{"id":12120,"date":"2016-07-14T07:39:30","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T05:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=12120"},"modified":"2016-08-30T17:11:26","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T15:11:26","slug":"glamping-in-slovenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/eu\/glamping-in-slovenia\/","title":{"rendered":"Glamping in Slovenia is the perfect balance between nature and culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

People often ask me what I miss about my native Canada<\/strong>. Generally, I say “nothing”: I’m very satisfied with life in Italy, and lack only access to cheddar cheese and litres of good maple syrup, but Italy’s food makes up for that on most days. But on a recent trip glamping<\/strong> in<\/strong> Slovenia<\/strong>, I realized I am<\/em> a little homesick for one thing I hold dear from my Canadian childhood: freshwater swimming in an uncrowded, natural environment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"This
This Canadian appreciates the free canoes, too<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At BigBerry<\/strong>, on the Kolpa River<\/strong><\/a> that borders with Croatia, I had a bit of a flashback to happy times camping or cottaging in Northern Ontario. While I can’t declare Slovenia “Europe’s Canada” — for one, it’s already got the epithet “Switzerland of the Balkans”, plus the country is just tiny<\/em>, literally the size of the Greater Toronto Area where I grew up, and with less than a third of that city’s population — I can say that there are some happy overlaps. But the country’s got its own charm, making it a perfect balance between nature and culture,<\/strong> and a brilliant place for a visit – as I found out.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I admit, I wouldn’t have thought of visiting Slovenia<\/strong> had I not received an invitation to stay at BigBerry<\/strong>, which dubs itself as a “luxury lifestyle camp”. The brand new resort opened this year to press, and next year to the public, and promised visits to local producers and cultural sites from their home base on the bed of the Kolpa River. The camp’s activity calendar, with canoeing and crafts, immediately had me thinking of the summer camp I attended in Canada, which constituted a character-building form of rusticity that I have banned in adulthood in favour of 5-star hotels. When I saw that the 6 private cabins on the river had air conditioning and individual hot-tubs, however, I signed right up.<\/p>\n

\"Much
Much of the country looks like this – sub-Alpine area near Cerkno (photo: Jeancaffou – CC BY-SA 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=4466505)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now is the time to admit my ignorance: we had to do a little catching up on Balkan geography<\/strong> and political history on the drive over, because when I was in school, this was Yugoslavia. Before the first world war, this area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while in 1992 the individual states proclaimed independence from the then-socialist-federal-republic. Modern day Slovenia borders on Austria and Italy in the attractive mountainous north, Croatia in the south and a little bit of Hungary in the east. With some 66% of the country covered in forests (according to a 2005 report of the Forest Service of Slovenia), it’s the third greenest country in the EU, earning it yet another epithet: The Green Country<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ever since encountering it at the Slovenian pavilion at Expo 2016 in Milan<\/a>, I’ve been more aware of the country’s slogan, “I Feel Slovenia<\/strong>” – heavily promoted on the back of buses in Florence<\/a>. The country is committed to “going forward with nature… focusing on organic development, promoting a niche economy, welcoming diversity and attracting the best technological and human potential.” They say that “Slovenia cannot be presented with a simple image, we have to feel and sense Slovenia<\/strong> \u2013 with words, sounds, colours, touch, actions and experience.” (source<\/a>) The modern brand, presented on an appropriately young green background, really does encompass the Slovenian experience<\/strong>. This is not a country with a series of historical must-sees (like neighbouring Italy), but rather one to be experienced through its diversity and through encounter with its inhabitants. In this, the BigBerry experience is right in line with what the country wants to promote.<\/p>\n

\"Slovenia
Slovenia is a feeling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we literally drove across the whole country arriving to BigBerry from Florence, we spotted top tourist attraction \u0160kocjan caves<\/strong>, a UNESCO<\/strong> Heritage site that contains the largest known underground canyon in the world. We passed by Ljubljana<\/strong>, and I said “too bad we won’t get to visit” since we just had a few days. Little did I realize that everything is pretty close by: although BigBerry is accessed through a very green road that winds through woods and small towns, the next day we took a day-trip to the capital, just an hour and fifteen minutes’ drive from camp.<\/p>\n

