Krupa, Slovenia

Next is an official card I received from Slovenia - which is really cool since I dont often receive official cards from Slovenia, making it number 32 on the ranking list of countries on my official site
Number one is of course, Germany :)

SI - 179213

Now this is exactly the kind of place I would like to retreat to right now, away from everything and everyone for a while, just enjoy the nature, the fresh air, the sound of birds, and good books. No phone, no internet, no postcards... nothing... just me, myself and I :)

As for the card, it shows the springs of River Krupa, a 2.5 km river in southeastern Slovenia.
The river is protected as a natural monument and has been included in the Natura 2000 ecological network however, it is infamous because of its extremely high pollution with PCBs due to improper handling of PCB waste material which has been used for decades by the capacitor manufacturing company XYZ - will leave the actual name out, i dont wanna be prosecuted for name shaming cos, nowadays you just cant be sure where a thing you had said on the internet will take you to, haha!

the cute birdy stamp is from a set of 5 fauna stamps issued in 2014, showing a cute small falcon called lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)

Savica Waterfall, Slovenia

A great card coming from Sean and his recent trip to Slovenia.

Bohinj is one of those places in Slovenia you probably can never get tired of...it has its beauty spots just all around it! The Savica waterfall/spring is one of those beauty spots. It runs over a 38 m long level and falls almost 51 m in depth and is considered as one of the most famous and most beautiful waterfall in the country.

On a side note, since I've already written and written about Bohinj before, you can check out this cool post by Sean, called, "10 Random Observations About Slovenia" on Gadling. Seems that number 6 is something really more like a habit on the Balkans, which foreigners find amusing...and I don't know if Italians find it appalling actually :)
And later, just click on Sean's name, and it will take you to all his other posts about his travels...there is something for everyone;s interest and entertainment :)

I guess you know the flower stamp from 2007, showing the Saw-wort :)

thanks sooo much again Sean!!

Slovenia

as for my last post today, ive chosen these two Slovenian map cards I had received time time ago...but finally they see the light of the day here. I wont go much into details, coz there are a LOT of details...Ill just briefly give you a summary of whats on them.

this first map card was sent by dear Tina and here apart from the map, you have a dozen of small pictures as well, where you can see as follows:  the Triglav mountain, Bled, Ljubljana, Rogla, Maribor, Bohinj, Moravske Toplice, Ankaran, Rogaška Slatina, Radenci, Izola, Portorož, Jeruzalem, Slovenska obala, Piran, Koper, Terme Čatež and Olimje

as you can clearly see from the cancellation, the card was sent back in 2009.  the stamp was also issued that year, showing the Lovrenc Lakes on Pohorje

the other map card, which is more of the picturesque kind, was sent by dear Tanja as a surprise. here you can see a lot of landmarks all throughout the country, as well as some of the activities you can do in that part. Id love to go and fly with an air-balloon for example....and you?

hope you are having a nice relaxing Sunday...and wishing you a nice week ahead as well :)

Tolminka, Slovenia

Getting an official card from someone you know is always a treat! Plus I dont get official cards from Slovenia very often, so it was even a greater pleasure :)

SI-51872

This one arrived from Leon (the Lionheart). That one always makes me think of Richard the Lionheart, the English king.

This card was also in my favourites and shows the bed of the Tolminka river, in the Julian Alps. Did you know that this river contains all species of trout and river bull-head? Had to google for the latter since I've never heard of it. But well, if you are into fishing, you may want to relax by the Tolminka sometimes...   

The Slovenians say there used to be more fish than water in this almost forgotten short and steep river. If im not mistaken, its length is around 10km.

and Leon used a fantastic s/s issued in 2011, commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Post Office Brass Band. the other stamp is from the set of 17 flowers' stamps issued in 2007...here is the Adriatic Lizard Orchid.
I need to check if i maybe have managed to receive all these Slovenian flowers' stamps :)

Nova Gorica, Slovenia

A great card from Slovenia showing Nova Gorica and the Solkanski Bridge...

I love these type of bridges, high over rivers or crevasses or canyons, esp, when trains are also able to pass...this is a 220-metre long stone bridge over the river Soča in Western Slovenia. With an arch span of 85 metres it is the second longest stone arch in the world and the longest stone arch among train bridges. It was built in the time of the Secession, between 1900 and 1906 Solkan also represents the last stone bridge constructed in the world, because the first large concrete bridges were already on the horizon.

Of course, it had had its sufferings and reconstructions during the wars....but nowadays, it offers a simply fantastic view to bee seen!

a flower stamp from 2007 from a set of 17, showing the Saw-wort.

thanks a lot to Ivana for this fantastic card!

Slovenia

Dear Tanja from Slovenia sent me this lovely surprise with one of her letters!

