The traditional annual gathering of Slovenians living around the world in their home country, Slovenia, called "Welcome Home", was held on July 1, 2023, in Vipava, and representatives of the Association "Triglav" Banja Luka also participated this year.
The Association's children's folklore group performed a set of Carinthian dances at the central performance of the event, which took place in Lanthieri's castle. The performance was excellent and the group won the undisguised sympathy of the audience and the participants present. At the very beginning of the event, the following greeted the gathering with appropriate speeches: the president of the Slovenia in the World association, which this year was the organizer of the event, Mr. Uroš Zorn, mayor of Vipava, Mr. Anton Lavrenčič and Minister for Slovenians around the world, Mr. Matej Arčon. In addition to the folklore group of our Association, choirs, folklore groups, musicians, dancers and children's performing groups from all over the world took part in the event. The all-evening event ended with an excellent mini-concert by the Slovak singer-songwriter Adi Smolar. This gathering is an excellent opportunity to make contacts with representatives of other Slovenian societies, as well as to meet old acquaintances and collaborators on numerous projects.
Some of the participants in the program who came from further afield, including representatives of our Association, were accommodated in the beautifully decorated building of the Student's Home, which is part of the Catholic General High School in Vipava. Our members used Sunday, the second day of their stay, for a short tour of the old part of the town of Vipava, followed immediately by the departure for the municipality of Divača, which is located about 30 kilometers to the south. The goal was a visit to the Škocjan Cave Park and a tour of one of the largest and most organized speleological facilities in the world. The Škocjan Caves are on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List. It has been visited by organized tourists for over 100 years, and was thoroughly renovated 20 years ago and attracts numerous visitors from all over the world. The river Reka flows through the cave, which has one of the deepest underground canyons, above which visitors have the opportunity to move on excellently arranged and safe paths.
After a long tour and walking along the paths through the beautiful karst areas of the Škocjan Cave, the walk continued on the above-ground road through the picturesque village of Škocjan, to the tourist estate "Pr Betanci", within which the main catering facility itself is a cultural monument and an outstanding example of rural architecture on Kras, from 1605, with a characteristic stone roof. In the pleasant ambience of the courtyard of the old country house, the group refreshed itself with delicious local specialties and recovered from the long walk and headed back. That was the end of the participation in the event "Welcome home" and the visit to Slovenia.
Mladen Lunić
