Irish connection to Slovenia

[Walkingtheplank]

An Italian friend has just come back from Slovenia and as I have some Irish family she asked me about the following.

She said in Slovenia, particularly Lake Bled, the other visitors were Slovene, Italian, German, American and a few British. However all of the young adults, I think just post school or university age, were Irish. She asked if I knew if there was a connection between the two countries but I have no idea and my Irish family didnt either. I asked if they were perhaps just one big group but she said they were small single sex groups, not particularly mixing with each other and behaving very nicely/quietly unlike our own nationalities would at that age. She said it wasnt really a place with exciting night life so seemed an odd place for them to be when they could be clubbing on an island somewhere.

So is there a connection between the two countries?

No connection whatsoever. Bled is a tourist hot spot and 40 mins drive from the capital so many people visit for a day. Or, they could be on some organised trip, doing hiking nearby. Or a summer camp of some sorts.

How did she know they were Irish. Did she ask them all?

No I dont expect she asked them all but as she has studied/worked in quite a few English speaking countries she can recognise an Irish accent as compared to British, American, Australian accents etc. Can't you detect different accents?

She wasnt saying they had no right to be there, just curious as to why only Irish people of that age were there but seemingly no other Europeans that age. And therefore thought there might be a specific connection.

Maybe they’re doing Erasmus at Ljubljana. It’s a university town and there were students from all o et Europe when I was there last summer.

Yes, I can distinguish accents to an extent, but would probably mix up many too. There are lots of variations of accent even within a country anyway. People often mix up Scottish and Irish accents I find. An article in the paper recently spoke of an American tourist in Ireland complementing Spanish students on their fluent Gaelic when they were speaking Spanish (which is widely spoken in the US too). So people don't always get accents right. I just wondered if she had checked to be sure.

I think it's quite trendy in lreland at the moment. These things move around.

Croatia was always popular with Irish holiday makers. Even when it was part of Yugoslavia. Still is to some extent. Perhaps an older cohort though - Medjugorge etc. Slovenia is a neighbouring country. But I can't think of any cultural connection bar the fact they are both majority Catholic?
Can't see that being a factor anymore though.