‘Beautiful Slovenia: A Slavic Microcosm of Optimism and Resilience’
‘Beautiful Slovenia: A Slavic Microcosm of Optimism and Resilience’ by Dr Adrian Jones, OAM
Good things come in small (sturdy) parcels. Good places seldom boast. Slovenia is both: modest and marvellous. A small country, Slovenia is a borderland of verdant valleys, lakes, caves, and escarpments. The best of Roman, Venetian, Balkan, Austrian and Hungarian heritages combine here, all filtered by the canny resilience and pragmatism of Slovenia’s 2 million (West Slavic) people. Fresh-aired, gourmand and sociable, no place in Slovenia is distant. Slovenia is a quiet, creative and youthful country, distrusting the bullying and bluster of past empires run by Romans, Venetians, Viennese, or Yugoslavs.
Dr Adrian Jones, OAM: a retired Associate Professor of History, and a frequent contributeor to ABC local radio, Adrian is a Harvard graduate and expert in Greek and Russian, Ottoman and Balkan history: ancient, medieval, modern. He leads ASA tours of the Balkans, especially both Macedonias and Albania, Romania and Slovenia-Croatia.
Adrian leads the following ASA tours:
- Romania Revealed: Saxon Villages, Transylvanian Cities and Byzantine Monasteries: 20 May – 2 June 2026
- Slovenia: Villages, Castles, Vineyards, Scenic Valleys and the Julian Alps: 3 – 20 September 2026
- Along the Via Egnatia: Macedonia, Albania and Corfu: 27 September – 14 October 2025
- Istanbul in Depth: Your ‘Most Pleasant and lasting Dream’: 9 – 22 September 2025 and 22 September – 5 October 2026