01 August, 2007

Karst

This blog seemed dead for quite a while. Now there's a new month around and this is one of my New Month's Resolutions. Revival of the English language blog.

The series of little Slovenian (and Croatian) weekend getaways continues in the year 2007. The latest of these was the weekend getaway to Karst.

Sezana was the place we visited first. The regional heart of commerce and the largest town in the area is still pretty small with a population of approximately 5000. Apart from the unusual modern amphitheater and a nice botanic gardens the place is merely interesting for its useful tourist information centre.

Next stop Stanjel - a picturesque village that in minds of many presents the very embodiment of Karst. To me it's a bit like visiting Baux de Provence minus the tourist crowds and souvenir shops. Even though we were visiting in the middle of tourist season we were more or less the sole tourists to wander its streets.
Ferrari Garden in Stanjel

No visit to Karst is complete without a bit of prosciutto tasting. We did our little bit of that in Kobjeglava in a posh little restaurant owned by the largest Slovenian prosciutto producer. Fantastic, worth every single Euro cent!

Spent the night in another quaint village called Pliskovica. I guess Pliskovica is as far off the beaten path as you get. And yet Youth Hostel that they setup in an old farm house has all the amenities that could make your stay comfortable. As it proved the next day, it's also really nice to walk the Pliska trail where nice little sheep guide you through the Karst landscape, showing you some of the typical features of this area.
One of the sheep that take you around Pliska trail

Last but not least, we stopped in Vilenica cave. Nowhere near as big as Postojna and possibly less impressive than the other well known cave in Skocjan, Vilenica probably boasts the most impressive collection of cave formations I've ever seen.

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