Bled, Slovenia

Slovenia seems like SUCH a beautiful country, it would be wonderful to get to visit it one day. A Finnish friend of mine, Keiju, got to visit it earlier this summer and treated me to this GLORIOUS postcard (the top one; the second one is from a swap with Europa stamps). Apparently it's always raining at Bled! Just look at these stunning views, though!

Lake Bled  is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a tourist destination. The lake is 35 km from Ljubljana International Airport and 55 km from the capital city, Ljubljana. The lake is of mixed glacial and tectonic origin. It is 2,120 m long and 1,380 m wide, with a maximum depth of 29.5 m, and it has a small island. The lake lies in a picturesque environment, surrounded by mountains and forests. Medieval Bled Castle stands above the lake on the north shore and has a museum. The Zaka Valley lies at the west end of the lake. The World Rowing Championships in 1966, 1979, 1989, and 2011 were held at Lake Bled.

The lake surrounds Bled Island (Blejski otok). The island has several buildings, the main one being the pilgrimage church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary (Cerkev Marijinega vnebovzetja), built in its current form near the end of the 17th century, and decorated with remains of Gothic frescos from around 1470 in the presbyterium and rich Baroque equipment. The church has a 52 m tower and there is a Baroque stairway dating from 1655 with 99 stone steps leading up to the building. The church is frequently visited and weddings are held there regularly. Traditionally it is considered good luck for the groom to carry his bride up the steps on the day of their wedding before ringing the bell and making a wish inside the church.

^The stamp on Keiju's card. We were both wondering if this is a real stamp as the image is so blurry?!?

^...and the stamps on the second card. How beautiful are they?! Once again I'm annoyed at the Royal Mail for not issuing a Europa stamp this year. Why, WHY are they not interested in participating??

Maribor, Slovenia

Just one more card for today. This one is from dear Ana from her holidays in December last year. Maribor certainly looks lovely and cosy! I'm looking forward to sending some holiday cards in October as well. :) I also have two days holiday next month - my sister is coming to London so I'll go see her (I just need to book train or coach tickets and accommodation now...). I don't think I'll send any postcards from London though. :P I'm more looking forward to meeting my sister again as I haven't seen her for quite a while.

Maribor is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor.

Ljubljana, Slovenia

This is such an amazing view, I love this card! Ljubljana looks really idyllic anyway, and then you have this amazing light here. This card had been in my favourites for a while so I was really happy when Nusa offered to swap with me. ...and she used the Slovenian Postcrossing stamp on the card, too!

Ljubljana is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. During antiquity, it was the site of a Roman city called Emona. It was under Habsburg rule from the Middle Ages until the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918.

 Situated at the middle of a trade route between the northern Adriatic Sea and the Danube region, it was the historical capital of Carniola, a Slovene-inhabited part of the Habsburg Monarchy, and it has been the cultural, educational, economic, political, and administrative center of independent Slovenia since 1991. Its central geographic location within Slovenia, transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific and research institutions and cultural tradition are contributing factors to its leading position.

The city's architecture is a mix of styles. Despite the appearance of large buildings, especially at the city's edge, Ljubljana's historic center remains intact. Although the oldest architecture has been preserved from the Roman period, Ljubljana's downtown got its outline in the Middle Ages. After the 1511 earthquake, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style following Italian, particularly Venetian, models. After the quake in 1895, it was once again rebuilt, this time in the Vienna Secession style, which today is juxtaposed against the earlier Baroque style buildings that remain. Large sectors built in the inter-war period often include a personal touch by the architects Jože Plečnik and Ivan Vurnik. In the second half of the 20th century, parts of Ljubljana were redesigned by Edvard Ravnikar.

Greetings from Slovenia

Today's 'greetings from' postcard comes from Slovenia. I actually ended up with two of these. :D Well, it IS very pretty, the views in Slovenia look pretty amazing!

So there will be new countries to the series again soon... I'm going to have to give up trying to get them all sent from country of origin; there's no way I could find anyone from Tajikistan, and probably not from Pakistan either. I mean, I don't have a single postcard from Tajikistan so far, so how likely would it be to get this one sent from there?? I'll just get a blank one I think...

Mateja, who sent back my card, pointed out that Slovenia is the only country in the world with the world 'love' in the name. I quite like that! :) The other copy I received is from a swap with Kristijan who tells me that there are at least 48 dialects and subdialects in 7 dialect groups in Slovenia. Pretty impressive! I wonder how difficult it is to understand the different dialects...?!

Novo Mesto, Slovenia

This is from a swap from earlier this year. I was so happy when Mateja offered to send me the Slovenian Year of the Sheep/Goat stamp. :) I do still miss quite a few countries in my Year of the Sheep stamp collection, but it's pretty decent anyway.

Novo Mesto is the city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered the economic and cultural centre of the historical Lower Carniola region.

Today, tourism is increasing in Slovenia, and Novo Mesto is feeling some of the effects. The Krka Valley is becoming a place for wine enthusiasts who take tours throughout the Lower Carniola region, tasting locally produced Cviček wine, which is produced by blending several different varieties of local wine.

