Predjama Off The Beaten Path

This is the main entrance into the Postojnska jama complex, which is wide world famous attraction. In fact, Postojna cave is among few most beautiful of a kind in whole the world.
From here to the castle of Predjama you have approximately 10 kilometers by the winged narrow road but do not hesitate, go on coz at the end of it you will be aworded with magnificient scenery of the castle.

Outside the castle, in the village of Predjama, stands this small and very beautiful medieval chapel.
In fact, it is the church of Mater Dolorosa from the 15th century. It was consecrated in 1449 by Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, at that time the Bishop of Trieste, later Pope Pius II.

Hrastovlje is a small village, 30 km North-East to Koper. Just outside the village stands a fortified church. The inner walls of the church are entirely covered by frescoes painted in 1470 by Master John of Kastav. The master piece is a danse macabre.

This is one of two Danse macabre in Istria : one is here in Slovenia, the other, 30 km away, in Beram, Croatia.

For more, visit my Hrastovlje page

For more on Beram, visit my Beram page with photos of all the frescoes.

Strane is a village of Inner Carniola, standing at an elevation of 658 meters on the slopes of Mount Nanos. It has 72 inhabitants and belongs to the municipality of Postojna.

Though Strane does not figure in any guidebook, we had one reason to visit the place. While, I was searching for accommodation in Carniola, one of the Tourist farms (that I did not retain) proposed hikes in its neighborhood. One of them was Strane and they mentioned it’s 16 centuries old yew tree.

Actually, we were lucky that the trip offered us more than an old yew tree! For more, look at my Strane page.

Hrastovlje is a small village, 30 km North-East to Koper. Just outside the village stands a fortified church. The inner walls of the church are entirely covered by frescoes painted in 1470 by Master John of Kastav. The master piece is a danse macabre.

This one of two Danse macabre in Istria : one is here in Slovenia, the other, 30 km away, in Beram, Croatia.

For more on Hrastovlje page %L[ ]Hrastovlje (to come)

For more on Beram, visit my Beram page with photos of all the frescoes.

Cerkniško jezero (Lake of Cerknica) is another location that we were short of time to visit but plan to visit next time. Lake of Cerknica is the largest intermittent lake in Europe. In autumn, when it rains, it is a large lake (up to 38 km2), set in a large doline. In Spring and Summer, the water progressively infiltrates through the bottom of the doline and at the end of summer, there remains only a small pond in the middle, where angling is amazing as all the fishes of the large lake are collected in the small pond.

Look at the fishes caught in Cerkniško jezero

Lake of Cerknica was already inscribed on the Natura 2000 list. It has been recognized as a Ramsar site. I quote: “The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.”
More on Ramsar website.

Snežnik Castle stands in Loška Dolina. We were short of time to visit it but I forecast to visit it nex time. The castle itself is interesting but what makes it special is that it hosts the dormouse hunting museum. I quote the Sneznik Castle web site :

«The Dormouse Hunting Museum: offers a genuine demonstration of the lifestyle of hunters, dormouse hunting and the usage of dormice for commercial and culinary purposes in the past and today.»

Dormouse Hunting is a Part of Slovene National Identity. If you want to know more about Dormous hunting, visit Dormouse Hunting in Slovenian Tradition

Postojna jama (Cave of Postojna) is Slovenia’s most visited location and the world’s most visited cave. Visitors are brought to the departure of the walking visit by a narrow gauge train on 2 km. Guided tours are then offered in five different languages. For more, visit my Postojna page.