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Renault Roaming

Italy -- Croatia - ?
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  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Minors' quarters

    June 28, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    This house belonged to a miner and is being restored as part of the museum. In it, 3 families lived together with some single blokes allowed to sleep in the attic. Only the owner was allowed to keep animals: goats, pigs, chickens but only 1 cow. There were 2 gardens habitually, vegetable and herbs.
    Part of their wages were paid in grain - shades of the company store.
    Images of the early miners show them in elf hats and smocks. They were obliged to wear them as they had no pockets so that no ore would be mislaid. Given the difficulty of smelting enough ore to make a tiny amount of mercury, and the tightly controlled market, it seems a bit superfluous.but in the end did inspire Disney.
    The matrimonial bed is next to the mass heater. Not exactly king sized but no doubt cosy in the winter.
    From boredom and to get pin money, the ladies used to gather on someone's veranda to make the lace for which Idrija is famous. There is one of the oldest lace schools in town and I saw some work by students, as young as 9, that was pretty impressive. Especially the more artistic multicoloured patterns and even a 3 dimensional lace sculpture (by a boy!)
    A couple of hundred years ago, as indeed today, the State didn't want the proletariat educated above their status in life: they wanted them trained to work. So the mine started the first independent high school in Slovenia, recognising that this would eventually provide them with the skilled engineers they needed. They also funded a theatre, now the oldest in SLO.
    This place is much more interesting than the places most tourist buses go and if I returned I would spend more time in the smelting museum / exhibition and in "Anthony's Main Road", the original entrance. I would expect large things from "Francis' Shaft" of course.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Home, sweet home.

    June 28, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    A common Slovenian design for well beehaved residents; the Carniolan grey.
    Sometimes mounted on carts for easy relocation, the entries to the so called AZ boxes stacked liked blocks of flats were painted with individual scenes. Not many people can be bothered painting them nowadays but still a common sight in the countryside.
    The middle of this one serves as the keepers office, and the hives can be checked from the inside.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Mercury rising

    June 28, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    WIth temperatures reaching 35 on the concrete I thought I'd check from where all this extra Mercury was coming.
    On satellite imagery a line from Italy to Croatia can be seen marking the fault where the Adriatic plate has been insinuating itself under the Eurasian one for millennia. Following this trail I entered the Kanomlja valley to Idrija where the oldest rocks in Slavinia - Carboniferous shales that are at least 320 million years old - can be found. Thanks to this rift, when a tax avoider named Schauffer escaped to this valley in 1480 and took up coopering, whilst testing the waterproofness of his tubs one day, discovered one tub markedly heavier than the rest bearing flashes of silvery stuff. Rather shortsightedly he took the mineral to the nearest assay office & lost control over the property as soon as the authorities discovered that it was in fact Mercury, a substance in much demand but in little supply.
    By the end of the 16th C when Gewerkenegg Castle was constructed, the Idrija mine was well on its way to being the 2nd largest in the world, (after Almaden in Spain.) In fact "Gewerkenegg" means mine, for it was built for security rather than defence as it housed the mercury, the administration hq of the mine / town, and of course the manager & his family.
    The Baroque painting in the courtyard was added later & recently touched up.
    I was dying to see the cinnabar, by product of the smelting process, but nothing much was said about it. Briefly, I saw red.
    Showing how commerce trumps even nationalism, the managers made a syndicate with the Spanish and ended up shipping most of it to Spain. Hg has a special affinity for gold you see, and by then Hispanic gold mines in South America were in full swing.
    The EU banned mercury mining in 2011 so the works have closed down leaving about 40 years supply still down there, having produced 107,000 tons over 500 years (13% of the entire world production, enough to make a 20m cube,) and cut an estimated 700 km of tunnel.
    Big business wants to reopen it but for once the locals and the law agree in opposing them. After all, contaminated silt is still finding its way down the Soci river into the Trieste bay.
    The mine also owned 9500 hectares of forest surrounding the town, the town alone needed 30000 cubic metres per annum, and what with pit props and smelters they would have deforested the place long ago where it not for some advanced sustainable harvesting.
    The bubble sculpture is supposed to invoke the feeling of mercury in the ground.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    In the bag

