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Day 12: Kamnik

We hadn't made firm plans for our time in Slovenia as there are so many beautiful places we would like to visit here. I had been hoping we'd be able to go to Lake Bohinj, but when we investigated the weather forecast last night we found that it was forecast to be wet and stormy in western Slovenia for the next few days, but comparatively warm and sunny in central and eastern Slovenia. After reconsulting the guidebook, we decided to take a trip to the little town of Kamnik, north of Ljubljana. The guidebook said that it had a pretty town centre and some nice views of the Slovenian alps.

The journey to Kamnik took around 45 minutes on the train and only cost a couple of Euros each. When we arrived in the town we couldn't find any signs indicating the town centre, so we decided to walk in the direction of the first church spire we could see.

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That turned out to be a good decision and soon we were approaching what looked like the main street through the town.

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Halfway down the street we found the beautiful Church of the Immaculate Conception with its bell tower.

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It was really quite striking.

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Just past the church we caught sight of what looked like a medieval tower above the town and decided to climb up to investigate.

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From above we had some nice views back across the town...

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...and we could see some of the mountains beyond.

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We also found this building which looked like a cross between a chapel and a fortress.

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There were ruins of various fortifications in the grounds below it.

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Back down in the town we continued along the main street where, somewhat bizarrely, the emergency services seemed to be organising a fun day for Slovenian school children.

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It didn't take long for us to reach the outer perimeter of the town, where we could just make out some mountains in the distance behind the clouds.

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We walked back into the town along the river...

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...and then walked up the main street again until we found a pizzeria to get some lunch :)

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After lunch the weather seemed to have brightened up a bit so we did another circuit of the town and this time when we got to the far edge we could just make out a few more mountains.

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We caught the train back to Ljubljana and after a brief rest at the apartment, set out for a late afternoon stroll around the capital.

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We were intending to climb up to the castle, but suddenly it started looking a bit high!

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We decided we'd better give it a go anyway and started climbing. The path was very steep indeed, but it wasn't long before the castle started looking a bit nearer :)

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And of course, the higher we climbed the better the views out across Ljubljana were.

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Soon we were in the castle courtyard...

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If you think some of the castle looks quite new, it's because it fell into disrepair once Slovenia was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and renovation works only started taking place in the 1960s.

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There's a nice path which goes around the outer edge of the castle.

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From there we could see the hills beyond Ljubljana...

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...as well as some of the main sights in the city itself, like the pink Franciscan church...

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...and of course we had a close-up view of the castle tower.

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We took the scenic route back down into the city, which led us through the forest.

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We found ourselves in a part of town we didn't recognise, but it was very pretty.

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As we followed the street it started to look more familiar as the cathedral came into view...

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...and then the main square again :)

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We've had a lovely day in Kamnik and Ljubljana. Eastern Slovenia looks like it's going to have the best weather tomorrow, so we are contemplatin a visit to Maribor, Slovenia's second city.




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