A sLOVEian island paradise
Slovinea has come up trumps again, providing Paloma, our motorhome an idilic spot to rest her weary wheels.
When I awoke this morning, the sky although grey was full of promise and the view of the river and its rickety old wooden bridge were just to die for.
We are in , Kostanjevica na Krk (be) in the free, official motorhome stop over, it has space for 5 but we have not seen another soul, bar the kids using a rope swing to see who can make the biggest splash !
Leaving our lake side pitch in what can only be described as our own private camping ground, with its 5 star facilities we headed out along some more of Slovinea’s smaller roads, climbing up into the mountains and descending on the hairpin roads until we reached our first stop of Novo Mesto.
The direct translation of Novo Mesto is new town, but don’t let that fool you .
The old city of Novo Mesto is impressive with its magnificent Main Square, with arcade hallways that feel like they could lead to forgotten lands creating the ground floors of historic town houses and the magnificate Town Hall.
Also the old town boasts not one but two impressive churches, the St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Franciscan Church.
Especially stunning are the row of houses perched on the riverbank – with their reflection seemingly dancing in the Krka River they make for the most picture perfect view.
The touirst information boards (helpfully al, written in English) tells of Many well-known Slovenians who lived in Novo Mesto, the likes of the gymnast and Olympic medallist, Leon Štukelj, who attended his first Olympic Games in 1924 in Paris, where he won The gold medal in gymnastics.
We then traveled on to our chosen stop over Kostanjevica na Krki which is a small town in the historic Lower Carniola region of Slovenia.
What makes it special is that The center of the town is on an island in the Krka River, yes folk we are island hoping, well ok we crossed a bridge
All the tourist websites have it is promoted as the “Venice of Lower Carniola”, not strictly true but it is beautiful never the less. The river completely circles the town centre, so to enter or exit you have to cross the water.
An explore of the town shows off a couple of the things that bring its fame :-
The unique collection of carved wooden art works.
One thing I must find out, why would you ring the church bell about 50 times at 6 o’clock on a Sunday morning ?
Truly a wounder full part of Solviena to spend a couple of days.
So eat you heart out “Europe on a Shoestring” eastern Slovinea has a lot to offer the tourists !
Paul.
Ps sorry for the late update, who remembers GPRS being the highlight of the mobile internet, well I am now fully aware how slow life used to be !