Beautiful Slovenia

Discussion in 'Central & Eastern Europe' started by AZ2SI, Apr 11, 2005.

  1. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    Little Slovenia, at the very southern edge of Central Europe, is already fairly well-known in the Czech Republic, but if you have any questions about traveling there, please post them here and I'll do my best to answer them! I'd love to see even more Czech tourists visit my country, which is just a few hours' drive south of the Czech Republic.

    Here are some pics of Slovenia (BTW, the neoclassical bridge you see on some of the photos was designed by Joze Plecnik, who was Slovenian but did a lot of his work in Prague):

    NOTE: If these photos are taking too long to load, this is a good alternative source for pics of Slovenia:
    http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Slovenia

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Ubald Trnkoczy and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: J. Skok and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: J. Skok and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: A. Favzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    ^ The famous Slovenian hayrack
    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    ^ A wind rattle, used to scare away birds
    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    ^ The interior of a traditional country home
    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: J. Skok and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si[/url]
     
  2. evian

    evian Well-Known Member

    Wow...Amazing photos! :D
    Yes...I have read quite a lot about Slovenia, it seems to have much to offer, but almost unheard of out of the European continent. I am quite interested in visiting Slovenia, particularly Ljubljana....sometime in the future years I guess.
    By the way....Can you tell me what city of Slovenia is in the 9th photo below??
     
  3. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    I'm glad you like it, Jason. Yes, Slovenia is still underrated, but the number of foreign visitors is growing rapidly. A number of foreign newspapers have even described Ljubljana as "the new Prague." Now, I'm not sure if this comparison is valid, since Ljubljana is far smaller, but it is a very attractive, vibrant city, with a really unique character. In the summer, Ljubljana's outdoor cafes are packed full of people until well after 10PM; that doesn't happen even in many far bigger cities.

    The town in the ninth photo (and the eight) is Piran, a Venetian gem on Slovenia's short Adriatic coast.

    Here's Piran from another perspective:
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    Source: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

    And here's the legend for all the photos:

    1. Lake Bled, a well-known resort
    2. Mount Triglav. Named after a Slavic god, and seen from most of the country, Triglav is a symbol of Slovenia. It's even on the country's coat-of-arms.
    3. The Alps
    4-7. Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital
    8-9. Piran on Slovenia's coast
    10. The Alps
    11. The town of Kranj
    12. The Dolenjska region
    13. A shepherds' settlement a.k.a. an alp (Velika Planina) in the Alps
    14. Picking olives
    15. Jezersko in the Alps
    16. Traditional baked goods
    17-24. Various pics of the countryside
    25. Goriska Brda, sometimes called Slovenia's Tuscany.
    26-32. More of the countryside
    33. Another pic of Velika Planina
    34-35. More countryside pics
    36. The region of Stajerska (Slovenian Styria)
    37. A mill on the river Mura
    38-39. Still more of the countryside
    40. A lake on the Pohorje plateau
    41-43. Countryside, including the resort town of Kranjska Gora in pic #42.
     
  4. evian

    evian Well-Known Member

    I think the fact that Slovenia is underrated but still a great place to visit is a good point. In my opinion the less a place is flooded with tourists - the better! I do truly hope to visit Slovenia one day.
     
  5. Tristan

    Tristan Active Member

    I live near Slovenian border, speak the language, and all that… Slovenia really is a beautiful country (spent my New Year's holls in Ptuj – the cutest little town in the world !), but it probably wont stay as beautiful once it gets flooded with tourists… which will definetely happen, sooner rather than later, especially since Slovenia is EU member now.

    A hint: download this year's Slovenian Eurosong candidate's video. Ater seing him standing in the water, all I could say was: Slovenia: 12 points !

    Kdor ne skače ni Slovenc ! :lol:
     
  6. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    Hvala, Tristan! I agreee that Slovenia has to be very careful about how to deal with the rapidly growing numbers of tourists, but I think that if it focuses on cultural and eco tourism, it can retain its charm. After all, Croatia sees far more tourists than Slovenia, but it is still one of the most incredibly beautiful places on Earth. Smart planning and a rejection of old-style mass tourism (combined with strict enforcement of laws and regulations) should ensure that both countries stay that way.
     
  7. KJP

    KJP Well-Known Member

    Those are amazing fotos, really. Much prettier than anything I have seen or imagined Solvenia to be. Guess it means that they are not promoting their tourism yet, which may be wise.

