18 Fascinating Facts about Slovenia
4.8.2017 | Fiona Thompson
UK newspaper The Telegraph has compiled a list of 18 fascinating facts about Slovenia and we think it makes for great reading but we can add a few they missed.
Their list includes Maribor – “a wonderful city you’ve never heard of” – but fails to mention the city’s Stara Trta – the old grapevine is, in fact, the oldest living grapevine in the world and you can go to see it by alongside the Drava river in Lent, the old district of the city.
It’s the home of the Lipizzaner horses: these handsome white horses are the ones used at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and all Lipizzaner horses are descended from horses that came from the Lipica stud in Slovenia. But these days Lipica is more than just a stud stable: it’s a popular visitor attraction with an interactive museum, horse-riding and lots of other activities for the whole family.
Slovenia has the highest number of churches and chapels per head of the population. In fact, there are more than 3,000 such religious buildings and monuments.
The highest cliff on the entire Adriatic coast is at Strunjan, a small settlement between Izola and Portoroz.
Slovenian is one of only a handful of languages to retain the dual form. This is particularly fitting considering that the name of the capital city translates roughly as “beloved” and that Slovenia is the only country in the world to have LOVE in its name!
The full Telegraph list can be found at
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/slovenia/articles/slovenia-facts/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_fb