and especially Americans from New York City is that New York has 7,000,000 people and one mayor while Slovenia has 2,000,000 people and 212 mayors!
Clean as Clean Can Be
We have been to Slovenia and we can count the number of scraps of paper and other detritus that we have seen on the ground on our fingers. There isn’t any litter anywhere in this country! We did see a tissue blowing in the breeze in a plaza in a Slovenian city and before the phenomenon registered in our brain a young girl had bent down, picked it up, and deposited it in a trash basket.
We are not in Kansas anymore, Toto!
Four Basic Regions
We can divide Slovenia into four basic regions but this is a traveler’s division not a geographer’s. So, the northern third of the country is mountainous, the southwest is coastal and Mediterranean, the east is rolling hills and the center is where the majority of the people live but you never feel crowded in Slovenia.
The capital, Ljubljana, is in the center. We suggest flying into Ljubljana even if the flight is a bit longer than a direct flight into Venice. Venice is certainly well worth a day or two but it takes some time to rent a car in Venice and the trip into Slovenia may also take a long time given traffic. So, fly into Ljubljana, rent a car there, and travel two days in whichever direction you choose, then come back to Ljubljana for the flight home.
Old Ljubljana
The old city of Ljubljana is gorgeous. You can easily walk back and forth on the narrow streets without getting very tired. The buildings are perfectly maintained. The old city has excellent restaurants and pubs plus live music. Two days in Ljubljana should satisfy you and get you ready to head out.
Native Food
We like to sample different cuisines and we have found that aside from sausage, Slovenians love soup. They make several very special soups using interesting spices and vinegars as well as fish, mushrooms, and an assortment of vegetables.
The hallmark Slovenian soups are meat-free although vegans and many vegetarians won’t eat the fish soup.
Before we go anywhere, we check out local restaurants. Some older restaurants close while newer restaurants pop up all the time. One thing we found everywhere in Slovenia is that the owner or manager of any restaurant we ate at was very open and willing to tell us the story of the restaurant.
Some of these stories are quite remarkable.
Sour Milk
Everywhere else in the world, this delicacy is called yogurt! There is a mountain plateau about one and a half hours north of Ljubljana that you should see when the cows are there. It is called Velika Planina.
The herders bring their cows there for the short summers. They welcome visitors and offer sour milk. We thought this would be something we hadn’t tasted before but it was just yogurt.
Velika Planina is a great day trip north of Ljubljana. You get to the plateau via a cable car. If you are afraid of heights we suggest closing your eyes! On the way back to where you parked your car, we suggest walking. It isn’t a long walk, the landscape is beautiful, and it is slightly downhill as opposed to the long uphill you would have if you tried to walk up to Velika Planina.
Next Year in Slovenia
This delightful little country should be on everyone’s bucket list. A very large percentage of people keep bees. They sell the honey to tourists and many offer tours of their bee-keeping operations.
Some of the bee-keepers also make wine so you can buy for your own use or for gifts back home. Most bee keepers do this as a part-time enterprise so you have to arrange a tour in advance.
We found that almost everyone in Slovenia speaks English. This contrasts dramatically from Italy where very few people could help us in English. In addition to speaking English, the people of Slovenia are just the most helpful people we have ever met as tourists.
We Recommend Slovenia
We hope that we have at least interested you enough to do some personal research into the possibility of a week or more in Slovenia on a near future vacation.
To read more on topics like this, check out the world travel category.