Easygoing Ljubljana<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Ljubljana
Ljubljana seen from the castle above the city<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ljubljana<\/strong> is the capital city, with some 300k inhabitants and a university, but you’d never know it – on a summer’s day, streets were pleasantly uncrowded, and stunningly clean. Coming over from chaotically crowded and perennially filthy Florence, these two refreshing facts suddenly hit me as I realized I felt unstressed and happy there. (Apparently it’s also very safe.) The city’s clear layout and infrastructure is due to its modern construction: hit by an earthquake on Easter Sunday of 1895, it was entirely rebuilt in subsequent decades, leaving only the shell of its castle<\/strong>, from which you can view the city below.<\/p>\n

Much of the way the city looks can be owed to the architect <\/strong>Jo\u017ee Ple\u010dnik<\/strong>, whose earlier works are in the Art Nouveau style (in this neck of the woods it’s called Seccession like in Vienna, and in fact he worked in Vienna and Prague); in the 1930s, he innovated stylistically with the more modern, block-like National University Library<\/strong>, built from the ruins of the old library and whose reading room beautifully integrates furniture with an architecture in a way that recalls Michelangelo’s Laurentian Library<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
The reading room of the National University Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The city’s main square is accessed by three iconic bridges<\/strong> designed in 1929 by the same Ple\u010dnik, a solution that was cheaper than expanding the older single bridge when car traffic became heavy in the 1920s. The square<\/strong> itself is dedicated to a poet, France Pre\u0161eren<\/b> (whose statue shows him inspired by a nude muse that offended members of the church across the square), while the city’s dedication to the arts continues to be made manifest nearby with the facade of the university music faculty that displays busts of its many composers and musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Friday
Friday night at the streetfood event<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like any cold-weather country, Slovenians really come out as soon as it gets warm<\/strong> enough. Ljubljana’s pedestrian-only historical center (with an adorable on-call, free electric bus service) is lined with bustling sidewalk caf\u00e9s. In the summertime, every Friday there’s a street food festival that is packed from noon to midnight. The vibe is chill, green and modern.<\/p>\n

The Slovenia of the Future<\/h2>\n

Outside of the “big city”, most of my exploration was closer to “home” in the country’s south-eastern corner, a rather isolated region called Bela Krajina<\/a><\/strong>. When I encountered some bloggers from Ljubljana, they said they’d never been here (despite the apparent proximity) and never really considered this area as a place to visit. Indeed, its mostly agricultural industry and the peoples’ odd habit of decorating Easter-eggs year-round doesn’t necessarily beckon a visit. There are no must-sees here, other than the Kolpa River (more on that later). But that is what makes it appealing: smack in the middle of Europe, there’s an area that still maintains a feeling of isolation, while actually being both connected and forward-looking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The bee huts of Cebelarstvo Veseli\u010d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The brilliance of the people in this area shines when you get a look into some of the cottage industries<\/strong> they have built up, either from tradition, or through innovation. For example, we visited the honey bee farm<\/strong> of a jovial man named Cebelarstvo Veseli\u010d<\/strong> in Metlika. His home and small wooded property – with neighbours not far off – is also where he raises bees… 30 million of them, to be exact. The property is planted with various trees and bushes to attract and feed the buzzing beasts, who then deposit the goods in an assortment of hive types – ranging from the traditional Slovenian protected hut to the new pan-European style self-standing boxes. A normal production for each bee family (and he has 300) is 20 to 50 kilos every three weeks, but he tells us that this year’s cold Spring caused sluggish, hungry bees who are now producing only 50-70% less than usual, so it’s not going to be a good year. A third generation beekeeper,\u00a0Veseli\u010d hopes that his three sons will carry on the family business, and mentions to our cute blonde American companion that he’s looking for a wife for them. She politely declines. Beekeeping is a strong tradition<\/strong> here in Bela Krajina, it seems, since everywhere we go, there’s information about it.<\/p>\n

[The video below is a somewhat silly “movie trailer” I made here]<\/em><\/p>\n