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| Photo: Turjak Castle |
It was a
beautiful Saturday morning and one of my rare completely free days. So, the
only logical choice was to store up on the energy with a rich breakfast, put on
my gear and get the bike. It was around 10:30 a.m. when I left Ljubljana. I
didn’t want to take any of my classic routes to either Primorska (Slovenia’s
coastal region) or Gorenjska (probably the most popular, north-western region
of Slovenia), so I’ve decided to ride to the south and south-eastern
part of Slovenia – to Dolenjska and Bela Krajina regions. The first stop on my
route was the Turjak Castle ...
Turjak Castle and Bajdinec
Waterfalls
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| Photo: Ruins along the Turjak Castle |
The small
town of
Turjak is located just about 30 minutes drive from the Ljubljana city
centre. Situated among the forests to the south of Ljubljana, the town and its
castle provide magnificent vistas. I was lucky to visit the area on a sunny
day, since from atop the hill my view across the forests and surrounding hills
was truly astonishing. Unfortunately, it seems that the castle is currently not
open to the public, except for special events, yet I’ve enjoyed its architecture, stemming from the 13
th century. As I was
not ready to leave yet, I googled a couple of sights close to the castle and I
found an article mentioning the Bajdinec Waterfalls just five minutes ride from
the castle, so I decided to check them out. I rode from the castle back in the
direction of the town, turned left on my way and drove to a small cemetery in
the middle of a forest where I parked my bike and looked for the waterfalls. As
there was no clearly marked path, I asked one of the locals who pointed me to a footpath in the woods and said that the walk to one of the waterfalls was about
15 minutes long. Even though I was in full gear, I decided to visit what were
supposed to be beautiful waterfalls. After a "15-minute-walk", I was disappointed.
Why? Well, firstly, I was only half way to the waterfalls and the path was
quite slippery, especially when tackling it in my riding boots. After 25 minutes, I
finally reached a waterfall, one of four – the biggest is suppose to reach the
height of even 8 metres – but I was kind of disappointed. There was no real
rainfall over the past few days, even weeks, so the waterfall was really small.
I relaxed there for ten minutes, before climbing back up the hill, which was
pretty uncomfortable – imagine walking 30 minutes uphill in full gear in heavy humidity
– never a good idea.
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| Photo: Relaxing by the Bajdinec Waterfalls |
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| Photo: Basilica in Kočevje |
Kočevje is
one of the largest municipalities in Slovenia and as far as I am concerned one
of the most beautiful. The road from Ljubljana to Kočevje is one of my
favourites in Slovenia, since riding the curvy road among the trees lasts for almost
thirty minutes, before reaching the town of Ribnica, from where it only takes ten minutes to Kočevje. Granted, the town is quite small, yet very inviting
with a river flowing through and the surrounding (rain) forest and hills. The town was established along the Rinža River
at the foot of the karst plateau Kočevski Rog. Its most prolific feature
is probably the 25-metre-high basilica, which was built in the middle of the 14th
century. I walked around the town a bit, enjoyed the view of the Rinža River, and soaked up the pleasant atmosphere before riding for just five minutes to Kočevje Lake, an artificial ex-mine lake.
There, I had a cup of coffee and just chilled for about a half an hour, enjoying
the sight of people fishing and taking boat rides on the lake. The weather
was still sunny, yet I could see the clouds crawling from the direction I was
headed to. It was time to head towards Novo mesto ...
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| Photo: Kočevje Lake |
Srebrniče (Novo mesto)
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| Photo: Srebrniče |
My plan was
to visit the city of Novo mesto next, yet, already when riding in its direction
I saw the heavy dark clouds closing in on me and although the ride took only
about thirty minutes I could already feel the first drops of rain. So, instead
of visiting Novo mesto, I parked my bike in Srebrniče, a village just outside
Novo mesto, and decided to take a stroll. Srebrniče has a beautiful cemetery,
situated within a forest, which makes it a nice spot to unwind, get in
touch with your body and soul and just calm down. And this was exactly what I
did, as I walked for fifteen minutes among the small tombstones and on forest
pathways, even though the raindrops started to come down more heavily, but I
was not bothered. Sounds weird, but this is actually one of my favourite spots
in this region, maybe even in Slovenia. I wanted to have more time to soak up
the fresh air, but it started pouring down like crazy so I jumped on my bike
and went for a drink in the near-by bar and waited until the rain stopped ...
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| Photo: Taking in some fresh air in Srebrniče |
Bogenšperk
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| Photo: Bogenšperk Castle |
I waited
for about an hour for the rain to stop. As I was already kind of late, I
decided to skip Novo mesto – a city which deserves more than just a half
an hour of sightseeing. I headed directly towards my last stop – the Bogenšperk Castle. The ride took about forty minutes, well, in complete honesty, even
longer, since I got lost, as the road directions are almost non-existent when
you reach the town of Šmartno pri Litiji. After asking a few locals for the right
way – even they were not sure which road to take – I finally managed to reach
the beautiful castle in the forest.
Luckily,
the blue skies and the sun made their way through the clouds and I was able to
admire the Bogenšperk Castle – former home of Janez Vajkard Valvasor, a natural
historian from the 17th century. I expected the castle to be
renovated – well, it is, but unfortunately I came on one
of those days when they had a private event. So, I was only able to admire the
exterior of the magnificent castle which reached its golden age in the 17th
century, and the beautiful park and pathways along the castle. It was already about
6:00 p.m., so I jumped on my bike and headed back to Ljubljana, passing the
town of Litija, riding along the Sava River.
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| Photo: Relaxing along the Bogenšperk Castle |
Even though
the weather was not perfect, I had a great time, discovering this part of
Slovenia and all its hidden places. I loved the roads between Turjak and
Kočevje, the one from Kočevje to Novo mesto and especially the one from Trebnje
(close to Novo mesto) to Bogenšperk. Due to the rain, the trip lasted almost the
entire day but it was well worth it. I’m sure I’ll visit Kočevje again and the
city of Novo mesto is still on my list.
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| Photo: Map of the Route |