The card shows a steam museum train 25-026, property of Slovenian Railways (Slovenske Železnice), manufactured in Vienna in 1920.
Not much written information can be found about it, but thats why there are some videos so Ill share those with you instead....enjoy :)

Predjamski Grad, Slovenia

Leon sent me this card coz he saw it in my favourites...and it is a really really great one!!

Predjamski Grad is a Castle, whose name literally means 'castle in front of a cave'...and indeed, half of this castle is built into the cave!

The castle became known as the seat of Knight Erazem Lueger (or Luegger), owner of the castle in 15th century, and a renowned robber baron. He was the son of the Imperial Governor of Trieste, Nikolaj Lueger. According to legend, Erazem came into conflict with the Habsburg establishment, when he killed the commander of the Imperial army Marshall Pappencheim, who had offended the honour of Erazem's deceased friend, Andrej Baumkircher of Vipava. Fleeing from the revenge of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, Erazem settled in the family fortress of Predjama. He allied himself with the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus, and started to attack Habsburg estates and towns in Carniola, turning into some kind of local Robin Hood.
The Imperial forces sent the Governor of Trieste, Andrej Ravbar, to siege the castle. After a long siege, Erazem was betrayed by one of his men and killed.

A secret natural shaft leads out of the castle, which Erazem ordered to be enlarged, and leads into Postojna Cave. This shaft allowed Erazem to secretly supply the castle with food in the time of the siege; he also used it to continue with his robberies

the stamp on the left has been issued this year, showing the National costume from Prekmurje region...the other two stamps are definitives from a set of 17 stamps issued in 2008

Triglav, Slovenia + Contest ;)

A fantastic card from Slovenia, showing the summit of the Triglav mountain, at 2864m...

And here you can also see the Aljaž Tower. This tower is a landmark of Slovenia and a symbol of Slovenehood and it also presents a storm shelter on Triglav.
When you tell me about Triglav, the first thing that ALWAYS comes to my mind is this song dating back from the times of Yugoslavia...and there was this line in it, "od Vardara pa do Triglava", or "from Vardar to Triglav", meaning the southern landmark and the northern landmark from former Yugoslavia...

So here comes the contest time....this is the song, where maybe you wont understand the lyrics but you can at least enjoy the pictures showing different sites from all parts of Yugoslavia


Now, your task is...how many of them can you identify? How many places from Macedonia can you recognize? :) The person with the most right guesses regarding the Macedonian sites, will get a written and stamped postcard from me....I know it may be a tough contest, but maybe you can dig among your cards or some found at other people's blogs to help you...so there you go....the contest will be open for a while....i cant make an exact promise, but I will give you enough time to do the searching and exploring ;)
In case of more people having the most correct answers, the winner will be the first one who had posted his or her answers.

Good Luck ;)

and two nice stamps here..the big one on the right is from this year, representing National costume from Prekmurje region, while the other one is from a set of 11 flower definitives, issued in 2009

Bohinj, Slovenia

I dont know why all the cards showing Bohinj have to be sooo breathtaking!

You can make a quick comparison with my two other Bohinj cards, here and here.
And this card itself is also so outstanding coz of its panoramic view....ahh, fantastisch!
It is said that compared to Bled, Bohinj is not so crowded with tourists and the atmosphere here is very peaceful and tranquil....just perfect for someone like me who hates crowds.

and some very lovely stamps as well....both issued in 2009. The blue one is a greeting stamp, called "Kiss", while the yellow one is from an issue of 4 Fauna stamps and this one shows a Stag Beetle.

Škocjan Caves, Slovenia

Here comes a UNESCO site. And it may sound ironic, but it took this long for me (in my entire postcard collecting career) to get this UNESCO site from Slovenia...and i owe it all to Vesna

Due to their exceptional significance, the Škocjan Caves were entered on UNESCO’s list of natural and cultural world heritage sites in 1986. International scientific circles have thus acknowledged the importance of the Caves as one of the natural treasures of planet Earth.

Ranking among the most important caves in the world, the Škocjan Caves represent the most significant underground phenomena in both the Karst region and Slovenia.
Archaeological research has shown that people lived in the caves and the surrounding area in prehistoric times – from the Mesolithic, the Neolithic, the Bronze and Iron Ages through Antiquity and the Middle Ages to the present; altogether for more than 5,000 years. The finds from this area testify that the Škocjan Caves had not only local but regional importance in prehistoric times.

