Road trip! Back in the car again today for a drive to the southwest town of Novo Mesto. The town is in the Dolenjska region of Slovenia, only a short distance from the border with Croatia and about one hour by freeway from Ljubljana.
Its a very small and pretty town, in the elbow of the river Krka, so it didn’t take us a ton of time to tour around. We visited a castle – Grm Castle – which is really no more than a large country house just outside the city centre. The castle is used as some kind of govt offices now, so nothing to see inside, and outside not a whole lot to be impressed by. But it was a nice walk to and back from the castle, through the “suburbs” of Novo Mesto.
After the castle we walked up the hill for a visit to St. Nicholas church, overlooking the town. There, I was able climb the 126 steps of the bell tower for a 360 view of the town and surrounding countryside (Lisa declined this adventure). And while I was up there, I had an earful as the bells rang out to announce 11:45am. After the church, we headed back to the main square for lunch, and then got back in the car and drove the backroads through the hills and valleys back to Ljubljana.
Dinner in Ljubljana on the river, and that was the day today (couple of pics at the end of the gallery below from the Dragon bridge in Ljubljana). Oh, and crowds in Novo Mesto? Zero. I think we might have been the only tourists.
