Today's
tour of nations will take us to Slovenia! Isn't that a fun country to say? Slovenia can be found in Central Europe at the hub of the European trade routes. It borders Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Croatia. According to
Wikipedia, Slovenia has a very diverse culture and a high economic and social level.
The Short and Sweet of It All
Slovenia is situated in a unique juncture geographically-speaking. It's got some of the Alps in it, as well as a Mediterranean coastline. The country has a very rich, watered landscape, as well as many dense forests. Their climate varies depending on location from Alpine to sub-Mediterranean.
Slovenia has been occupied by many countries over the years, including the Bavarian Empire, the Carolingian Empire, and the Roman Empire (this was all pre-1st Century AD). Slovenians started self-identifying as their own people-group around the time of the Protestant Reformation (1600's), but weren't their own country until the early 1900's. Since then, they have been absorbed into Yugoslavia and Croatia and some other places (there's like half a page on this in Wikipedia), but around 1991, Slovenia became it's own independent country again. Slovenia is now a parliamentary democracy that has a president and Prime Minister.
Slovenian culture is quite diverse and interesting, due to its varied climates and people groups. Slovene is the main language spoken here, although Italian and Hungarian come in close behind that. Religion tends to be pretty important to Slovenians, with most of them being either Roman Catholic or Lutheran.
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| Lutheran Church in Bodonci |
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| The Basilica of the Virgin Mary in Brezje |
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| Serbian Orthodox Church in Ljubljana |
Some Cute Animals that can be Found Here
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| Alpine Lynx |
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| Alpine Ibex |
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| European Hedgehog |
Other Interesting Things to Note
Slovenia is the richest Slavic (Eastern European) nation, but they do have an aging population overall, so that's somewhat of a concern for their economic future. Their main exports are cars and car parts. They also are a huge tourist destination, especially for European travelers.
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| Lake Bled, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Slovenia |
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| Postojna Cave |
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| Piran, a port town in Southern Slovenia |
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| Alpine landscape near Kranjska Gora |
During the Protestant Reformation and Romantic eras, Slovenia had a high amount of music and art flourishing. These creative expressions are still very important to the Slovenian culture.
Commons foods in Slovenia are sausage, porridge, chicken soup, and pastries.
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| "The Sower" (1907), by Impressionistic painter and musician Ivan Grohar |
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| Prekmurska gibanica is a typical pastry of the Prekmurje region. |
Slovenia is also a top international sport contender in areas such as handball, football (soccer), basketball, volleyball, ice hockey, rowing, and swimming (as well as many other). They take sports very seriously there and many of their citizens are employed as professional athletes. They regularly qualify for the football (soccer) World Cup, as well as for the Olympic games.
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| Zlatin Ljubijankic |
I have been to the Postojna Cave and it was so fantastic! Great post!
ReplyDeleteoh wow. it was really interesting to read about my country from another perspective. and I think it was a great idea to write about it, cause most of the people have no clue about Slovenia when I tell them where I come from. thanks for taking time to write such an informative post, these series are great!
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