Maps of Slovenia, Slovakia, Serbia, which is which and where to go

Slovenia's capital is Ljubljana. I remember the pronunciation by saying, "Lana loves Lyublyana. See my posts on I love Slovenia and speaking the language.

Triple arch bridge in Slovenia's capital, Ljublyana.

Slovenia also has an island in a lake, a castle against a cliff, and a cave tour by underground train. And poppyseed cake.

Photo by Angela Lansbury at the World Travel Market in London, England.

Novo Mesto - new town.

If you can recall the days of Czechoslovakia, you will easily remember that the Czech Republic is to the west and Slovakia is the south-west. 

The capital is Bratislava on the west. You can see from the map that it has an airport and you can fly in on Ryanair and other airlines. However, you have a second choice; Vienna, capital of Austria, to the west has more flights and a train to Bratislava. (Other borders are with Poland, Ukraine and Hungary - south to Budapest.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia split one January 1st in a velvet revolution. The Czechs who were under the Communist regime for several years are predominantly atheist. The Slovaks, like the Poles to the North are devoutly Catholic. This affects national holidays.

Places To visit

Bratislava

Bratislava Castle

Bratislava Castle. Entry is free. The restaurant is open after the castle closes.

Equestrian statue of Moravian King Svatopluk 1, in Bratislava Castle, Slovakia.

In the grounds (free to enter) is the statue of Moravian King Svatopluk 1, riding a horse and waving a sword. He spent most of his life fighting and nobody is sure where he died. 

Legend says that on his deathbed he divided his lands between his three sons, who he summoned to his bedside. He told them to stay united on good terms with each other. 

To demonstrate the point, he showed them three sticks, bound together, which he asked them to break. None of them could do it. 

King Svatopluk, showing his three sons the strength of sticking together. Photo by Michal Mañas in Wikipedia article.

He separated the three sticks giving one to each lad, and told them to break their stick. Each of them broke the single stick. (This story is illustrated over in the Czech Replubic.)

Castles

Bojnice Castle 19c (1800s!)

Photo by Civertan from Wikipedia.

Levice

Hiking Trails 

Copious, useful signposts show four levels of walking trails, easy to difficult and times to allow. 

Forest lodges with accommodation and toilets, busy in high season, must be booked.

Watch out for bears - make a noise. I've been in bear country in Canada and Romania. I'm not happy about big, potentially dangerous, animals. Anything larger than a rat alarms me. On the other hand, I'm that that keen on ticks, either.

Serbia's capital, Belgrade, has an airport. Another is at Nis.

Unlike Slovakia, with its velvet revolution, Serbs and Kosovan have experienced serious fighting as well as political differences. This will affect the conversation you have, or don't have!, as well as the direction of travel. This affects border. You might be allowed out at one crossing point to Kosova, but not be allowed back into Serbia. Check the latest conditions locally, as well as with your own government.

Novi Sad

As you might expect, this means a new or newly built city, usually over one which was destroyed.

So which countries do I want to visit? Slovenia first, Slovakia second, Serbia third.

Useful Websites

Slovenia

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/07/slovenia-love-slovenia-they-say.html

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Slovakia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bratislava_Castle

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/serbia

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please follow me and share your favourite posts.

Slovakia and Slovenia - erm - which is which?

Slovakia
Slovenia
Serbia
All three places start with the letter S and ends with the letters IA. The first two also start with the same four letters SLOV.

Slovakia has the middle letters AK.
Slovenia has the middle letters EN.
Servia has the middle letters ERB.

If you are confused, don't worry. The Slovaks themselves, on their website, admit that people often get confused by the first two on the list, Slovakia and Slovenia.

To simplify matters, Czechoslovakia divided in the 1990s, and the Eastern half became Slovakia, whose people, the Slovaks, speak a language similar to the Czech language and to Polish.

SLOVAKIA AND BRATISLAVA

Slovakia. Bratislava. White castle with corner towers.

The capital of Slovakia is Bratislava, which contains the letters av. Notice the a in the middle of both words, the country and the capital.

The western half of the country of Czechoslovakia is the one with the drinking glasses. The eastern half has wine and water. What kind of water? Waterfalls and spas.

Bratislava is dominated by the big square white castle with towers.

Useful websites:

Slovenia, however, was part of another dividing country, Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia is one sixth part of the old Yugoslavia, So Slovenia is smaller than Slovakia. 

Slovenia may be small but it's got a big dragon, the dragon bridge, and three more adjacent bridges, called the triple bridge. The one in the picture looks a bit angular like the top of an old English threepenny piece. 

Little Slovenia also has a little church on the little hill on the little island in a little lake, shown in the backdrop behind me in the picture.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.