Panorama of Ljubljana

Panorama of Ljubljana
Originally uploaded by Crt Ahlin

Another shot at taking a panorama image. Stitched from a series of photographs taken from the "first floor" of the Ljubljana castle. Ascend the spiral staircase from the courtyard and you will be rewarded with a view of Ljubljana. This particular day was quite hazy, but with spring approaching, there will soon be plenty beautiful sunny days. I think the stitch came out quite well, the seems are not obvious at all.

The exhibition

The exhibition
Originally uploaded by Crt Ahlin

So what is happening in Ljubljana lately? The weather smells like spring already and the dreaded winter fog has receded. The freezing temperatures might yet return, as in the last couple of years the "climate" is acting pretty weird and May snow is not unheard of. But for the moment, it looks very promising.
Time to visit the castle and enjoy the view. A lot of people get that idea and it's no wonder, since the spring accentuates the romantic feel of the medieval castle. Not only can you enjoy the view and have a drink on the windy/sunny terrace, but you can also visit the photography exhibition in the castle's interior. It is titled "The founding of the Slovene Photography Section at the Museum of Gorenjska" and portrays the photographic tradition in Slovenia. Check it out, if you visit the castle. It's free anyway ;)

A daytrip to Primorska region

We started early, we were up and on our way at 6.15am. Our first stop was Cerknica lake. We wanted to take a few shots of sunrise but unforunately the sky was cloudy so we moved ahead toward Socerb castle near the southwestern Italian border. We made a wrong turn near Postojnska cave and came to (in my opinion) one of the most magical slovenian castles Predjamski grad, where each year traditional Erasmus knight's tournament
is held. By now the sun was up and not covered with clouds so we made some nice pictures of the castle.



It was really nice and peaceful, but because early bird doesn't always catch the worm (the castle opens at 10am, we were there at 9.30am) we continued our way towards Socerb village, according to the plan. We got there around 11am, still quite early (it is amazing how many things you can see when getting out of bed a little earlier) and we took a look of the surroundings. The castle was first mentioned in the 13th century, it has a strategic position on the cliff where
Carst meets Šavrinska brda. The castle itself is not as spectacular as f.e. Predjama castle, it is quite small, but it offers a great view of Slovenian Istria, coastal settlements and Trieste gulf.


There is nothing but a restaurant inside the castle, which you can enter as a restaurant guest. It is also used for weddings and protocolary meetings, prince Albert of Monaco and former president Milan Kučan have among others also enjoyed their services. The surrounding area offers many great opportunities for easy hiking (the strong wind makes a scary noise through the pine trees but it didn't chase us away) and there is also a cave near where the only underworld church (chapel) in Slovenia lies. It is only opened on Sundays so we unfortunately didn't have a chance to take a look at it. We were quite hungry by now so we headed for Izola, a small town on the Slovenian coast. We ate our meal at picerija Gušt and it was quite good. The last stop was the Great cross above the Strunjan bay, which is also a national reserve (4km long) and the Moon bay, which is supposed to be an energy point. There are also many paths for hiking and great views. It was getting dark so we didn't descend down to the bay, but we will be back!