Holidays in Slovenia

Absorbing aspects of culture from the countries which share its borders, this compact but strategically placed country sustains a melting pot of customs, adding its own mark to Austrian, Italian and Hungarian traditions. First among these is an ethos of warm hospitality, a quality which goes hand-in-hand with the country's international outlook. Small it may be, just half the size of Switzerland, but insular it certainly isn't. An independent republic since 1991, in the few short years since then it has developed into a successful nation, while cementing ties with Western Europe and becoming a member of the European Union. The Slovene language has resonances of both Croat and Czech, but many Slovenes are multi-lingual, as comfortable with Italian or German as with their native tongue - then happily switching to English, learned as a supplementary language. While most of the population is Roman Catholic, the largest minority religion is Eastern Orthodox - another example of Slovenia's bridge of the east-west divide.

The landscape is as richly varied as the interests of its inhabitants. Slovenia has just 30 miles of coastline on the Mediterranean, enough to contain the ancient port of Piran and the French-flavour seaside town of Portoroz - from where you could sail to Trieste or to Venice. The country's interior spans a spectrum of stunning scenery, from mountain peaks blanketed with snow to densely forested foothills, golden acres of sunflowers, and thousands of species of indigenous flora and fauna - with bears and boars, deer and lynx often seen by wildlife watchers. Slovenia's landscape makes water an art form ... incorporating rushing rivers, cool streams and tumbling cascades, along with the inspirational glacial lakes, Bled and Bohinj. Adorning all this with intriguing architecture may be gilding the lily, but there is a sprinkling of fairy-tale castles and Gothic churches, medieval monasteries and Baroque palaces and clusters of red-roofed whitewashed houses nestled in the folds of the hills.