OR, The “Rest of the Story” Behind My Attendance at the Slovenia-Romania World Cup soccer game, November 2001 International sport is a passion of mine, and has been since the time I witnessed the Brazil-Cameroon match at Stanford Stadium…
Slovakia
At a time when several former Soviet republics turned violent (such as Yugoslavia), the former Czechoslovakia also divided, but completely peacefully. Born were the Czech Republic (or “Czechia”) and the Slovak Republic or Slovakia, created with only one point of contention…
Bratislava, Slovakia
As western tourists have steadily flocked eastward to the former Warsaw Pact nations, the likes of Budapest and Prague — two capital cities — are the most common destinations. But sandwiched in between is another capital with an equally rich…
Trnava, Slovakia
My visit to Trnava was on the train ride back to Bratislava after visiting Trenčín. Located just thirty minutes away from Bratislava, Trnava (ter-NAH-va) was touted by the Slovakian tourism center as a nice excursion from the capital and not too…
Trenčín, Slovakia
Trenčín (TRENCH-een) was one of the neatest little discoveries I ever made in my travels (this was true when I originally wrote this blog post in 2001 and remains true as of the 2017 update). This pristine little Slovakian town…
Slovenia
The Yahoo! Travel site once describe Slovenia as the darling of Yugoslavia that got away. Slovenia was the first country to declare independence from Yugoslavia after the Cold War, and was fortunate only to have fought a ten-day limited conflict, as…
Bled, Slovenia
The Julian Alps dominate the northern half of Slovenia. It is a region loaded with mountains, rivers, and lakes — breathtaking scenery. Compared with other Alpine locales, Slovenia is less renowned and less expensive, though word is spreading rapidly. With the…
Lesce, Slovenia
It is tempting to hit Slovenia’s main attractions, like Ljubljana, Bled, the Školjan Caves, or Koper. But in doing so, one might miss the flavor of the beauty of the rest of Slovenia… found in the simpler environment of a small town. …
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ljubljana (lyoo-blee-YANN-uh, also loo- or lib-) has been around since ancient times — first as the Roman city of Emona over 3000 years ago. Situated around a tight bend in the Ljubljanica River and near its junction with the Sava,…
World Cup 2002 Qualifying Playoff — Slovenia vs. Romania, played in Ljubljana
Nearly all travelers have experiences that stand out among all others as a favorite. Mine seems to change each time I go somewhere new, but the opportunity to be present as a new country achieved its first-ever World Cup Soccer…