I so much love such neat and clear cancellations! The stamp is from 2009, showing The Lovrenc Lakes on Pohorje.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

This is my first, and so far only official from Slovenia

SI-15671

what I insanely love about this card is the choice of the sender...coz on this card you can actually see the monument of France Prešern...I think its not hard to guess why i so much appreciate the sender's choice here...apart from that, you can also see the Three Bridges with the Franciscan church and the Šmalc (former Hauptman) House.
I dont know if i had shared this with you before.
As some of you may know, Skopje suffered a disastrous earthquake in 1963, 26th of July..the city was immensly destroyed and many areas had to be rebuilt from the scratch, since around 80% of the city were destroyed. Many countries from all over the world (78 to be precise) gave their hand to help us, to rebuild the city, to find shelter and food for the homeless ones. All the  countries from former Yugoslavia helped as well...and the area where I live now, was helped by Slovenia....so hence the certain Slovenian distinctions.
As for France Prešern, he was one of Slovenia's greatest poets, and I hope Ill have a chance to talk of him more in depth with some other card.

the stamp is from the flowers set of 17 stamps issued in 2007, with this one showing the Saw-wort.

Gornja Radgona, Slovenia

My last card for today comes from Tanja, my Slovenian penpal...

Which reminds me that i still owe her a letter....and to a number of others as well...uhmm, well, it was even worse, but i did move from the dead point...and now i still have a bunch to reply to...but im not sure im in the right mood for it right now...speaking of it...i want to say thanks to the ones who got concerned about how i am....even though i just know you virtually, its really nice to know that someone out there, over hills and oceans and mountains cares....you all know who you are :)
I know that this is a postcard blog and i shouldnt be maybe rambling about all the mess thats going inside my head sometimes...but then again...i cant just stick to facts and figures about cards and whats on them...on the other hand i dont feel like writing every single detail of my life here publicly...so this mixed ranting somehow feels right for me...and yeah, this blog is one of the rare things that keep me sane...really...it may not solve my problems, but it does make me feel good to do it, and it does make me drift away from reality, at least for a while...and gives me some inner comfort...even for a bit...and well...this is a way to get to know me somehow as well i guess and that apart from sharing My World Of Postcards, i also share some bits and pieces of My Own World as well....
And here, once again i used a card to rant about something totally else....but i just wanted to say Thank You before i close the update for today.

the stamps was issued in March this year, showing the Carthusian Monastery Zice, under the theme of Religions and Beliefs (Christianity).

till next time...

Maribor, Slovenia

A really nice aerial view i received from Staša, as a result of some mini meeting they had, about which i had no idea until i found this card in my mailbox...a really really nice surprise :)

I kept thinking what was that which Maribor reminds me about...i knew it had to do with sports and skiing was going through my mind (Slovenia as a country, reminds me of skiing when you mention sports) and i was right...Maribor is the host of the women's slalom and giant slalom races for the Alpine Skiing World Cup, known as the Golden Fox (or Zlata Lisica).
Something else you might wanna know? It is the second largest city in Slovenia, and to me, always sounded more appealing than Ljubljana..and due to the skiing, ive always came across Maribor more often than Ljubljana, so i just feel more familiar with it.
Ok, i knew there had to be some famous person coming from Maribor and i was convinced it would be Bojan Križaj, but turns out that Danilo Türk (Slovenia's President) is actually a native Maribor guy...

I think that as a country, Slovenia issues really lovely stamps, esp. those Flora/Fauna related. These two are just a proof of it. They belong to a set of 17 definitives from the Flowers of Slovenia series. The stamp on the left shows the Adriatic Lizard Orchid, while the other one shows a Yellow Lady's Slipper. One thing i need to find out is what the letters on the Slovenian stamps mean (here you have 'B'..but you can also see A, C, D....) Just curious...

Kras, Slovenia

Here is a card that i got as a total surprise from Staša in Slovenia...something totally new in my collection regarding my Slovenian cards and im really happy coz of that.

There is just a small funny thing regarding this card....when i received it, i actually misread Kraš instead of Kras....i know to most of you it will make no difference, but to me it got confusing...when i read Kraš, the first thing that came to my mind was, Oh the chocolate factory!! (ok, the confectionery factory, but chocolate is the first thing that comes to my mind when you mention it). And then I read Slovenia, and then something felt weird coz i couldnt relate Kraš to Slovenia, in my head something kept saying, wasnt Kraš in Croatia??!! But funny enough, i still didnt really grasp the thing...until my mum actually said it was Kras, and that its a place in Slovenia, and that it has nothing to do with the Croatian factory...yeah, embarrasing i know...i guess that my mind just totally blew when i thought of chocolate :))))))
I mean, i doubt that a Kraš postcard actually exists in the first place....but whenever i think about it, all those Kraš products bring back such nice memories...well, they still exist here, and i still love Dorina and the Zivotinjsko Carstvo chocolates (i collect those, in case someone wants to exchange pictures :P) and then Kiki, Bronhi, Petit Beurre and the one and only Bajadera....its just that this last one got too expensive...but its sooo damn delicious...mmmmmmm
Another, totally astray post....

