Slovenia is a small country (2 million) on the Adriatic sea. It was a part of Yugoslavia until June 1991 when it became a separate country. It is part of the EU and uses the Euro for currency.
Koper is the only port city in Slovenia which only has 29 miles of coast line. It is a very old town. We were there on a holiday. It is only 5 miles from the Italian boarder and Italian and Slovene are the official languages. It has a long and rich history.
We wandered into the town before our excursion and were pleasantly surprised at its charm. A square with a church and a bell tower, lots of narrow streets some of which were filled with shops and cafes.
We walked into the church and found it full and a service in progress. We knew it was a national holiday, but found out later that it was celebrating the Assumption of Mary. We slipped out the back of the church and retuned later to visit it. Slovenia is predominately Catholic and judging from the size of the crowd they are practicing Catholics.
Because it was a holiday, the town was filled with locals spending the day in Koper and the cruise tourists. Below are some pictures from our walk through the town.
The narrow streets were busy with people enjoying the beautiful day.
Not a typical menu. Leading into the main square.
Our excursion took us to the Lipica Stud Farm, the home of the Lipizzaner horses. We had a 45 minutes bus ride with a fascinating guide who told us all about the country side and Slovenia.The farm has 800 acres with a hotel, a casino, a golf course, pastures and stables. It is a leading training center for dressage horses and riders. We had a guided tour where we saw the stables and heard the history of the farm and its current status. The highlight of our time was an hour show where we were treated to the horses and their capabilities.
They are massive horses, and very friendly.
Passage step. Standing on rear legs for several seconds.
Passage: A very collected trot, in which the horse has great elevation of stride and seems to pause between each stride (it has a great amount of suspension in the stride). A higher degree of collection causes a definite shift of impulsion to the hindquarters. "An understanding of load distribution between forelimbs and hindlimbs in relation to different riding techniques is vital to prevent wear-and-tear on the locomotor apparatus”. From Wikipedia.
A line of hoses executing a half-pass.
Half-pass: A movement where the horse goes on a diagonal, moving sideways and forward at the same time, while bent slightly in the direction of movement.
A short movie of the horses in action. Be patient while it loads.
It was fun show and a good day. But is was good to return to our home away from home.