    Anyone see the Bulgarian commerical on EuroNews? Someone has got to fire that marketer, its terrible...kind of like Latvias anthem...its just not working.

    Just your fotos have done much for Slovenias future tourism, it is on my list to see 100%
     
  8. ursula

    ursula Well-Known Member

    beautiful country, beautiful pictures! wish i were 20 years younger,
    ursula
     
  9. Cezary

    Cezary New Member

    Somebody has any idea what part of Slovenia is best for to live?


    tourism.si/pictures/photoalbum/2003/TUR000582_big_706_big.jpg[/img]
    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Ubald Trnkoczy and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: J. Skok and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: J. Skok and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Bajzelj and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: A. Favzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    ^ The famous Slovenian hayrack
    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    ^ A wind rattle, used to scare away birds
    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    ^ The interior of a traditional country home
    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovič and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: Bobo and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: D. Mladenovic and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: A. Fevzer and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: J. Skok and slovenia-toursim.si

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-toursim.si[/url][/quote]
     
  10. cechofil

    cechofil Well-Known Member

    What an incredible pictorial! Thanks for sharing that. I am sorry that I was not knowledgeable enough about this country to even consider including a trip there during my previous stays in the Czech Rep. But now, I will make every effort to see this unspoiled gem the next time that I return. It IS a well kept secret. Who knew??
     
  11. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    The New York Times: In Ljubljana, the Old Europe and the New Are Still in Balance

    EXCERPT:

    FROM the 16th-century fortress walls atop Castle Hill, the view of Ljubljana is exquisite: waves of red-tiled roofs, turquoise domes, spires and, here and there, lacy bridges spanning the green Ljubljanica River, stitching the two sides of Slovenia's capital city together. The overall effect is that of a snow-globe town in the foothills of the Alps.

    But as lovely as the view is, there is nothing in that macro-shot that suggests the current source of Ljubljana's vivacity - an intrinsic hum of energy that has, in recent months, generated avid comparisons to the city that everyone seems to long for: Prague circa 1995. The evidence, I decided, must lie in the streets below, so, on a recent summer morning, I headed past Ljubljana's weave of medieval, baroque, and Art Nouveau buildings toward Preseren Square, the city's bustling social hub, which is anchored by the 17th-century Franciscan Church of the Annunciation and monastery and the Triple Bridge.


    COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE (you may need to register)

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    Source: A. Fevzer and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Source: Bobo and slovenia-tourism.si

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    Source: T. Reisner and slovenia-tourism.si
     
  12. iluvuma1

    iluvuma1 Well-Known Member

    What language do the people speak in Slovenia? Is the language similar to Czech?
     
  13. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    Slovene or Slovenian ("slovenski jezik" or "slovenscina") is the main language of Slovenia. It's a Slavic language with many parallels to Czech and Slovak. While Slovene belongs to the South Slavic group, it also has elements in common with the West Slavic languages. After all, both modern-day Slovenia and Czech Republic were a part of Austria for centuries until 1918, and the Slovenes shared a border with the Slovaks in the early Slavic period.

    One could say that Slovene is somewhere between Czech/Slovak and Croatian in the Slavic family, but that's not very accurate: It's a very old Slavic language that hasn't changed all that much from Common Slavic in some respects, but nevertheless developed in relative isolation later on, so it doesn't have any really close lingustic relatives (unlike, say, the close connection between Czech and Slovak or between Croatian and Serb). For example, Slovene preserves the archaic dual number (in addition to the singular and the plural); the Lusatian Sorbs are the only other Europeans (not just Slavs!) who have the dual.

    How does the dual work? Well, for example, the singular form of "big wagon" is "velik voz", the plural "veliki vozi", but the dual is "velika vozova", and is also conjugated differently than either the singular and the plural ("with big wagons" would be "z velikima vozovoma" in the dual but "z velikimi vozmi" in the plural). "We are coming" would be "Midva prideva" or "Midva bova prisla" if there are exactly two males or one male and one female coming together, "Midve prideva" or "Midve bova prisli" if there are exactly two females coming together, but "Mi pridemo" or "Mi bomo prisli" if there are more than three people coming, regardless of their gender. It would be "Jaz pridem" or "Jaz bom prisel/prisla" in the singular.

    Slovene also has definite and indefinite adjectives, for example:

    "Velik konj" means "A big horse", and "dober clovek" means "A good person" but...
    "Veliki konj" means "THE big horse", and "dobri clovek" means "THE good person"

    In other words, Slovenian is a very complex tongue in many respects: It is said to be even harder for a non-Slavic foreigner to learn than Czech (and we know how difficult Czech is!)

