Today was a glorious cycling day, a relatively easy 32 miles down the Krka River to where it joins the Sava River at Brežice. The cloudless skies were a brilliant blue and though the unusually high temperatures continued, I felt refreshed as I left Novo Mesto. I felt so good, in fact, that I spent the morning trying to catch up on the journal a bit, which delayed my departure until just past eleven, resulting in a bit of a sweltering ride later in the afternoon.
The first few miles were on a dedicated bikeway, at first running parallel to the regional highway and then, remarkably, on a small road that appeared to be restricted to cyclists. Along the way, I passed Otočec Castle, which is located on a small island in the Krka River. The castle dates back to the 13th century and has been converted to a luxury hotel with a world-class restaurant, one of the many I omitted from my culinary tour of the continent. The bikeway ended just past Stranje pri Škocjanu and for the next ten miles followed local roads and low-traffic regional highways through an agricultural region rife with cattle, corn, and vegetable crops. It was an easy and thoroughly enjoyable stretch along some beautiful countryside.
One lasting image of Slovenia will be steepled churches sitting atop hillsides dotted with red-roofed houses
There appears to be an endless variety of tower/steeples that adorn Slovenian churches. Here the steeple appear somewhat similar to that in the first photo, but the towers differ in the number and shape of windows
While I was eating lunch, this herd of cattle came across the field towards me. Thinking they were curious, I went over to check them out, but realized that they were just a bio-organic mowing machine, a moving phalanx chomping almost every blade of grass in their wake.
The small town of Kostanjevica na Krki lies on the Krka river, with the main section of town actually located on an island in the river. The tourist information center was open, so I stopped by to see if I might pick up some local cycling maps – not only were there maps of the area, the staff member Anita enthusiastically provided me with a wealth of information for my journey over the next two days.
The route got a little bumpier after Kostanjevica na Krki, with a series of short up and downs. But it wouldn’t be Slovenia cycling if there wasn’t at least one challenging climb in the day, and today’s route featured two that topped out above 17%. The first was just past the small town of Podbočje, dropping me back down to a lovely stretch on gravel just alongside the Krka River. The second, smaller climb was just before crossing the Krka and entering Brežice. I was so glad to have save the hills for last, in the heat of the day! I easily found my hotel on the town’s main street and ordered a cold drink while waiting to be checked in. When checking me in, the hotel clerk asked what made me decide to cycle around Slovenia – “Mealnia?” he asked. I almost fell over!
A nice stretch of level between Kostanjevica na Krki and Podbočje
I freshened up and headed for the Brežice Castle, home of the Lower Sava Valley Museum and the Knight’s Hall frescoes – a visit deserving of its own post.
Lyle McLeodHopefully the hotel clerk had a little glint in his eye and a sly smile 😉.
On our 2017 trip I had read a news article that a Slovenian English Language school had put up a billboard with Melanie on it, captioned (in Slovenian) “See how far a little English will get you!” Both K and i were hoping to see it, but our time in the country was only for 15km’s, and I’m sure some lawyers got after it well before we got near the country. Good sense of humour exists (almost) everywhere though.
Your time in Slovenia looks magical …. It’s rocketing up our destination wish list.
1 year ago