Exploring Kamnik

While my friend and now coworker Sebastian was visiting Slovenia, we took the opportunity to explore Kamnik a little. One morning we climbed the Stari grad hill (Old Castle) to admire the views. The castle was first mentioned in the 12th century, and after it was abandoned in the 16th century, it slowly fell into decay and is now in ruins. All that remains are a couple of walls.

Southern part of Kamnik.

We could even see Ljubljana in the distance. Can you spot the Ljubljana Castle?

Towards the north: my beautiful Kamnik Alps. :)

The Mekinje monastery.

Coming down from the hill we took some more photos of Kamnik church towers, red roofs and castles.

Then we climbed the smaller hill, Mali grad (Small Castle) with a chapel and an old watch tower.

This panorama should be viewed bigger. Click on it. ;)

Sebastian and jet trails.

One of the following mornings before work we did a quick visit to the nearby Zaprice Castle.
The main building now houses a museum. The castle was first built in the 14th century, then rebuilt a few times, and during one of the recent reconstructions remains of a wall and a few objects from the Roman times were found.

The castle has a wall and two watch towers. And a beaufitul view. :)

The inside of the watch tower has seen better days.

A window with a view.

From behind the wall.

Next to the castle there is an open-air museum with a couple of granaries that were used in the Kamnik area a few centuries ago.

I wish we had more time to explore the many attractions Kamnik and its surroundings have to offer, but there is always another time. :) Showing Sebastian around Kamnik was actually a welcome kick in the butt for me too, as I discovered I hardly have any photos of my own home town! Shame on me. :)
As usual, more photos here.

A grey and bleak day in Piran, Socerb and Škocjan

My friend Sebastian and I explored Slovenian coast and Karst one bleak Sunday in February. First we went to Piran and climbed the hill with the town wall. Everything was grey and there was no distinction between the sea and the sky.



Always interesting narrow streets of Piran:


Then we quickly visited Socerb Castle.

The views towards the Adriatic Sea weren't exactly magnificent. :D

Our next destination was the Škocjan Cave. Photography is not allowed inside, but I took a few pics at the exit and from the viewpoint. The view from the viewpoint is actually very impressive, with Škocjan village on the other side of the collapsed valley and the Reka River flowing below.

The visit of the cave was a completely different story from many years ago when the Reka River was extremely polluted, dirty, smelly and covered in foam. Now it's clear and green, making the whole experience really memorable.
As I already mentioned, taking photos is not allowed and we could only take our cameras out near the exit. I could barely take one picture before our guide turned off the lights!


When outside, you have to take a path through another cave back to the entrance.


Bleak weather or not, this was a great day. :)

Frosty Mt. Slivnica

It was a cold, grey and pretty miserable weekend. While trying to make the best of it, I went hiking to Mt. Slivnica and took some pictures. Frosty ones. :)







Ahhh, just getting some fresh air was worth it!

First snow back in October

Yep, this post is only three months late. :) At least the photos didn't end up buried somewhere on my disk, with no selection and no post-processing.
Anyway, in mid October my friends Andrej, Črt, Luka, Michelle and I went exploring the west part of Gorenjska. The conditions were perfect - OK, different to say the least: the foliage was still bright colors, but it was covered with a thin layer of snow, and to top it off, the mountains were enveloped in mists.
First we drove to Zelenci, the source of the Sava Dolinka river. It was half-raining, half-snowing.


Then we hopped across the border into Italy to visit the always gorgeous Mangart Lakes. There was more snow here, and more mists.

Mt. Mangart was obscured by the clouds and fog.

Red leaves and snow.




After a hearty meal in Kranjska Gora we went exploring along a winding country road leading into the mountains above the town. Last year I photographed the same area even later, on November 1, but it was a perfect fall day, all sun and no snow. The ski pistes at Podkoren:


The higher we went, the more snowy it became.



From a nice lookout point the views of the valley opened up in front of us. The light around Mt. Špik was eerily blue.



There was an interesting blue cloud above Kranjska Gora, too.

By the time we left it got pretty dark.

The combination of fall foliage and snow is very picturesque. I'm glad we were lucky enough to capture it (and that we kicked our butts out of the house to see it in the first place!).
More photos here.