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