Having lived here in Radovljica, Slovenia (this photo shows Radovljica’s old town centre), for almost six years and with a change in my personal circumstances, I decided its time to start trying to recapture the passion and feelings I felt when first here and which initially attracted me to this country. Therefore, I decided to start this blog. Call it therapy if you like, I would prefer to see it as cathartic encouragement, providing me with an incentive to ‘get out there’ and see and do more rather than moping around feeling sorry for myself. However, in doing so I hope to inspire others, potential readers, of which I hope there will be a few, to come and visit this beautiful small but perfectly formed (do I sound like an estate agent?!) country that I now call home.

For the first couple of years after moving here, despite working, almost every day felt like a holiday. Where I live in Radovljica, near Bled, there is always somewhere new to explore, something unique to discover and experiences to be had. Be it from simply finding a new path to walk, a new dish to sample, meeting someone new, learning new words – every day did, and still does, present new challenges, some positive, some less so.

I won’t pretend it’s been easy. There are some huge obstacles to be overcome but steely determination means I’m still here. Would I recommend it to others? In truth probably not unless you have won the lottery, have a hefty pension pot or have a very secure job offer. Finding work and the bureaucracy may lead to temporary insanity. However, this blog isn’t meant as a forum to air these, though I can’t promise I won’t indulge in the occasional whinge from time to time!

However, I would encourage you to come and discover Slovenia on holiday and my aim is for this blog to be part-informative and part-inspirational. Whilst researching the writing of blogs, the key message appears to be having some different and unique to offer. Well of course I’m certainly not the only Brit living abroad though there aren’t that many of us here in Slovenia. I do believe I’m one of the rare few who actually speak the lingo fairly fluently, but that aside I also suspect I ‘get about’ (in the nicest sense!) more than many others since almost every day I can be found either hiking up a mountain, riding my bike or doing other equally active pursuits. Slovenia is certainly a great place for being active and especially so in the alpine part where I live.

So if you’re interested in finding out more about Slovenia, I hope you’ll join me on my journey and hope some of my photos might whet your appetite for more!