    If you speak Czech, you may want to check out how much Slovene you can understand by looking through this Slovenian news site:

    http://24ur.com/naslovnica/index.php

    Slovenia has two other official languages: Italian and Hungarian, but only in areas with Italian and Hungarian national minorities (in the southwest and the northeast of the country, respectively).

    If you have any questions, please let me know!
     
  14. Zeisig

    Zeisig Well-Known Member

    I think that all Slavic languages are of the same age.

    It is not utterly true.

    The Czech language has preserved the dual number as well, but only in a limited set of nouns (eye, ear, hand, ...) and numerals (two, both, hundred).

    E.g. hundred - sto (sing.), stě (dual), sta (plur.)

    one hundred - jedno sto
    two hundreds - dvě stě
    three hundreds - tři sta

    The numerals two (dva, dvě) and both (oba, obě) have naturally only the dual number forms.
     
  15. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    You're right, but what I tried to say -- and didn't quite put it correctly -- is that Slovene has not changed nearly as much from Common Slavic as most other Slavic languages. Linguist therefore consider Slovene one of the most conservative Slavic tongues -- not really the "oldest."

    True; several Slavic languages have preserved some remnants of the dual (Czech, Polish, etc.), but linguists do not consider that the true dual because it only ocurrs in a handful of words and does not have a complete case system. The true grammatical dual was once common among the Slavic languages (even, say, Old Russian had it), but it only exists in Slovene and Lower/Upper Lusatian Sorb nowadays.
     
  16. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

  17. bacciap4

    bacciap4 New Member

    Hello I am Czech from Serbia

    Has Slovenian language any dialects?
    Has Slovenian provinces(Kranjska, Koruška, Štajerska) theirown dialects and cultural specifics?
    What is origin of the name Karantania?

    Is anywhere on internet Slovenian ethnic map or language map?
    Has Celovec/Klagenfurt Slovenian majority?
     
  18. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    Slovenian is a language of dialects -- it has about 50 different ones. No-other Slavic language has as many per capita. These dialects are very different; a person from, say, Prekmurje in the east could not understand a person from the Resia (Rezija) Valley in Italy without using Standard Slovene. Some of the dialects are almost like separate languages.

    Yes, Slovenia's provinces have their own cultural specifics. Primorska is very Mediterranean in terms of architecture, food, traditions, and general culture -- you would think you were in Slavic-speaking Italy. Gorenjska, Stajerska, Dolenjska, etc. are "Mitteleuropean" -- similar to Austria or the Czech Republic. Prekmurje has a strong Hungarian influence. Bela Krajina in the south has been influenced by migrations of Serbs and Croats in the Middle Ages. These regional identities are very strong; in fact, there are even stereotypes of how Slovenes from different provinces behave. This isn't that unusual per se, since it occurs in some other European countries, but it is unexpected in a country this small (population 2 million).

    As an illustration, let's look at architecture: Here is a typical house from the Kranjska region:

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    Photo: B. Kladnik and slovenia-tourism.si

    And here's one from the Mediterranean Primorska region:

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    Source: www2.arnes.si/~kppomm

    I actually don't know what the origin of the name is and am not sure if historians have a definite answer. Of course, Karantania (Caranthania, Carantania, Karantania) was the first Slovene state in the Middle Ages and one of the first Slavic ones. It was remarkable for having some semi-democratic elements in its governmental structure.

    Unfortuantely, I cannot seem to find a map of Slovene dialects anywhere online, but I'll keep on looking.

    No. While Austrian Carinthia (Kaerenten/Koroska) has a sizeable Slovenian minority (something Austrian nationalist politician Joerg Haider would love to forget), it is concentrated in the countryside rather than in the larger towns.
     
  19. bacciap4

    bacciap4 New Member

    You must be proud for your nationality and state :)

    Half of my father's family has Slovenian origin and other part has Czech. But nobody has not strong connection with either of this lands. :(

    Bye & Thanks :)

    PS: 12 points go to Slovenia for beautiful natural enviroment, culture, architecture and tradition. :)
     
  20. AZ2SI

    AZ2SI Member

    Thanks, bacciap4! A part of it is a sense of pride, but when you are as small as Slovenia, you also just have to keep reminding people that you exist. ;)

    You, on the other hand, have not one but three wonderful countries to be proud of!
     

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