So I made it to continent #7 and country #22. For my Europe portion, I chose Slovenia, which might seem like an odd choice, but there were multiple reasons behind it. First of all, I wanted to go to a country I hadn’t been to yet. Secondly, I ended up with only a bit over a week in Europe so Slovenia was perfect because it’s so small. Third, I had met a couple on my fourth day of my trip who offered to host if I ever made it to Slovenia. Lastly, I had heard such good things about the country that I was excited to see it for myself. So really it worked out perfectly and I’m glad it did. I’m really enjoying the place. I spent two days in Ljubljana which is the capital.
I was so lucky to know someone here. In this case it’s Ajda and Uroš who I met in Mexico back in August. We were staying at the same hostel and we met because we all were asking the employee for directions to the same place at the same time. We ended up going together and spending the day together. I find this kind of thing fascinating because if I had gone down to ask those directions five minutes later or five minutes earlier we wouldn’t have met. So I’m staying with them here in Ljubljana and they are great hosts. Ajda and I spend the day seeing the city and it’s beautiful.
Slovenia (population 2 million) was originally controlled by the Romans and then later by Austria until 1918. After WWI, Slovenia became part of the Kingdom of Slovenes, Croates, and Serbs along with what is today Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 1929 the name was changed to Yugoslavia. Slovenia produced up to 20% of the GDP for Yugoslavia, but the government was becoming increasingly Serb dominated. After free elections and 88.5% of the population in favor of independence, Slovenia broke away from Yugoslavia on June 25th, 1991. A 10-day war followed that left 66 people dead, but Yugoslavia quickly signed a truce in order to focus on regaining control of coastal Croatia instead. Slovenia was admitted to the UN in 1992, joined the EU in 2004, and adopted the Euro as its currency in 2007.
When Ajda and I were going for lunch, we saw the mayor of Ljubljana. How cool is that?
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