Bohinj, Slovenia

I think that the weather outside inspired me to post this card today. Well, its FAAAAR from beautiful as it is on the card, but its cold and snowy....yesterday during work, i went to the near market to get some chocolate...everything was normal...after like 5 minutes when i left the market, there was a blizzard! I absolutely love snow, just that there was way too much wind and it was howling at my face and it just felt extremely cold...as it did this morning....well, if possible, i would like to have mooooree snow with leeess wind...i just cant figure out this changeable weather here...

This card definitely proves that Slovenia has MAGNIFICENT places and MAGNIFICENT postcards!!! Well, honestly, there are many amazing places in Macedonia as well, just that unfortunately they either arent featured on a postcard at all or they arent presented in a nice way...but Slovenia, ah, Slovenia...places like Bohinj and Bled are breathtaking!
And the sender, Leonardo, gave a great story on the back of the card, which i will share with you...

Bohinj is an Alpine valley and a municipality in the north-west Slovenia, in the Julian Alps which were named after Julius Caesar. It is recognizable by its periglacial lake, lake Bohinj. The name Bohinj originates from the word 'Boh', an informal word meaning "God". (ok, i dont know how it is in most of the other Slavic languages, but in Macedonian, we also have the word "Bog" for "God"). Anyway, the myth says that when God was giving the land to the people, he forgot about a small group. Because they were silent, modest and patient, he felt pity for them. That's why he decided to give them the most beautiful land of them all, which he spared for himself - Bohinj.

Myths always make an interesting read...   

Borovnica, Slovenia

And I'll close this update of course with the last one of the republics and that is Slovenia...
Slovenia went thru a 10 day war upon its independence proclamation and eventually took the part of the winner in it. It was supposed to declare its independence the 26th June 1990, but it made a move and did it one day earlier, and i guess all this was the reason for the conflict, which was expected to happen either way.
Out of all the Yugoslav republics, Slovenia is the most prosperous and most modernized one. In a great part this is due to its closeness to other highly developed countries like Austria and Italy and either way, while during history Macedonia was under the Ottoman Empire while Slovenia was under the Habsburg Monarchy (Austro-Hungarian) and lets face it, that plays a great deal as well

Anyway....as for the postcard, if it wasnt for it, i wouldnt have known that in Slovenia, there is a place called Borovnica. It wouldnt have caught my attention, unless in Macedonian, Borovnica actually means blueberry...so it seems kinda cute :)
I dont know about you, but i have a big problem regarding those berries in English...raspberry, blueberry, gooseberry, cranberry, blackberry...so many berries :) Thank God someone called the pomegranate a pomegranate...i couldnt have managed with another berry there : p

And those were the good old days of Yugoslavia...I miss them : /

Ljubljana, Slovenia (02)

An old card, 1975 to be precise, sent to my grandparents from my father when he was serving the army...

Did you know that Queen Elizabeth II is paying a visit to Slovenia these days? Yup, thats right :)
And its her first visit to the country since its independence in 1991...i guess its a real honour for the Slovenians ....

Bohinj, Slovenia

I definitely think that Bohinj is one of the most beautiful and a must-visit spots in Slovenia

Bohinj is an alpine valley and a municipality in north-west of Slovenia, in the Julian Alps.
It is recognizable by the lake Bohinj which is the largest permanent lake in Slovenia. It is 4.2 km long and 1 km at its maximum width. It is a glacial lake dammed by a moraine.

The nature is just beautiful....along with Bled, Bohinj makes it as one of the top favourite places in Slovenia for me...

Radenci, Slovenia

No no, it aint a stamp....its a real postcard indeed!  How cool is this!
I love this postcard in the shape of a stamp, plus as well, cancelled as a real stamp! I just dont know why my scanner didnt want to cooperate and insisted on NOT to scan the bottom part of the postcard which as well has the stamp-shape.

The municipality of Radenci is well known for the mineral water sources and spa. It is so well known that the name of the mineral water (adjective form of the community name - Radenska) was a general usual name for mineral water probably in the whole former Yugoslavia. The symbol of the mineral water are three red hearts, but that commercial symbol was not used in the municipal symbols.

I actually remember that mineral water...

Boka, Slovenia

mmmm, and some nice nature for the end....


This is Boka, a beautiful waterfall in Slovenia, which is the highest one there, with the overall height of 144m. and the tallest single drop of 106m. A subterranean river out of a cave entrance in a high limestone cliff face produces this waterfall. It is typical for a karst spring, that the amount of water depends very much on the season.

Its interesting if you make a comparison to the Niagara Falls....but ill leave that up to you, in case you are interested :)

Im off to the spaghetti thing :)