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WELCOME free of charge for foreign guests, Published on: 16 January 2010, Publisher: Specom d.o.o., p. p. 39, 4240 Radovljica, Responsible Editors: Avgust Mencinger, Bojan Rauh, Contributors: Toni Bogo`alec,Janez Dol`an, Klemen Langus, Bo`ena Ronner, Eva Štravs Podlogar, Mojca Vnu~ec Špacapan, Mirjam @erjav, Translated by: Peter Zupan, Tom Smith, Designed by: Specom d.o.o., Information on advertising: 040 202384, e-mail: bojan.rauh@specom.si, Cover photo: Kranjska Gora (Photo: Archive Local tourist organisation Kranjska Gora).

A WORD FROM THE EDITORS

With a copy of the guide WELCOME to the Alpine-World of Slovenia inyour hands the discovering of the Upper-Gorenjsko region with its sur-roundings and meeting the local people is a child’s play. So do not wasteyour valuable time during your stay in our country. If you are stayinganywhere in the “red” part of Slovenia, the distances to sights are per-fect for one-day trips. Read your copy of the tourist guide Welcome andmake the right decision for your trip. Find a map of Slovenia at thereception of your hotel or in the tourist office. Then put your best footforward because adventures are out there for you to grab them.Wherever you are going to – on foot, by bike, with public transport orin your own car – you will always have a great time.

The pearls of nature, museums, events and meeting people in the north-western part of Slovenia close to Austria and Italy will make your shortstay here unforgettable. We hope that you will be so impressed by thebeauty of the Upper-Gorenjsko region that you will decide to come backin the future or recommend a visit to Slovenia to your friends.

We are glad to be your hosts and want you to feel here just like at home.Welcome!

The Upper-Gorenjsko region, a part in the north-westernSlovenia, is divided into seven municipalities:

- Bled, with its beautiful lake that has an island with a church, a castleon top of a cliff and a parish church below it.

- Radovljica, with its old town centre, which is considered to be themost well-preserved medieval urban core in Slovenia.

- @irovnica, with its Path of Cultural Heritage that winds its waythrough villages, some of which are birthplaces of famous Slovenes.

- Jesenice, characterised by ironworking, which started as early as theMiddle Ages with iron foundries, is now the centre of metallurgy.

- Kranjska Gora, surrounded by the high peaks of the Julian Alps, isa tourist resort, the facilities of which holidaymakers can use thewhole year round.

- Gorje, with the most important natural sight Vintgar, surrounded byample forests and pastures of Me`akla and Pokljuka.

- Bohinj, with the biggest natural lake in Slovenia, lies in the foothillsof the majestic peaks of the Triglav mountain range.

We hope that this newspaper will help our guests experience the soul ofour country, to perceive its beauty and artistic treasures and to get a feelfor its inhabitants.

Destination of Kranjska Gora, an areathat stretches between the villages ofMojstrana and Rate~e, welcomes nu-merous tourists with its divine winterbeauty. And it is not just the skiing offer-ings that attract those who want to spendtheir vacation actively. Cross-country ski-ing, snow-boarders’ park, sledging trails,

night sledging offerings, frozen waterfalls complement theexperience. The Snow-Kindergarten takes care for the youngestguests while the others may enjoy the entertainment and culi-nary offerings on and around the skiing grounds. Our extraor-dinary cuisine is very diverse – it offers a wide range of culi-nary specialities as well as international dishes. In the night-time you may either relax in wellness centres or try out thedrinks in our pub. For those who search an extra dose of adre-naline rush a casino is opened.

Welcome to Kranjska Gora, a sport and fun resort.

Mirjam @erjav, Local tourist organisation Kranjska Gora

KRANJSKA GORA

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KRANJSKA GORA

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EVENTS

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GORJE, BLED

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Near the world-famous touristcentre Bled, only half an hour'swalk north-west towards Mt.Triglav peak and the enormousforests of the plateau Pokljuka,lies the village Gorje. More pre-cisely, Gorje is a composition ofseveral romantic villages.

Among the numerous beatifulnatural sights the best known isSoteska Vintgar (The Vint-gar Gorge). It is a 1.600 mlong gorge of the river Radovna.Several wooden brid-ges lead thevisitors near and over the water-falls, rapids and pool. Poklju{-ka soteska (The PokljukaGorge) is a rocky narrow pas-sage, engraved to the steep edgeof the Pokljuka Plateau. Someparts are 40 - 50 m deep and

very narrow, even up to 1 m.

Shorter trips are possible to theNapoleon Stone in Radovna,the Radovna War Memorial(the village was burnt down in1944), the hill St. Katarinanear the village Zasip and to theStone Woman at Poljane.Those who like mountains canmake a trip from Gorje, acrossRudno polje (Pokljuka) towardsthe Julian Alps. Individual ororganized trips are possible tothe highest peak of Slovenia Mt.Triglav (2.864 m).

