New Year with a sea view and story from 1911

During the Christmas holidays up to the New Year, in the atmosphere of hoping for new and better, Portorož will return for one evening to the times of its highest glory, luxury and cosmopolitanism that were blooming in the pearl of the Adriatic Riviera, former Austrian Riviera, connecting two elite holiday and health resorts, Opatija and Portorož. Portorož will return to the times when hotels, villas and promenades were full of Austro-Hungarian officers with elegant ladies, when dance music could be heard everywhere and champagne ran like water…

The event `Riviera through century`will celebrate Portorož and its rich tradition, when Portorož as well as Opatija, in the period of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, belonged to the most important European cosmopolitan and health resorts and enjoyed extremely rich cultural happenings. The common story talks about the origin of two health resorts that, through the years, became elite towns, especially during the autumn and winter when the rest of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was already left in the cold and covered with ice and snow. The common story is music, dance, fun and cuisine, gathered under the common theme `All sweetness of life`.

This December, Portorož returns with a festival of top sparkling wines, happy toasts of world reputation performed by the exciting Eroika trio with the support of the award-winning mixed choir Obala Koper, elegant dancers of the Urška dance school, Slovenian wine knights and their golden-haired wine queen, white Lipizzaner horses as well as ladies and gentlemen in historical clothing. We will head to the period of hidden flirting with the timeless love story about love, passion and escape. The master knights will select the sparkling wine of Portorož and toast with good wishes.

The highlight of the December events, which begin in the centre of Portorož on 8 December 2012, will be the Sparkling wine festival with the concert of toasts, held on 22 December 2012 at 6 PM in the park of the Kempinski Palace Portorož hotel, which was considered to be one of the most elite hotels in this part of Europe in the beginning of the 20th century. There is no entrance fee.

The main highlights of the programme (Saturday, 22 December 2012, at 6 p.m.):

- Trio Eroika with the top mixed choir Obala Koper and classical dancers
- Dramatic love story from 1911 in costumes
- Appearance of Mephisto and arrival of the Lipizzaner horses
- Culinary offer `all pleasures of life`
- Proclamation of the Portorož sparkling wine according to the selection of the Slovenian wine knights

The event is a part of the December events organised by the Portorož Tourist Association, held in Portorož between 1 December 2012 and 1 January 2013, entitled `All sweetness of life`. You can check the programme here.

Numerous hotels have prepared an attractive Christmas-New Year`s offer in Portorož and Piran, Koper, Izola and Strunjan – for all tastes and price capabilities. You can celebrate New Year`s Eve in a hotel or head out to town squares and the streets of pleasant coastal towns. It will happen throughout December!

Furthermore, don`t forget that the Slovenian coast is, with its rich possibilities for pleasure and wellbeing, also an excellent choice for January and February – when the sun can warm up and embellish the days. Check out the offer on the official Portorož tourist website.

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