Interesting facts about Slovenia

slovenia flag

The south central European country Slovenia stretches between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps.

Slovenia is officially known as the Republic of Slovenia.

It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest.

Official language is Slovenian.

As of 1 January 2016, the population of Slovenia was estimated to be 2,043,779 people.

Ljubljana is Slovenia’s capital and largest city. It’s known for its university population and green spaces, including expansive Tivoli City Park.

ljubljana

Although Slovenia’s total surface area is only 20,273 square kilometers (7,827 square miles), it has more than 11,500 square kilometers (4440 square miles) of forest, which makes Slovenia the 3rd most forested country by percentage in Europe, after Finland and Sweden.

slovenia forest

Triglav, with an elevation of 2,864 meters (9,396 feet), is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. The mountain is the pre-eminent symbol of the Slovene Nation.It is the centerpiece of Triglav National Park, Slovenia’s only national park and one of the oldest parks in Europe.

triglav highest mountain in slovenia

It is estimated that there are currently 500 to 700 brown bears living in Slovenia.

brown bear slovenia

Many other very rare and endangered animal species inhabit the forests, such as the wolf, the lynx, the wildcat,the capercaillie and the pheasant. These are all protected. The ibex is also protected, and can be seen in the mountains.

Slovenia has over 7,000 kilometers (4350 miles) of marked mountain trails, including 165 mountain huts and shelters.

slovenia mountain trail

There are over 10,000 caves in Slovenia.The best known is Postojna Cave, 20.6 kilometers (12.8 miles) long and two million years old. The only cave with a double-track railway in the world.Also it has a very long standing ‘tourist tradition’ and even today it is one of the most visited natural landmarks in Slovenia.

postojna cave

Slovenia may only have 46.6 kilometers (28.9 miles) of coast line but it’s pure heaven. Three seaside towns – Koper, Izola and glorious Piran – are full of important Venetian Gothic architecture.

piran

Being the most visited and most famous place in Slovenia, Lake Bled with an island in the middle surrounded by mountains is one of the symbols of Slovenia.

lake bled island

The most famous wedding place in Slovenia is the island in Lake Bled.Tradition says that the groom must carry his bride up the 99 steps to ensure a long and happy marriage.

Solkan Bridge is a 220 meters (722 feet) long stone bridge over the river Soča near Nova Gorica in western Slovenia. With an arch span of 85 meters (279 feet) it is the longest stone arch among train bridges.

solkan bridge

216 square kilometers (83 square miles) of Slovenia is covered by vineyards.

Maribor, the 2nd-largest city in Slovenia, is home the oldest vine in the world.It is the oldest living specimen on our planet of a noble grape vine that still bears grapes! With an age of over 400 years it is registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine in the world.

oldest vine in the world

The world-famous Lipica Stud Farm, famous for its Lipizzaner horses, has operated since its founding in 1580 (at that time part of the Austrian Empire).The Lipica Stud Farm is the cradle of all Lipizzaner horses in the world.It is recognized as the oldest European stud farm continuously breeding one of the oldest cultural horse breeds.

lipizzaner horses lipica

Slovenia is a country with the largest number of religious buildings per capita in Europe. There are more than 3,000 churches, chapels and religious monuments.

church in slovenia

The Freising manuscripts are the first Latin-script continuous text in a Slavic language and “the oldest document in Slovene.” They were created between 972 and 1039, most likely before 1000.

freising manuscript

In Slovenia, you can pay to stay in ex prison cell at the Hostel Celica in Ljubljana.Once a prison, today one of the most intriguing hostels in the world.It is one-of-a-kind, artistically transformed from an old military prison into a funky youth hostel.

hostel

Planica is a legend amongst world ski jumping venues with a history stretching back to the 1930s. It was the venue for over 30 world record breaking jumps including the first jump of over 100 meters (328 feet) by Sepp Bradl, Austria 1936 and 200 meters ( 656 feet)  by Toni Nieminen, Finland, 1994 and one of the most recent world records by Bjoern Einar Romoeren of 239 meters (784 feet) in 2005.

planica ski jumping

Sečovlje salt-pans are more than 700 years old. From 2001, Sečovlje salt-pans have been protected as a Nature Park.

salt pans

Slovenia has lots of quirky food festivals including the Salt Makers’ Festival, Cabbage Festival, Chestnut Sunday and Bean Day to name a few.

On 7 October 1990, Andrej and Marija Štremfelj (both Slovenia) became the first married couple to conquer Everest, climbing via the South Col.

The Slovene ultra-marathon swimmer Martin Strel was the first man to successfully swim the Amazon and the Mississippi river.

A Slovenian, Benka Pulko, who traveled all continents and drove over 180,000 kilometers (111,847 miles)  in 2000 days, is the holder of the Guinness’s record as the woman who was riding a motorcycle the longest.

The canteen in the coal mine in Velenje is the lowest-lying dining room in Europe. It’s 160 meters (525 feet) below the surface.

Some scenes from the film Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian were filmed in the Soca Valley in Slovenia.

Comments are closed.