Introducing this place:

Slovenske Konjice is a town and a municipality in the Štajerska region of northeastern Slovenia. It is the administrative and cultural centre of the Dravinja Valley. The municipality borders on the municipalities of Šmarje pri Jelšah and Šentjur pri Celju to the south, Vojnik to the west, Zreče to the northwest, Oplotnica to the north, Slovenska Bistrica to the east, and Rogaška Slatina to the southeast. The town of Slovenske Konjice has around 4,886 citizens but the whole community of Slovenske Konjice has around 14,000 people. The current mayor is Miran Gorinšek. The average age of citizens is 39.76 years.

Forms of the written name

Gonviz (1251), Gombicz (1370), Gannabitz (1570), Gonaviz (1594), Gonavitz (1630), Gonwitz (1636), Gonowitz (1662), Ganowiz (1680), Gonnawitz (1680).

"Konjice" got the adjective "Slovenske" in the 1918, during Kingdom of Yugoslavia, in order not to be confused with the town of Konjic in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Prominent persons from the municipality of Slovenske Konjice include:

• Branko Rudolf - writer
• Ivan Minatti - poet
• Jure Zdovc - basketball player / coach
• Marjan Lesnik - Chef de Cuisine at Claridges for over 12 years (1983 -1995) featured on British and American TV, including appearances as chief adjudicator for the Pierre Taitinger International Culinary Prize. Marjan is a member of the Master Chefs of Great Britain and the Academy of culinary arts, has been President of Europe Toque and cooks on various occasions for the British Royal Family.

History & Town sights:

The town of Slovenske Konjice lies below the north slope of Konjiška Gora and below the formerly mighty castle which today is a craggy ruin. Immediately above the Old square (Stari trg), Trebnik Manor has been preserved as well. The settlement is dense along the typical funnel-shaped falling square, in the middle of which flows a stream towards the Dravinja river in an open channel. The upper part of the square breaks into the street; that is in the direction of the Maribor-Celje route.

Sources mention the place as a seminal parish in 1165 (St. George), a castle in 1148, and a square in 1236. Town was not surrounded by walls. At the times of the Turkish raids the vicarage with the church served as a fortified refuge. The parish church is a beautiful piece of Gothic architecture with later additions, especially the Baroque wall paintings. There are both Gothic and Renaissance elements preserved in the vicarage. The two rarities are the Windisch-Grätz Trebnik Manor with the park and the cemetery Church of St. Anne.

By the main street and transversal connections above the Dravinja stands the surpassed line of longitudinal or transversally positioned one-storey secular houses with well preserved Gothic cores and Renaissance additions. The facades were remade in the styles of the 19th century (Biedermeier, Historicisms, Secession). A rarity is the Secession building of the savings bank. Mary's sign, rearranged in 1963, above the stream and Florian's sign by it (the author of both is Franc Zamlik, 1750) dominate the open square. The town core is well preserved, with no aggressive breakthroughs of the roofs and diverse concepts inside the condensed nucleus.

During the 1515 peasant mutiny, rebels here wrote a letter with their demands and sent it to emperor in Vienna. Economic development rose after reconstruction of main road Vienna - Trieste in the 18th century. During the 19th century the town got a local court. The Austrian Southern Railway was build in 1846, but it ran 15 km east of Konjice. On 20 June 1892 works started for a narrow gauge (760 mm) steam railroad line called Konjičanka from Poljčane to Slovenske Konjice, which was opened on 20 December 1892. On 29 June 1921 it was extended to Zreče. It was closed in 1963, and the tracks were removed in 1970. A Museum locomotive K.3 (Gonobitz), build by Krauss factory at Linz, that was used on this railway is on display at the Slovenian Railway Museum in Ljubljana.

Things and Sports to Do:

Walks under Slovenske Konjice Mountain offer a beautiful experience of nature. In the parks over Trebnik mansion, when the vagrancy through the town square is finished, one can again feel the spirit of past. The herb gardens of the mansion along with the treasury of herb products offer help in dealing with the wild tempo of modern life.

