Closest Campings

About Slovenia

Slovenia (Slovenija) is a country in Central Europe that lies in the eastern Alps at the northeastern end of the Adriatic Sea. Despite its small size, with Austria to the north, Italy to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast and Croatia to the south, Slovenia has a surprising variety of terrain, ranging from the beaches of the Mediterranean to the peaks of the Julian Alps.

Regions

• Upper Carniola (Gorenjska)
• Styria (Štajerska)
• Prekmurje
• Carinthia (Koroška)
• Inner Carniola (Notranjska)
• Lower Carniola (Dolenjska)
• Goriška
• Slovenian Istria (Slovenska Istra)

Cities

• Ljubljana - the picturesque pint-sized capital
• Izola - port
• Koper - industrial port city with a Venetian old city
• Kranj
• Maribor - Slovenia's second city
• Nova Gorica
• Novo Mesto
• Piran - port
• Portorož - Beaches, casinos and package tourism
• Ptuj
• Slovenj Gradec
• Velenje

Climate

Its climate is Submediterranean on the coast, Alpine in the mountains and continental with mild to hot summers and cold winters in the plateaus and valleys to the east. The average temperatures are -2°C (28°F) in January and 21°C (70°F) in July. The average rainfall is 1,000 millimetres (39.4 in) for the coast, up to 3,500 millimetres (137.8 in) for the Alps, 800 millimetres (31.5 in) for south east and 1,400 millimetres (55.1 in)for central Slovenia.

By car

Slovenia's roads are for the most part well maintained and well signposted, and you won't have a problem if you drive or hire a car. Having a car certainly does add a level of mobility and self direction that you won't get by train or bus.

Slovenia has an excellent highway network connected to neighboring countries.

• From Austria
• Vienna → Graz → Sentilj → Maribor
• Villach → Karawanke Tunnel Jesenice
• Villach → Wurzenpass Podkoren Kranjska Gora
• Klagenfurt → Loiblpass Ljubelj Kranj
• From Italy
• Venice → Trieste → Koper
• Venice → Gorizia → Nova Gorica
• Tarvisio → Ratece Kranjska Gora → Jesenice

Speed limits in Slovenia are as follows: City 60 km/h, Open Roads 80km/h, Highway 120km/h.

There are many great opportunities for activity holidays in Slovenia: The mountains and rivers of the Julian Alps provide the perfect location for hiking, mountain biking, rafting and kayaking.

Eat

Not too many people come to Slovenia for the food, but with Italian, Hungarian and Balkan influences most people will find something to their liking - unless they're strict vegetarians.

Generally speaking, Slovenian food is heavy, meaty and plain. A typical three-course meal starts with a soup (juha), often just beef or chicken broth with egg noodles, and then a meat dish served with potatoes (krompir) and a vinegary fresh salad (solata). Fresh bread (kruh) is often served on the side and is uniformly delicious.

Common mains include cutlets (zrezek), sausage (klobasa) and goulash (golaž), all usually prepared from pork, but there is a large choice of fish (ribe) and seafood even further away from the coast. Popular Italian imports include all sorts of pasta (testenine), pizza (pica), ravioli (žlikrofi) and risotto (rižota). A major event in the countryside still today is the slaughtering of a pig from which many various products are made: blood sausage, roasts, stuffed tripe, smoked sausage, salami (salama), ham (šunka) and bacon. Recipes for the preparation of poultry, especially turkey (puran), goose (gos), duck, and capon, have been preserved for many centuries. Chicken (piščanec) is surprisingly uncommon. Squid is fairly common and reasonably priced.

Uniquely Slovenian dishes are available, but you won't find them on every menu, so here are some to look out for:

• Kraški pršut - air-dried ham, similar to but not the same as Italian prosciutto
• štruklji - dumplings which Slovenians prepare in 70 different ways stuffed with sweet fillings, meat or vegetables
• žganci - a type of polenta
• žlikrofi - potato dumplings similar to gnocchi, specialty of the Idria region

Some Slovenian desserts can also be found:

• potica, a type of nut roll for holiday occasions also prepared with the widest variety of fillings.
• gibanica, a very heavy cakelike pastry of poppy seeds, walnuts, apples, raisins, cheese etc, topped with cream

Modified: 14.02.2007 10:46:09 CET
Source: http://wikitravel.org/en/Slovenia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovenia

Image Gallery

Pokriti most na Savi Autor: poldek_tedy	Pokriti Most Autor: poldek_tedy
Zasavska sveta gora Autor: rmk_slo	Zagorje ob Savi Autor: M&V-Slovenia