The Amazing Race 35, Episode 8

Ljubljana (Slovenia) - Postojna (Slovenia) - Piran (Slovenia) - Socerb (Slovenia)

[Congress Square in Ljubljana was the first “pit stop” in Slovenia for The Amazing Race.]

Only time will tell, but the most recent two episodes of The Amazing Race 35 may turn out to have given international tourism to Slovenia its biggest boost since the country became independent for the first time in 1991 — a date that was the answer to a challenge question for the contestants on the reality-TV show last week.

Slovenia is one of those small and relatively little-known countries that figure on few international tourists’ bucket lists, but that routinely exceed the expectations of those who find themselves there for other reasons or as part of larger journeys.

I’m pretty typical: I first went to Slovenia for a week-long conference in Ljubljana, and found myself unexpectedly charmed and wanting to return to explore more of the country.

If you ordered up an unfamiliar but “typical” small Central or Southern European country from central casting, that would be Slovenia.

[Looking up at Castle Hill from the Triple Bridge in the center of Ljubljana.]

Walkable baroque little capital city, with a river running through it? Check. Castle(s) on hill(s)? Check. Mountains? Check. Lakes? Check. Summer and winter sports? Check. Warm-water seacoast? Check. Food? Check. Wine? Check. Value for money? Check.

[Castle Hill from the embankment along the Ljubljanica River.]

Slovenia isn’t a Mouse That Roared micro-state, but it’s the fourth-smallest full member of the European Union in area, after Malta, Luxembourg, and Cyprus. Ljubljana is the third-smallest EU capital city by population. The Amazing Race 35 started this episode in Ljubljana, and with just a few hours of driving visited Slovenia’s tiny bit of coast and finished at the hilltop castle at Socerb (Slovenia), overlooking Trieste (Italy) and the Adriatic Sea.

The Slovene population is quite ethnically homogeneous. Islamophobia is intense —- the first mosque in the country only opened in 2020 — and the Roma are treated as badly as anywhere in the EU. Despite this, Slovenia expresses a distinct and diverse heritage that results from its history and its location between Europe to the north and west (Austria and Italy) and the Slavic lands and peoples to the south and east. “Slovenian” identity incorporates many other cultural and geographic influences.

[Along the Ljubljanica River in the center of Ljubljana.]

Many Slovenians are multi-lingual, speaking German, Italian, and/or English as well as Slovenian. Usage and teaching of Serbo-Croatian — the former national language of Yugoslavia — has declined in Slovenia since the break-up of Yugoslavia, but it’s the language of immigrants from other parts of the former Yugoslavia, partially mutually intelligible with Slovenian and more familiar to older Slovenians.

Today many Slovenians are adamant that they and their country are and always have been European, not Balkan. “We should never have been part of Yugoslavia,” they say, almost as though they would rather have remained part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Slovenia was the first part of Yugoslavia to become independent, and the first former Yugoslav or Warsaw Pact country to become part of the European Union and the Euro zone. But fifty years as part of Yugoslavia left their imprint on Slovenia, including a culture that looks both north and south, many Balkan culinary and other cultural influences, and a strong social-democratic tendency — notably different from the dominant neoconservatism of some Eastern European countries — carried over from Yugoslavia’s “Communism lite”.

Slovenia was and is one of the wealthiest and most industrialized parts of Yugoslavia and the Warsaw Pact, rivaled only by East Germany. That still leaves Slovenia significantly poorer, however, and leaves prices for tourists lower, than in northern and western Europe. Tourism has become a substantial part of the economy, but hasn’t yet overwhelmed the country, especially outside of the summer peak season.

There are no direct flights between North America and Slovenia, but you can make connections to Ljubljana through any major European airline hub. If you aren’t in too much of a hurry, you could fly to Vienna and take a train to Slovenia, as the racers did in the previous episode. Or you could fly to Munich, a larger and more competitive airport that sometimes has significantly lower fares than Vienna.