If you like nature you can visit nicely led Dragon's forest trail; a short trip to the Old Castle, a bit longer trips to a place with a fine view called Skala or even to the top of the Slovenske Konjice Mountain called Stolpnik, with the outlook tower, or a trip to the hunting lodge called Štepih, are good for your body and for refreshing your thoughts. If you like mountain biking there are many different paths on Slovenske Konjice Mountaint. You can drive to the Old Castle or take a bit longer tour to the cottage under the Stolpnik.

If you like art you can visit the Reimer gallery or go to the cinema, if you like movies.

There are also many different sport to do. You can play tennis in the shadows of Konjiški park or play basketball. If you prefer football you can also play football on one of the many football fields located in Slovenske Konjice. There are also to gyms in Konjice where you can shape you body. For people who prefer cycling over mountain biking there is a cycling root connecting Slovenske Konjice and tepanje.

In the hot summer days you can go cool yourself in the Konjice pool standing beside the football stadium.

For those who like to play golf there are also two different golf fields to choose.

Restaurants:

In Slovenke Konjice there are not many restaurants but there are some that are very good and where you get served delicious food.  The first restaurant is called Zlati grič. This restaurant is above the city of Slovenske Konjice on the vineyard hills. It has got a great view over the most part of the Dravinja valley and surrounded by beautiful nature. The Zlati grič restaurant is not just famous for its good food, but it is also famous for the delicious vine.  That is because the owner of the restaurant is also the owner of the vineyard hills and has a wide range of different sort of vine that guest can choose from.

On the border of Konjice is also another restaurant called Fink. The restaurant is just a few meters from Spar retail store. The food there is not expansive but the surrounding is not as beautiful as is the surrounding of Zlati grič.

A kilometer or two from the Fink restaurant is yet another restaurant called Ulipi. The restaurant is on the edge of the Slovenske Konjice community. It is a good restaurant with very kind service staff. It is important to stress that the price quality performance is very good. The food there is very delicious, but is not to expensive. Also the size of the portions will please very hungry costumers.

If you would like to eat pizza there is a great restaurant in the centre of Slovenske Konjice called Pizzerija Paradajz. It was just lately renovated.

In the center of Slovenske Konjice, the center is called Stari trg, is also Hotel Dravinja. It does not offer just delicious meals but also offer accommodation, for tourist that would like spend some more time in Slovenske Konjice.

There are also other less famous restaurants like Kralj, Wi-King  and some others.

People and Culture:

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Geography and Climate:

Slovenske Konjice are located in Dravinja valley made in the past by the Dravinja river. On the north side of the city there is the Konjice mountain and on the south side is the magnificent Pohorje.  Just before the mighty Pohorje forests wrap you into their hug, the doors to the town Slovenske Konjice, with the thousand-year-old square design, open in front of you. Slovenske Konjice, also called the city of vine and flowers is located on an ideal location just 3 km highway Maribor-Celje. The distance between Slovenske Konjice and the capital of Slovenia Ljubljana is around 100 km. The same distance, 100km, is from Zagreb to Slovenske Konjice, of from Graz to Slovenske Konjice.

Slovenske Konjice are very well connected with roads to other cities and one very big advantage is that Konjice are near big and important cities not only in Slovenia but also Austria and Croatia.

Municipality borders on municipalities Šmarje pri Jelšah and Šentjur to the south, on Vojnik to the west, on Zreče to the northwest, on Oplotnica to the north, on Slovenska Bistrica to the east, and to the Rogaška Slatina to the southeast.

Important geographic information:

Coordinates:  46° 20′ 0″ N, 15° 25′ 0″ E

Number of residents: 13885 
Sea altitude: 332 m

Climate:
Avarege summer temperature : 28 °C
Avarege winter temperature: -5 °C
Number of yearly sunny: 90 
Number of yearly rainy days : 40 

Economy, Prices and Living Standard:

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