Holidays are important to culture and knowing and appreciating a nation’s holidays can be a key factor in enjoying a trip abroad. In our first year of traveling full time after retiring from teaching in Texas, we spent a couple of days in Slovenia and were surprised that our visit coincided with not one, but two national holidays.
When we plan trips for our clients, we are always well aware of holidays. We talk about what may be closed and what might be fun to do on these special days. Sometimes we plan around these days so clients can avoid holiday issues if that is their preference, or fully experience the holiday if that is what they will enjoy most! Be we totally missed that boat for ourselves on this trip – and it turned out great anyway!
We arrived on Tuesday October 31 in the little town of Kobarid in the early afternoon. We checked into our room and set out on a walk to explore the town. It was exceptionally quiet. The information office was open so we stopped in to get some maps and were told that it was a holiday and that November 1 was a holiday too! I had no idea! I thought for a second about what holiday it could possibly be and nearly made a joke about Halloween, but thought better of it. I learned that October 31 is Reformation Day in Slovenia. According to the Slovenian Times, «Reformation Day, which has been observed in Slovenia since 1992, marks the day in 1517 when German priest Martin Luther made public «The Ninety-Five Theses», which sparked the Protestant Reformation. Although a predominantly Catholic country, Slovenia has celebrated Reformation Day as a national holiday since 1992 to remember a turbulent yet culturally rich period in the 16th century that produced the first book written in the Slovenian language.»