The number of private roomsarranged for guests in Gorjecomes to 130. All rooms arenice and confortable.

Text: Jo`e Kuralt

Beatiful natural sights

Julian Alps

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Rodine, Smoku~, Doslov~e, Vrba,Breznica, Zabreznica, Selo,@irovnica, Breg, Moste. Ten vil-lages in the arms of Stol, joined inthe Municipality of @irovnica, arecharacterised by rich culturalheritage and natural beauty ofthe countryside. The area of those villages, the so-called Ka{arija, borders to Austriain the north, to the municipalitiesof Radovljica and Tr`i~ in theeast, to Jesenice in the west andto Bled in the south. In the south the northern moun-tainous world of the Karavankeand the Kamnik-Savinja Alpschanges into the flat part of thecountry, belonging to “De`ela”. Several men, who played crucialroles in the cultural and national

development of Slovenes, left thevillages below Stol for the world:France Pre{eren, Matija ^op,Franc Sale{ki Fin`gar, JanezJalen, Anton Jan{a… Togetherwith other cultural monumentstheir birth houses are a part ofthe Cultural Heritage Path. Youcan walk along the Path, cycle ortake a horse-drawn carriage. Inthe mountain and flat world ofKa{arija there are ample opportu-nities to enjoy hiking, cycling orhorse riding. @irovnica is close tothe tourist centre of Bled,medieval Radovljica and sportsairfield of Lesce. It is 60 km tothe capital city of Slovenia, 10 kmfrom the border with Austria (theKaravanke) and 40 km from theborder with Italy (Tarvisio).

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BOHINJ

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RADOVLJICA

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Apart from the lively old town of Radovljica, other parts ofthe municipality are also lively during winter and the firstmonths of spring. The Linhart square invites you with itswintery charm to visit the museums, galleries or to drop bythe pubs, which offer you local culinary specialties. On 13thand 14th March you are invited to choral concerts in theBaroque hall in Radovljica Manor.

As soon as there is enough snow (natural or artificial) theski slopes of Krpin and Kamna Gorica are opera-tional. The ski slope of Krpin is also open for night skiing andis very convenient for families with small children, as there isa playground located right next to the slope. Well main-tained cross-country-skiing tracks can be found in theLipni{ka valley and in the surroundings of Radovljica andLesce.

The ice-skating rink in Radovljica’s Sport Park is open allwinter. Indulge in some recreation on ice with a view of the

Julian Alps or in some swim in the indoor swimming poolnearby.

“Fat Thursday” on 11th February, invites you to the pre-Carnival comedy, which will take place at the Radovljicacastle and will include the unveiling of giant beehive panel.This year Carnival Saturday, on 13th February, the tradi-tional carnival procession will again be organized that willend with a mask ball in the baroque hall Baroque hall in Ra-dovljica Manor. The maskers will receive tea and doughnuts.

The first carnival procession through Radovljica was organ-ized 1996. The leaders of the procession are the mayoressand the mayor of the carnival. The special features of theevent are “the lively decorated beehive panels”, with theirtraditional and current motifs and the Carnival band, theLesce Brass Orchestra. Order is kept by the “Zakotar” andthe “kurents” from Ptujsko polje who are always regularguests.

The Krpin skiing centre in Begunje

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The traditions and customs have accompanied theinhabitants of iron forging centres Kropa and KamnaGorica for centuries, passed on from generation togeneration. One of these traditions is the “sendingof lanterns” down the stream of a river on StGregory’s Day. This event has a centuries long tradi-tion and is an important contri-butor to the preserva-tion of cultural and historic heritage of Kropa andKamna Gorica and belongs among the customs,which are connected to the ending of winter and thearrival of spring. In the past, when the settlement waswithout electricity and the sun’s raise failed to reachthe valley for four whole months, the 12th March, thename day of St Gregory, it meant the turnaround inthe lives of the people of Kropa. After this date theyno longer needed artificial light to illuminate theirworkplaces. With the throwing of different burningobjects: old clogs, baskets and hampers they wel-comed in the arrival of the sun and spring.

Today, children make different models out of paper,wood and other materials, place a burning candleinside and then send them down the stream. Creatingthese small decorated lanterns and sending themdownstream is something that generations grew upwith. The lanterns will be cast downstream in theevening of the 11th March, 2010.

A visit of the events, the sporting activities, the walksdown thematic paths, which during winter take up amagical charm or to sit in the company of friends inthe numerous traditional local pubs across the muni-cipality of Radovljica will most certainly leave a ple-asant impression on your memory.

Information: TIC Office Radovljica, Gorenjska 1, ++386 4 531 53 00, Fax: ++386 4 530 07 59, tdradovljica@siol.net, www.radovljica.si

Sending decorated lanterns down the stream inKropa and Kamna Gorica

Skating rink with a view to Julian Alps and Karavanke mountain rangein Radovljica

Carnival procession in Radovljica

The Linhart square in Radovljica

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