Population Slovenia: 2.1 million. Average number of people per square km – 101 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand – 15).
Slovenia is one of the countries that gained independence after the breakup of Yugoslavia during the early 1990’s. We did not intend to spend much time in Slovenia, essentially only a few days to transit the country, to and from Germany. Slovenia is part of the European Union and travelling across borders between EU member countries could not be easier. Officials simply wave us through. We did notice some vehicles were pulled aside. Our most unusual border crossing was on on our return journey from Germany crossing the border on a remote mountain road between Austria and Slovenia. There were no officials on duty at the tiny border control point and we simply (hesitantly) slowly drove through, checking our rearview mirrors just to make sure that there was not an official that has appeared from somewhere and waving his arms.
We wanted to see the Northern Lights in the Arctic, and this time of the year (March) was a good time to view the lights. We travelled to Munich via Slovenia and Austria, where we would catch a cheap flight to Norway (see our Northern Lights blog). Imagine breakfast in Ljubljana (Slovenia), lunch in Salzburg (Austria) and late afternoon coffee and cake in Munich. After this side trip, we travelled back to Croatia, to continue our journey southwards towards Greece.
We had our first sighting of migrating storks flying northwards after wintering in Africa. This flock are in for a shock because there was fresh snow on the mountains. In contrast however, further south away from the mountains and near the coast, pink peach blossoms were already out, a good sign that spring was on the way. We are looking forward to seeing storks nesting on power poles and house chimneys, as we have so often seen on photographs.
We only spent a few hours in Ljubljana, the capital. People have lived in the area for several thousand years and archaeologists have found a wooden wheel that is apparently more than 5,000 years old. Rudolf of Habsburg (Germany) conquered the region in the 1200s and ruled over a large territory for 600 years forming the core of the Habsburg Monarchy and the present-day country of Austria.
The Alpine valley Planica in the north west of Slovenia is famous for ski jumping. The first ski jump was already in use before 1930. We have seen ski jumping many times on TV, but never live. We were at the tail end of winter and hoped to see people doing the ski jump. Unfortunately, once at Planica, we discovered that the facility had closed for the season the week before.
Predjama castle located in western Slovenia is interesting, as it is built into the mouth of a cave and is said to be one of the few surviving cave castles. The castle was built 800 years ago under a natural rocky arch high in the rock cliff to make access to it difficult. The castle was later improved and expanded. Erazem, the lord of the castle in the 15th century, came into conflict with the powerful Austria Habsburgs and was ultimately killed after a long siege. The castle had excellent defences and several secret passages offering alternative exits. The form of the castle one sees today was shaped in the 1500s and has since been occupied by several nobles. The Yugoslavian government nationalised the castle after 1945 and turned it into a museum. The museum reflects typical conditions during medieval times. The building is damp and it is strange that the nobles did not do much to remedy this problem.
The small village of Hrastovlje in the south west of Slovenia near our exit to Croatia has a fortified Church of the Holy Trinity with most interesting frescoes. The church was constructed more than 600 years ago and stands behind a defensive wall that the local population built to protect itself from Turkish attacks in the 16th century. The church has been painted with Gothic frescoes completed in 1490 and the most famous of these frescoes is the Dance of Death. The group of skeletal figures basically portrays that no matter one’s walk in life, in the end, we are all equal in the Dance of Death.
