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| Photo: Relaxing near Zemono |
I thought
this year's heat wave won't reach Slovenia, yet, it seems that we
will be treated to some really high temperatures at the start of August. For the past week or
so, it has been really hot, with temperatures reaching even 35 degrees Celsius
and more. It's hard to stay focused in such heat, so I decided to take a day
off and get my bike out and ride towards the western part of Slovenia. Granted,
the heat made it almost unbearable to be in my biker gear, yet the constant
breeze that is quite common in the Vipava Valley made it ok. Apart from the
far northeastern part of Slovenia, this part of Slovenia was probably the most
unknown to me, quite undeservingly, since I was overwhelmed with its natural
beauties.
Hrušica –
Ad Pirum
I jumped on
my bike around 10:00 a.m. and passed the towns of Vrhnika and Logatec before
taking on the curvy – perfect for riding – roads leading all the way up to Ad Pirum, an old Roman settlement, now known as Hrušica. It took me about 50
minutes to reach the village of Podkraj from Ljubljana. Immediately when I
started my way on the local roads, the long curves leading through the forest to the top of the Karst plateau made my heart beat faster. The road
is truly perfect if you want to take your bike out for a spin and test your
skills; on top of it all, I met only a couple of cars on my
way up and according to the locals these roads are mainly taken by them alone and occasional tourists.
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| Photo: Ad Pirum |
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| Photo: Breathtaking nature near Ajdovščina |
As I
reached Hrušica, I was greeted by some dark clouds that started to close in on
me and I was already thinking where to find shelter, but luckily the sun
eventually took over the skies. I admit that I was riding a bit too fast and at
first missed the ruins of the old Roman settlement and needed to ride back to
them after being pointed in the right direction by a local.
As you reach the top
of the hill, there is only one big building in which there is a pub and on the
other side a museum dedicated to the ancient settlement, established in the 4
th
century. The excavations revealed a huge fortress extending over 250 metres, a
few wall towers, and more features, all set up by the Romans to protect themselves from
eastern invasions. I walked around a bit, read the inscriptions, and
stayed there for a while, admiring the vistas of the valley below, before heading to
Zemono ...
Zemono
Manor House
I descended
from the top of the hills towards the Vipava Valley below, to the settlement of
Zemono, located next to the town of Vipava; a town and a valley known for their excellent wines. It took me about 30 minutes to
reach the beautiful manor house, amidst the village of Zemono. As I descended
from Hrušica to Zemono, I stopped by a popular climbing rock, offering a perfect and somewhat frightening view of the forests and valley below.
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| Photo: Zemono |
Zemono is
an old manor house built in the late 17
th century among the
wine-growing hills of the Vipava Valley, boasting some Late Renaissance
features, not so common for this part of Slovenia. Almost hidden in a small
park amidst a small village of Zemono, this manor is a perfect venue for
prestigious state-protocol events and weddings. It is home to a widely
popular restaurant that boasts spectacular top-notch dishes; yet, what
immediately won me over was the view from the other side of the manor, from
the park side, where one can admire the vast and wide fields and meadows
covered with vineyards all the way up to the hills to the north of the towns of
Vipava and
Ajdovščina. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a private event at the
manor so I did not sit down but rather got back on my bike and
continued on my way ...
Štanjel
Štanjel is
a small, yet spectacular village, about 20 minutes riding from Zemono.
Established in the 17th century in the municipality of Komen on a
Karst plateau, the village still boasts the architecture quite atypical of Slovenia. I have never visited this region with my bike and never even got
close to visiting Štanjel. So imagine my surprise riding on the winding
(perfect for motorcyclists!) road to Štanjel as I all of a sudden saw the majestic
village with settlement walls on top of a hill in front of me.
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| Photo: The view across the valleys and hills surrounding Štanjel |
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| Photo: Štanjel |
I parked my bike
and entered the village through the old entrance in the middle of the stony
village walls and walked upwards on the stony pathway. It seems that in Štanjel
everything is made of stone, which makes this village even more enchanting
and fairy tale-like. It was steaming hot and in my full gear, I barely
made it to the top of the village, but it was well worth it. What opened in
front of me were beautiful vistas across the entire valley, to all sides of the
village. Even though it was scorching hot in the summer sun, I admired the
views for about fifteen minutes before heading down to stop at a
restaurant for lunch with excellent local dishes on the menu. It was about 4:00
p.m. and time for me to get a move on ...
Predmeja –
Otlica
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| Photo: Spectacular view of the Vipava Valley from Otlica |
As I was
riding on my way back towards Ajdovščina, the clouds started creeping in on the
valley but that was not going to stop me before heading to one of my favourite
spots in Slovenia – the settlement of Predmeja with the famous natural window
in Otlica – a truly magnificent view of the valley below through a window in the middle of a mountain.
It took me about twenty minutes to reach Ajdovščina and from there
another twenty minutes on the long and curvy road, which I absolutely adore
riding on, to the top of the hills above Ajdovščina.
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| Photo: Thrilling ride to Otlica |
If you haven’t yet visited
this site, I strongly suggest you put it on your bucket list for whenever you
are in the vicinity. The road is curvy and carved in the hills paving its way through the mountains via three tunnels. And not just that –
the views from almost every corner of the road are spectacular!
Even though the
sun already hid itself behind the clouds, I was eager to reach the top, before
the rain would start pouring down. And I did. Of course, upon reaching the top
of the mountain, it started to rain like crazy, so I quickly headed back to the valley. But it was already a bit too late,
since the thunderstorm accompanied by hail forced me to stop in a small cave-like
shelter for thirty minutes, where I waited for the summer storm to calm down.
Dripping wet, I chose to take the highway route back to Ljubljana, since I was
not taking any chance of being caught by thunder and hail again.
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| Photo: Admiring nature |
Although
what started off as a beautiful summer day turned into a stormy evening, I had
a great trip to a region which I will visit again soon. The nature is simply so
breathtaking and the roads perfect for riding – could a biker ask for anything
more?! I’ll be seeing you on the road in the coming week ...
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Photo: It seems I made a new friend ...
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| Photo: Map of the Route |
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