Slovenia
Caroline Mitcham
Slovenia's Culture
Slovenia is a country of many languages and religions. In Slovenia they speak over 32 different languages, and the majority of the people are Roman Catholic. With a population of just over 2,000,000 people in the country, Slovenia is roughly twice the size of Dallas, Texas. It also has very similar holidays to the United States of America. For example, Slovenia has Independence Day, Christmas, Easter, and New Year. Some of the traditional foods are kranjska klobasa (Carniolan sausage), prekmursa gibanica (Prekmurje layered pastery), and walnut cake. Traditional clothing for women is made up of a shirt, skirt, apron, headscarf, white socks, and/or a belt, scarf, or sash. Men's clothing is made up of a white shirt, vest, cropped pants, white socks, leather shoes or boots, a hat, and sometimes a pocket watch.
Click Here To See Video
Tour of Slovenia's capitol, Lubljana. With a tour guide.
Slovenia's Government
Slovenia's government has been a parliamentary republic since June 25th, 1991. According to dictionary.com, a parliamentary republic is "government by a body of cabinet ministers who are chosen from and responsible to the legislature and act as advisers to a nominal chief of state." Their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2014 is 45.47 billion US dollars. Their president is Borut Pahor. He is Slovenia's fourth president, and was elected in 2012.
Slovenian Anthem (with english lyrics)
Slovenian National Gallery to Reopen After a 3 Year Renovation
The National Gallery of Slovenia was established in 1918. It holds the largest collection of Slovenian art, including modern art and art from the Middle Ages. Since the fall of 2012 the National Gallery has been closed for renovations. It is being expanded to have double the amount of artwork (700 pieces of art) it originally had. The Gallery will now have a permanent collection of the artwork of Zoran Music, as well as the artwork of artists Ivan Grohar, Rihard Jakopic, Mitja Jama, and many, many, more. The renovation has cost EUR 14m (about 16 million US dollars). After three years of renovation, the National Gallery will reopen in the fall of 2015.
Slovenia's Famous Landmarks
Two of Slovenia's famous landmarks are Bled Castle and the Triple Bridge. Bled Castle is 130 meters above Bled Lake. It is in Bled, Slovenia and is well known by many people that have been told about its scenic view.
Another Slovenian landmark that is well known is the Triple Bridge. The Triple Bridge was at first just one stone bridge in 1842 until in 1931 Joze Plecnik added two bridges surrounding it (hence the name Triple Bridge).
Bled Castle
This is a picture of Bled Castle, high above Bled Lake.
Triple Bridge
This is the Triple Bridge today.
Bled Castle with Bled Lake
This is a picture of Bled Castle and its scenic view.
What I Found Interesting
While I was searching the web for Slovenian food, I came across a bunch of Slovenian specialties that I thought were either gross or okay sounding. For instance, dormouse stew, pear filled pastries, stajerska sour soup, and buckwheat and corn zganci. What I know about foods is they are kind of like languages. Each type of food has its own unique flavor just like languages, and once it's gone it is actually gone for all the generations to come. Now I think that all Slovenian food is interesting.