Bohinj, Slovenia

Just a small update for today as I'll have to go out soon. Today's first card is another postcard I've received through 'Postcard United' (with the ID 'SVN-15'), a lovely view from Slovenia. I'm not entirely sure but I might have received the same postcard before through Postcrossing. I never posted it here, though, so here's the most recent one.

Bohinj is a 20 km long and 5 km wide basin within the Julian Alps, in the Upper Carniola region of northwestern Slovenia. It is traversed by the Sava Bohinjka river. Its main feature is the periglacial Lake Bohinj. Bohinj is part of the Municipality of Bohinj, the seat of which is Bohinjska Bistrica.

The Julian Alps are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps that stretch from northeastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m at Mount Triglav, the highest peak in Slovenia and of the former Yugoslavia. They are named after Julius Caesar, who founded the municipium of Cividale del Friuli at the foot of the mountains. A large part of the Julian Alps is included in Triglav National Park. The second highest peak of the range, the 2,775m high Jôf di Montasio, lies in Italy. The Julian Alps cover an estimated 4,400 km² (of which 1,542 km² lies in Slovenia). They are located between Sava valley and Kanalska Dolina. They are divided into the Eastern and Western Julian Alps. 

Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Something a little different now.. This is one of the only postcards of Nepal I have. Sadly it wasn't mailed directly from Nepal, but you can't have everything I suppose.. and the Slovenian stamps on this card are lovely!

Chitwan National Park is the first national park in Nepal. Formerly called Royal Chitwan National Park it was established in 1973 and granted the status of a World Heritage Site in 1984. It covers an area of 932 km2 and is located in the subtropical Inner Terai lowlands of south-central Nepal in the Chitwan District. In altitude it ranges from about 100 metres in the river valleys to 815 metres in the Churia Hills.

In the north and west of the protected area the Narayani-Rapti river system forms a natural boundary to human settlements. Adjacent to the east of Chitwan National Park is Parsa Wildlife Reserve, contiguous in the south is the Indian Tiger Reserve Valmiki National Park. The coherent protected area of 2,075 km2 represents the Tiger Conservation Unit (TCU) Chitwan-Parsa-Valmiki, which covers a 3,549 km2 huge block of alluvial grasslands and subtropical moist deciduous forests.

Čatež, Slovenia

Postcards from Slovenia are always very welcome in my collection - I don't have too many and it looks like SUCH a beautiful country. I did actually receive an official card from there last week and might post about it later (I received the same card from a friend a little earlier this year, what an interesting coincidence!) but for now, here's a nice multiview (!) I received from a tag not that long ago.



Čatež is the sender's hometown. I couldn't find much info about it, but it appears to be a small town in eastern Slovenia. Doesn't it look pretty?!



The stamp is from a set of 3 stamps issued last year, depicting snakes. The one here shows the Grass Snake.

Bled, Slovenia

More beautiful sceneries, this time from Slovenia. This postcard was sent to me by the lovely Nives, who visited the area recently. I'm jealous! Slovenia is one the most beautiful countries in Europe, and some of the pictures I've seen from there make me think of New Zealand!



Bled is a municipality in northwestern Slovenia in the region of Upper Carniola. The area within the Julian Alps is a popular tourist destination. Bled is known for the glacial Lake Bled, which makes it a major tourist attraction. Perched on a rock overlooking the lake is the iconic Bled Castle. The town is also known in Slovenia for its vanilla-and-cream pastry called kremna rezina or kremšnita.

A small island in the middle of the lake is home to the Assumption of Mary Pilgrimage Church; visitors frequently ring its bell for good luck. Human traces from prehistory have been found on the island. Before the church was built, there was a temple consecrated to Živa, the Slavic goddess of love and fertility. One can get to the island on a traditional wooden row barge called Pletna. The island on Lake Bled has 99 steps. A local tradition at weddings is for the husband to carry his new bride up these steps, during which the bride must remain silent.

Bled Castle is a picturesque white and red castle enclosed by a Romanesque wall with parapets, ramparts, and towers. The current incarnation of the castle dates from the 17th century and was restored in the 1950s.



The card was mailed from Croatia. The stamp was issued in 2005, under the title Croatian cities, this one here being the city of Rijeka.

Piran, Slovenia

SI-23441

Slovenia has always seemed like a very beautiful country to me. It has some truly amazing nature and landscapes, and in some pictures I've seen it looks a bit like New Zealand, which can never be a bad thing. ;) I had previously heard of the Julian Alps, but there is LOTS more to explore besides.

This postcard shows Piran, which is a town and municipality in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. The municipality has 16,758 (2002) inhabitants and covers an area of 46.6 square kilometres. The municipality is bilingual, both Slovene and Italian are official languages. It is also one of Slovenia's major tourist attractions. It does look very, very pretty; not a surprise then that it's one of the sender's favourite postcards from the Slovenian coast!



The stamp on the left is from a set of 17 flower stamps issued in 2007, with this one showing the Dineric Chickweed. The stamp on the right is from a set of 4 flower stamps issued in March 2010, this one showing the Maiden Pink.