Slovenia, history overview, and the old Yugoslavia

This black bear was in our yard in US (tagged B-4 and later sedated and moved 10 miles away, to bigger woods). We thought of him as we read of the bears in Slovenia mostly brown bears, I understand. Slovenia is bear-friendly. See www.slonews.sta.si/index.

Slovenia is a beautiful and very tidy-looking country. Strong alpine influence, efforts to improve and restore habitats for wildlife. Do a search for walking tours, natural history tours, and the photos and accounts are splendid.

Slovenia was part of the Austrio-Hungarian Empire until WWI. The country then joined the Serbs and Croats as part of Yugoslavia in 1929. There is a good historical overview, a photo gallery and easy-to-read map at www.uvi.si/eng/. Click on the presentation and photos sections especially. This is the government Public Relations and Media Office.

Slovenia consists of varied cultures, related to a broad range of geographic features. For an overview, see www.rtd.si/sycp/documents/discoverSlovenia/area_by_area. If you cannot get that site, then try just the "rtd.si/sycp." There also is a beautiful poster under a search for "rtd." Alps, skiing, all beautiful and mostly prosperous-looking.

Groups have struggled for centuries with invaders and internal ruler issues, as did the rest of Europe. The Balkans were at a particularly divisive crossroads, and now part of the Balkans, like Slovenia, and Croatia seem to look north, to France and Austria-Hungary; and other parts of the Balkans seem to look south, to Turkey, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania.

Recommendation: Find a copy of the old Baedeker's Yugoslavia (Jarrold&Sons Ltd., Norwich, Great Britain 1987-89) complete with old map. Baedeker's alphabetical list and pictures of all the main places for all the countries, not by separate country, and excellent understandable history, make for easy reading. Roads different, of course, but cultural descriptions remain.

The listing of previously separate ethnic groups/countries there are: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Vojvodina (now part of Croatia), Beograd (as its own listing), Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia. Baedeker at page 9.

After WWII, Yugoslavia began to identify less with Russia, but remained communist. In 1991, it declared its independence from Yugoslavia, after a brief war; and by now - 2006 - all the former Yugoslavian states (Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Slovenia) are independent. There have been horrific wars and ethnic-religious killing in those other areas.

Some regions within the original Yugoslavian states are also in process of determining whether to be independent (such as Kosovo, from Serbia). See CIA informational website, with map and factbook, at www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/si. From the map, you see a small port access area south of Trieste (part of Italy), but the rest of the country is landlocked, much within sight of the Alps.

The tourist board has set up several recommended tourist routes -- as in Germany, taking themes and showing you where to go for those theme. Those sound good if you are focusing on Slovenia for a larger part of your trip. See map and info at www.slovenia.info/?stranske_poti=0.

Kranj - for a local overnight instead of crowded Lake Bled

This is an old industrial town, now revitalizing itself by renovating the old area. See www.randburg.com/si/kranj. It is a "regular" business center and residential town, close to the touristy Lake Bled - so it is good for the overnight. It has a lovely old pedestrianized square, and - as we have found each time no matter where we were, a good hotel. The earliest settlements there date from the 1st Century BC, says the site.

Although Slovenia is part of the EU, there had not been the full shift to the euro. Be prepared to have to use local currency, with the exchange rates, etc. Check it out first. You will lose out with each exchange.

Lake Bled

This is picture postcard - holiday card country. It has long been a resort, with walks and drives all around. There are other fine photos at websites from a search for photos Lake Bled. The site also gives the historical overview. The country has a shorter history as an independent land, but its roots go back to Roman times, and before. A search for history Lake Bled should show a site identified as "Bled Through History." That leads to a large information place - back to the Ice Age when the lake was formed.


See also www.resort-bled.com. For logistics - where necessities are in the Lake Bled area, see www.itisnet.com. Festivals, hotels, bus and stations, police, prices for tickets.

Our photo is the required view of Lake Bled, with the Church of the Assumption on the island. It www.uvi.si/eng/slovenia/photos/tourism/. The Church is 17th century, and the bell rings often. Each time, the wish of the ringer will be granted. Yes. Other tourist sites are listed at www.itisnet.com, under "Sight" as you scroll down.

More Lake Bled - you can't help it

Lake Bled. Pictures, pictures. We did not spend the night, because of all the touristy hotels, but moved on to our preference for less-pricey places. We found Kranj instead, and it had a real-town feel to it.

Slovenia is the ultimate Christmas card country, with the tidy villages and onion dome churches. For us, it was visually much like other parts of Europe, so we focused on other Balkan states. For more photos of the area, you may want to visit this website: community.webshots.com. Plug in Slovenia in the Europe category. People post pictures on that site from all over the world. There are also other album-type sites, but we liked the Slovenia photos on this one.

Itinerary After the Fact

We incorporated parts of Slovenia into our Croatia trip. First, we landed in Zagreb, Croatia, and headed to Rijeke, Croatia; and further east to the Istrian Peninsula, where Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy (Trieste) share boundaries. From Croatia's Istria we went on to Trieste; then back to Slovenia across and south, again to Rijeke, Croatia. This makes sense if you look at a map - just search for Istria.

Then, after being a length of time in Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, we drove from the crossroads at Karlovac, Croatia, back to Slovenia, through Ribnik, Metlika, Toplice, Novo Mesto, and Trebnje. There we got on the motorway to to Llubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and on to Lake Bled. Return trip: another way, back through Kranj for the night, and then the motorway to Zagreb, Croatia.