Slovenia - Europe’s beating green heart.
By William Peachey
Slovenia?
Where’s that?
By far the most common response to my plans to (once again) return to the tiny central-European nation of Slovenia is confusion. It is however a more wholesome and justified confusion, compared with my trip to Iraq for example, to which the response was more of a ‘Why on earth would you go to such an inhospitable hell hole?’ it is simply a lack of information about the region that fuels such confusion about Slovenia. A lot of people in the UK seem to be completely unaware of it’s existence , let alone consider it a possible holiday destination. It’s easy to see why Slovenia is overlooked, it has only existed since 1991, and was the first country to secede from Yugoslavia and become an independent country , with Croatia and the rest of the bloc swiftly following suit.
It was largely unimpacted by the violence of the following years, where neighboring Croatia and Bosnia struggled for many years and drew the attention of NATO, eventually culminating in US-backed interventions. However , as I learned in Iraq, entire regions often get painted with an extremely wide brushstroke , with the middle east , it was discovering the relatively peaceful and vibrant autonomous region of Iraqi-Kurdistan, with the Balkans , it is the beautiful, green, mountainous Slovenia.
Slovenia has become my favorite travel destination in Europe since my first time in Ljubljana (the capital) in 2019, the capital is pretty tiny even by European standards , with a population of barely over 250k people , it’s an incredibly old city, dating back to roman times and laden with ruins, castles, baroque and Vienna-secessionist architecture. The water here is so pure that Heineken has purchased the two main Pivovarnas (breweries) in Slovenia and plans to move production here. The weather is reminiscent of northern Italy , with plentiful snow in the northern areas and Julian alps , and hot enough in summer to enjoy fantastic beach holidays on the tiny yet beautiful coast.
In my travels here , I have explored the Triglav national park, Slovenia’s mightiest peak; Triglav is always on the horizon. Maribor , the second city is amazing in it’s own right, with quick train connections to Vienna and Budapest , it is a confluence of cultures , and an important wine region. Upon arriving in the city , the sight of an imposing hill overlooking Maribor , covered in vineyards and with a small Capelica (chapel) crowning it, simply blew me away. It seems to me that everything about Slovenia is underrated, the wine should be considered among the most well known South African and Italian reds, and the cuisine is a fantastic fusion of Balkan delicacies and Balkan classics like cevapcici and pleskavica. If you want to fly , Ljubljana is one of the most affordable cities in Europe to get to , I am currently typing this in a cafe in the center , basking in the sun, enjoying a fantastic Turkish style coffee and burek, my flight arrived at a cozy 8:20pm , and cost only 13GBP (or about 15 US dollars). The city is laid back, quiet and metropolitan , I took out a 3 Euro subscription to an app that allows me to use the plentiful bike stations and access every corner of the city within half an hour, the 3 euro subscription entitles me to a year of bike rental, and a tourist version is available for only one euro and lasts a week.
Cycling and walking are all you need in Ljubljana , and a free electric caddy called the ‘Kavalir’ is available for the less athletic. No trip here is complete without visiting lake Bled, often used as the poster image of Slovenia in tourist publications , the entire area is stunning, offering you the universal Slovenian experience, stunning vistas, mountains in the distance , luscious greenery and nature , and a beautiful lake with the country’s only natural island in the center, with a gorgeous 17th century church built on it. While you're there, try Slovenia’s most famous dessert, the bled cream cake , I promise you will want to become a resident so you can have it every day. If you have time , you simply must check out the coast, I managed to find a beautiful apartment in Pian last summer , an ancient coastal town , every street and building will strike you with its beauty, it puts more famous Adriatic coastal towns to shame , and is far less crowded. While there you can check out the nearby beaches in Strunjan or Portoroz, towns that I can only describe as the Slovenian Riviera, dotted with opulent casinos, coastal roads , and amazing seafood restaurants.
Croatia is also easily accessible by bus if you want to check out beautiful Istrian towns just across the border, such as Novi-sad and Pula, you can scratch the itch for visiting Dubrovnik in 1/8th the time and cost. Do not bank of a speedy border crossing though, during my last attempt to get to Ljubljana after being forced to fly to Pula due to Covid measures , I was held up at customs in a boiling coach for almost two hours, missing my pre-paid for train (the last one available until the next day) and having to pay a stranger 30 Euros to race the train until i could dive into the unlocked carriage used to store passenger’s bikes at a tiny rural station about 20 minutes up the road. It was a stressful journey that was not helped by the lack of sleep at my hostel afterwards , but such are the risks of traveling extremely cheaply .
I would also recommend that if you spent any more time here , you should visit some of the sparsely populated regions, Koroska especially is dotted with ancient mining towns and looming snow-capped peaks, the local people are among the friendliest you’ll ever meet, and the local food and prices are a welcome departure from the cosmopolitan Ljubljana. Other notable mentions are Lake Bohinj, perfect for younger readers, with plenty of hotels, bike trails, extreme sports (and water sports) among the most scenic lakeside/Mountainous backdrop. I could never put into words how underrated this place is , all I can recommend is that you come here and discover it for yourself , as is the way with travel; seeing is believing.
