Fruili-Slovenia Biking Tour

The Italian Alps serve as your backdrop as you bicycle along its vineyards and castle-laden foothills. Then ride into Slovenia and stay in its capital before returning to the pristine Italian Coast…simply unforgettable. Visit the historic Villas, tour its vineyards and sample the San Daniele Prosciutto of Italy's Friuli region before crossing the border into Slovenia to visit its capital Ljubljana and Europe's largest underground grotto before gliding down the Adriatic Coast back into Italy and mysterious Trieste.

Friuli-Venezia-Giulia is one of the oldest inhabited Italian regions; it is believed that the first humans here dated back to as many as 20,000 years ago. It is now an autonomous region of north-eastern Italy, bordering Austria and Slovenia, and a crossroads of the Latin, German and Slavic cultures. In the North there are the Alps, while the territory along the coasts is mostly plain. Between Trieste and the Alps there is a wide, Karst plateau, the Carso, an important battlefield in WWI, where innumerable Italian and Austrian soldiers lost their lives. 

Slovenia on the other hand is a tiny country with a very diverse nature, about half the size of Switzerland, and counts just over two million people. It was on 25 June 1991 that Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia and even though it does not have a majestic history like many larger European nations; the past is nevertheless important. For many it is surprising that such a small nation, without kings or famous military leaders of its own, could even form, survive and carve out an independent path. But this is the result of the resilience and determination of the Slovene people, whose culture and common language have survived for centuries in this green piece of Europe.