by Nuala O’Hagan

We may be in lockdown again but our travel wishlists are only growing… This week, Nuala O’Hagan introduces us to the wonders of Slovenia.

When I became friends with Julija at the start of our first year, I claim full responsibility for my American-who-lacks-geographical-knowledge-ness when I say that I had to google her home country, Slovenia. Like most non-Europeans, I vaguely knew that it existed, so I was struck by the images of medieval castles nestled in the peaks of snowy mountains and on the edges of Adriatic waves. “You live here?” was all I could say to her, staring at the fairytale land. We definitely weren’t in Kansas anymore.

Situated between Italy and Croatia, Slovenia doesn’t suffer from massive annual hordes of tourists. Perhaps this is because its often grouped into the mass of Eastern Europe that the average tourist may not venture into. In reality, Slovenia was the first to withdraw from Yugoslavia in 1991 and has striven to distance itself from the conflicts that ravaged its Southern counterparts.

“We want so badly to be a part of Western Europe,” Julija tells me about her home, after she’s welcomed me into her dorm and offered me food in true hospitable Slovenian fashion. Slovenes consider themselves to be one of the most evolved of the adolescent countries that sprung from the Eastern Bloc, and despite its relative inconspicuousness, opportunities in Slovenia attract an array of European immigrants. Alongside the swathes of Bosnian and Serbian migrants who came in search of work throughout the 2000s, “It is very international in Ljubljana—the capital city— because of the university there, and there is a very strong Romani community in Eastern Slovenia, very present. There are also three minorities which are recognized in the constitution: Croatians, Hungarians, and Italians.”

Slovenia’s diversity continues in its natural beauty and varied cultural activities, but what stands out the most to Julija about her country is the compactness. “Slovenia is like a walk-around country, if you will,” she continues. “You can drive from one end to the next in 2 to 3 hours. It has everything: The coast, the alps, the majestic fields in the east. You can ski all day in the mountains and then decide you want to have a seaside view when you wake up, and be by the coast in the evening.”

So what’s the ideal itinerary for a trip to Slovenia? Julija concludes that the best way to experience Slovenia in its entirety would be to start in Ljubljana and make day trips from there. “We would most definitely go to Lake Bled, in the alps. It’s the most famous sight of Slovenia, probably. It has this little island in the middle of it with a medieval chapel that you can row around. And then we would continue to Trenta,” her r’s fluttering along each word, “where we would be hiking, walking up to waterfalls, the views there are amazing. And if we continued down that side which is parallel to the border with Italy, then we would come to the coast, to a little town called Piran, and as we only have 47 kilometres of coast we can basically explore all of it.” There’s also the network of caves at Postojna, and renowned wineries in the east.

In Ljubljana, most foreigners will have no trouble getting around, but venturing off the beaten track may be a different story: “Many people, especially the older ones, do not speak English.” But not to worry, the language barrier exists even from village to village among different Slovenians: there are 48 different dialects spanning across only 2 million people, some even varying in structure and phonetics. “Basically,” adds Julija, “someone from one end would not—could not—understand someone from the other end if they spoke in their dialects.” This isn’t the only dividing factor. Undeterred by the right-wing government in power and disapproval from older and more conservative generations, the young people of Slovenia lead an exciting progressive movement not only in terms of politics but also the arts. Julija details how the news often broadcasts this dichotomy: “It’s kind of about how the younger generations are ignorant which I completely don’t agree with at all, just looking at the amount of theatre productions, music events, and protests that the young are organizing.”

However, there are other aspects of Slovenian culture that will always bring its people together. “You see, Slovenia,” Julija explains, “we have a really strong wine culture, right? So we always celebrate with good drinks and good food.” Often, adjacent Italy gets all the international credit for its cuisine, but Slovenia has abundant vineyards and alpine goat farms whose products ensure that every Slovenian holiday is a festival of locally sourced meals. Be sure to visit around St. Martin’s day in November for roasted goose, mlinci—shredded flatbread—and most (pronounced “mosht”), which is a sort of wine cider. Better yet, stay for Christmas, when Ljubljana is transformed into a winter wonderland of street markets. You can’t go wrong with timing: “all of our holidays are drinking holidays,” she laughs. “So all of them are good to be there for.”