This Massachusetts-size nation of 2 million people has a beguiling storybook beauty. It also offers superb food and wine; charming, reasonably priced hotels; and a delightful capital city, diminutive Ljubljana. Hemmed in by Italy, Croatia, Austria and Hungary, Slovenia provides a perfect trip extension, with Venice being an ideal jumping-off point. Fortunately, Slovenia more or less avoided the chaos that followed the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991. Despite many of the trappings of modernity, in Slovenia you can still experience a prewar Europe, where the countryside has yet to be blighted by suburban development and the food and wines are still made according to traditional methods.

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