Excuse me, am I in Slovenia?

Okay, it has come to our attention that some of our clients aren't sure where Slovenia is. We've also got a bloke from Paris working out of our office, who arrived a few days late for his first day on the job... because he was attempting to get directions to our office on Dunajska cesta... from bewildered residents in Bratislava. So today we're not going to write about Drupal or anything related to web technologies; we want to ensure that you, our client (or potential new client), gets to the correct destination.

Before we go further...

... let's also give an understanding nod to the neighbors to the north of us, who probably are even more perplexed with tourists dressed as if they're about to go on a safari and asking where all the kangaroos have gone...

And so, let's commence...

Slovenia is not a misspelling of Slovakia

Slovenia does in fact exist. While both countries belong to the European Union and have a common currency (the Euro), there are major differences between the two: one is up north, the other is sort of down south. In Slovenia, it's easy to find a Kranjska Klobasa; in Slovakia, it's difficult; who am I kidding... it's impossible!

Slovenia is the gateway to the Alps

Yes, it has mountains. The highest peak is Mt. Triglav, at just under 3000 meters high. Triglav literally translates to "three heads"... inferring that in Slovenia, three heads are better than two. However, this is arguable: Larry, Curly and Moe were a trio but even with their combined brain power, they were still stooges.

Slovenia has a quaint Mediterranean coastline

If you can find your way to Venice, Italy, you should find Slovenia if you swim from there to the other side of the Adriatic sea. Do not fear the water... the Loch Ness Monster is far away from here, in Swaziland Scotland.

Wait... what?? Alps and Mediterranean?

Affirmative.

Both in the same small amount of territory?

Yes. In Slovenia, you can easily spend one hour freezing your socks off and having a genuine snowball fight, and the next hour soaking up the rays at the seaside or going for a swim (but make sure you've first sprayed yourself with shark repellant -- I kid, I kid -- though you should keep an eye out for Yetis and elves while in the Alps).

Slovenia's capital is Ljubljana

Ljubljana (no, I will not explain how to pronounce that -- go ask a Slovak) is a friendly, cosmopolitan city with around 300,000 inhabitants. Even though it's small compared to most other capital cities, it has everything you'd expect from larger metropolises, and even dragons, which you won't find in other cities.

American celebrities suspect it exists

Even Donald Trump knows where Slovenia is (though that may be because of his Slovenian wife, and not necessarily due to Don's intellect).

Here be Drupal developers

One of the world's top Drupal development studios is located in Slovenia, in fact it's virtually in the heart of downtown Ljubljana. Okay, so I wrote that we won't talk about Drupal and stuff in this post, but it's our blog and we reserve the right to insert a shameless plug where we see fit.

The obligatory wrapup

So now that you're armed with a bit of info on Slovenia, you should be able to deduce you're in the wrong place when, while asking for directions in Bratislava, no one knows what a Kranjska Klobasa is, everyone tells you that "two heads are better than one" is the correct phrase, no one knows how to swim, and everyone insists that dragon's are strictly the stuff of fairy tales ;)