Slovenia is an independent republic in the heart of Central Europe, with just over two million people. With a surface area of only 20,273 sq kilometres, it is about the size of Wales or the American state of New Jersey. It borders Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea.
The Land
Being geographically very diverse, the country abounds in top-notch things to see. The snow-capped Alpine peaks, the beautiful capital city Ljubljana, the charming coastline (the seaside towns are full of important Venetian Gothic architecture), the mysterious cave-riddled Karst region (the Postojna Cave is the most-visited show cave in Europe), thermal springs and spas, vineyards, diverse regional cuisine, and rich cultural heritage are just some of the factors that make Slovenia one of the most interesting countries on the map of the world. Did you know that forest, some of it virgin, covers almost 60 % of its territory, making Slovenia one of the greenest countries in the world?
The Language
The official language is Slovenian or Slovene, which belongs to the family of South Slavic languages. The Slovenian alphabet, which is a modified Latin alphabet, has 25 letters. Mind you, it does not have the letters W, Q , X and Y. Apart from the singular and plural, it employs the dual grammatical number (in which things are counted in twos in all cases), a rarity among the languages of the world.
In the middle of the 16th century, the Lutheran Reformation spread from Germany to Slovenia, helping to lay the foundations of the Slovene literary language. In 1550, Primoz Trubar, a Protestant reformer and the father of Slovenian written language, published the first two books ever written in Slovenian - Catechismus and Abecedarium. The Lutheran reformers also translated the Bible into Slovene; it was first published in 1584. Is the Slovene language difficult to learn? Yes!
The People and Culture
Being a Slovene, I know the national psyche well. Slovenes are generally industrious, disciplined, individualistic, and sober-minded. They are also well-educated; the literacy rate is 99.7 percent of the total population. The ability to speak foreign languages well is another virtue they have; the majority of Slovenes speak at least one foreign language, and almost everyone speaks some English, German, or Italian. However, a less pleasant characteristic of the typical Slovene is introversion.
Slovenes are very attached to their property and the house they live in. If you visit us, you will notice that the typical Slovene house is well-kept. It usually has a large back garden or at least a small front one. Most urban dwellers have a strong connection with the countryside. A big percentage of urban Slovenes own a country house (for relaxation and a little bit of extra work) or a zidanica, which is basically a cottage in one of the wine-growing regions. Most zidanica owners also produce their own wine. Did you know that the oldest grapevine in the world is located right here in Slovenia? It was planted more than four hundreed years ago and is still producing grapes!
Our favourite national hobbies are gardening, walking in the hills, mountaineering and skiing.
World-famous Contemporary Slovenians
Martin Strel
Martin Strel is a legendary Slovene long-distance swimmer and the only man in the world who has swum the five greatest rivers in the world: the Amazon, Yangtze, Paraná, Mississippi, and Danube.
The 3,300 mile-long Amazon swim, which saw him battling parasites, piranhas and bull sharks among other things, made front-page news around the world in 2007. How did he manage to conquer those majestic rivers? ''I drink my wine every day. This is special wine made in Slovenia and you can't buy it outside the country, ''says Martin, who has been dubbed by the media as the ''Big River Man.''
Petra Majdic
At Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, the Slovenian cross-country star slid off the course during a warmup and fell into a gully, cracking ribs and puncturing a lung. She shrugged off medical advice not to compete, but in spite of extreme pain and life-threathening injury she won the bronze. Her brave performance overshadowed the performances of Norways's Marit Bjoergen, who won gold, and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland, who took the silver.
Ivo Boscarol
Boscarol is a Slovene innovator, economist, pilot and successful international businessman. His company Pipistrel, established in 1987, is the world leader in development and production of UL class powered gliders and advanced light aircraft.
In January 2012, the Slovene pilot Matevz Lenarcic set out to circle the globe on just 290 kg of fuel in Pipistrel's Virus-SW 914, which is the fastest aircraft in its category in the world – and the most fuel-efficient too. Its qualities have been confirmed in the NASA competition, where the aircraft won prestigious awards two years in a row.
The Pipistrel company says that Lenarcic plans to overfly 7 continents, 60 countries, 120 national parks, the world's highest mountains including Mount Everest, cross 3 oceans and the Antarctic, while burning the smallest amount of unleaded fuel per distance flown.
If you'd like to know more about Slovenia, pick up Steve Fallon's guidebooks to Slovenia (published by Lonely Planet) or visit I FEEL SLOVENIA - The Official Travel Guide by Slovenian Tourist Board.
Tanja Batista - Tanja Batista has a BA in English Language and Literature from the Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
