Day 2 in Slovenia this week was amazing. My host (Pavel) and I had to drive from Ljubljana to Koper so that we could meet with some people at a new university in Koper and the 50 minute drive passed through breathtaking and amazingly diverse physical and human geographies. You leave the mountainous central part of the country, move up in elevation through some mountains, and then start descending to the Adriatic through the Krast (Karst) zone, and then to a Mediterranean zone. Very forested throughout, apart from the coast, due to strong protection of the country-side. We cut in and through the Slovenian and Italian borders (no formal border protections now), which is associated with some rather tragic WWII conflict. We passed by the famous Lippizaner horse stables at this border zone, and then ended up in stunning Piran on the Adriatic Sea for lunch prior to our meetings in Koper. A fast drive back for my talk at the University of Ljubljana, dinner in a Bosnian restaurant (run by some former Muslim refugees who fled to Ljubljana during the violent breakup of Yugoslavia), and then back to Paris bright and early the next morning (the airport near Ljubljana is in the top pic). A short intense and productive work (yes I did work, trust me!) trip of the most memorable type.
