HO HO HO !!!

Lipica is a village in the Municipality of Sežana in the Littoral region of Slovenia, close to the border with Italy.

Lipica is one of the main tourist centers of the Slovenia’s Karst region. It is the origin of the Lipizzaner horses. The Lipica stud farm was established in 1580 by Charles II, Archduke of Inner Austria (son ofFerdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor). Today the stud farm is fully functional and breeds the finest horses for haute-école riding. The stud farm now also includes a hotel and leisure complex, a modern adjunct to a historical setting.

The name is derived from the Slovenian word lipa ‘linden tree’, which is common in the area. The staff at the Lipica stud farm plant a new linden tree for every foal born, with the local epithet ‘Lipa, Lipica, Lipizzana’. Queen Elizabeth II visited Lipica and its stud farm on 22 October 2008 and was presented with a Lipizzaner horse as a gift from the Slovenian people.

The history of Lipica is closely connected with the history of the Habsburg monarchy. At the time when Archduke Charles was thinking about establishing a new stud farm, the Spanish horse was considered the ideal horse breed. Since the soil and climate in Slovenia Karst is similar to that of Spain, Lipica was chosen as the perfect spot for the new farm.

The first horses were bought in 1581 from Spain (24 broodmares and 6 stallions). The Lipizzaner breed that we know today was fully developed in the time of Maria Theresa of Austria, whose husband was greatly interested in horse-breeding.

In 1947 Lipica became a part of Republic of Yugoslavia. At that time, the farm had only 11 horses; all others were confiscated by the Germans during World War II.

In the 1960s, Lipica was opened to tourists and new development began. In 1996, Lipica became a public institution that is owned by the Republic of Slovenia and has made significant progress since then.

Source:WIKI

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Socerb Castle, locally known as Grad Socerb and also known as Grad Strmec, lies is the village with the same name in Slovenia, south of the Italian city of Trieste.

Socerb Castle is perched on the edge of a 300 meters high Karst rock and offers a wonderful view of the Koper and Trieste Gulfs. Due to its location, Socerb Castle was already an important stronghold in Illyrian times, modified into a fortress in the Roman period.

The beginnings of the castle go back to the 13th century. Due ot its important strategic location, the castle changed owners several times. In 1780 the castle was badly damaged by fire.

The castle is at present used as a restaurant although I doubt if they recieve much visitors. You can only visit the castle as a guest of the restaurant. However the views from the castle over the sea are worth the trip alone. I find this a not so spectacular castle on a spectacular location.

Source:   http://www.castles.nl/eur/sl/sc/sc.html

Zeilgalerie shopping centre in Frankfurt main on Zeil.

Coordinates: 50°6’52″N   8°40’50″E

Decided to join the Slovenian photo contest I’AM (JAZ SEM…)

This picture I took in Morocco seeing young boy using water tap and a small bottle to refresh himself. I saw the photo in a sec and just took it.  How do they say: Be at the rigt place at the right time.

Feel free to vote  ;) : NIKON

PS: Have to say that I have always used CANON cameras, but I’m always open minded

And yes, I have added another one: NIKON

…

….just having debate about removed “other OS support”  for ps3  ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OtherOS

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2010/03/28/ps3-firmware-v3-21-update/

http://geohotps3.blogspot.com/2010/03/dont-update.html

INDEED,….