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West Africa, Malta and the Balkans in 1999

SLOVENIA

Bec
2004-09-19 14:35:45

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Hungarians and Croats. Religion is important but not as acutely as for the Croats for whom it is the symbol of their identity opposing them to Muslim Bosnians and to equally Christian but Orthodox Serbs.

The Ljubljana Castle's chapel shown here with the tower behind is a fashionable place to hold a wedding. In spite of the bad weather, one was just finishing when I came down from the tower. Everyone was leaving in the cars they had arrived in. There were no taxis and no bus service so I had to walk down the hill for nobody offered me a ride

The park just south of the Castle must be a lovely place to go for walk when it's warm and sunny but it started to rain again as I was walking down the long winding road to get to town. Then, I saw a well-worn footpath leading directly towards the city center. I took it, hoping to find shelter sooner that way. It was a bad mistake for after a while the easy slope led to a very steep place where I slipped on wet leaves and fell head-over-heels down the hill. I was lucky not to break anything but I did sprain my left ankle badly. My visiting was over, I bought an elastic band and some pain relievers and took a taxi home.

The previous day had been unlucky for me. I should have stayed home to take care of my sore throat and watch TV instead of going out in the rain... The following day was nice and I took some photos like this one of the National Museum but I had difficulty getting around because of my ankle. Once again I was not very smart and I forged ahead walking on it instead of spending a week in the comfortable room I had to let it get better. I limped for more than two months because of that stupid impatience.

The huge, modern Ljubljana Orthodox Cathedral is certainly very impressive considering that less than two percent of the population follow the Orthodox religion.

Actually it stands out like a sore thumb in the Catholic Slovene landscape. Such a big show is definitely out of place. To me it looked like the scar a branding iron leaves in the hide of a steer to claim ownership of the animal for the benefit of one specific rancher. The money must have come from elsewhere... The local people are not fooled for they call it the Serb church. It seems that the Orthodox church has a propensity for this type of territorial expansion.

I have seen the same thing in Latvia where the Russians built the huge Orthodox Cathedral in the 19th century long before organised russian immigration boosted their numbers up to 30 % during the recent communist occupation. The same holds true for Estonia where the Alexander Nievsky Cathedral in Tallinn preceded massive russian immigration.

Wild animals and dogs pee on shrubs to assert their territorial claims. Religious empires build cathedrals...

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