    June 28, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    A fierce, fire breathing dragon once lived in Postonja caves. Everybody was terrified of it. A brave shepherd called Jacob also lived nearby and was always going on saying things like "if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen" and similar annoying phrases. So it all came to a head one day and the villagers told him that if he was such a smarty pants he could find a way to deal with it. "Go! Quench the flames of the reptile's ardour". And so on.
    "All right," quoth the valiant sheep guardian, "I will."
    So he devised a cunning plan to fill some tasty calf carcasses with quicklime and tempt the dragon to eat them. Cunning because he used someone else's veal rather than his own mutton.
    Sure enough the dragon tossed the lot down and went for a quenching pale afterwards. No sooner had he drunk his fill when he thought, "My that was a good meal - I'm fit to burst." Then he did.
    In gratitude for his amazing victory the townsfolk collected all the bits of dragon skin and created a faux crocadile bag for him. And ever since they have been bag makers in this town.

    However, I am not here for the bag but for another so-called dragon, the Proteus or Olm, symbol of the town.
    I can't face paying 65 Euros for the combo so have handed over 10.9 after queueing 30 minutes at the ticket booths. You know you are in a commercial enterprise when only 3 booths out of 7 are manned and the queue exits the building and lines the street.

    In the caves of S.E. Europe lives the inspiration for both Peter Pan and Gollum. It’s the olm, a blind, cave-dwelling salamander, also called the proteus and the “human fish”, for its pale, pinkish skin. It has spent so long adapting to life in caves that it’s mostly blind, hunting instead with various supersenses including the ability to sense electricity. It never grows up, retaining the red, feathery gills of its larval form even when it becomes sexually mature at sweet sixteen. It stays this way for the rest of its remarkably long life, and it can live past 100 though 50 to 60 seems more normal. It’s essentially blind although its hidden eyes and even parts of its skin can still detect the presence of light. It also has an array of supersenses, including heightened smell and hearing and possibly even the ability to sense electric and magnetic fields.

    The caves here have provided the olm with safe haven for over 20 million years, but pollutants leaching into the caves and the attentions of eager black market collectors have seriously hit the olm population, and it is now vulnerable to extinction.
    The "Vivarium" is an interesting zoo, where samples of cave biota including the olm are kept in tanks in part of the cave system. Visitors can see them under ultra-violet light. I was more impressed by the CaveCricket though: for ruthless appetite they take some beating. First they eat anything they can find in the cave; then when they can't find any other animal they turn cannibal! And then, when all the other crickets have been devoured, they start eating their own limbs.

    Another piece of trivia from the cave. Graffiti have been found dating back hundreds of years although thankfully the practice has ended now. The earliest is dated 1213 & if you want to see it look at a 2 euro coin.
    (So they say, I don't have one to hand.)    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
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    Light as leaf on Linden Tree

    June 27, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Since pre-Celtic days the sacred Linden tree has been associated with eternal life, through its association with Kresnik, the sun god. During medieval times every castle, city, town, village, & hamlet had a tree under which business was conducted; for it was impossible to tell a lie whilst seated under the bough of the tree. Even now in Slovenia the Linden or Lime ( lipa in Slovene,) tree has a special judicial prerogative and is the national symbol.

    So it will not surprise you to discover that this particular tree, next to the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, was planted by a young village lass over the grave of her beloved. Girls love a badass and this he, Erasmus, certainly was; the robber Baron of Predjama castle. He met his untimely end after surviving a year long siege of his castle before betrayal by a fed-up - or maybe not so fed up after a year locked up - servant who signalled the enemy gunners with a candle lit in Erasmus' bedroom window which they duly aimed at and blew the room apart.

    Heeding the advice of the lady in the Tourist Information centre I did not pay to see inside the house, or the cave, or the small little museum for the reduced price combo ticket at 45 Euro was a little too steep given the lack of anything substantial to gape at. The 'treasure trove' found buried under the floor of one room comprised a few small silver tumblers and a couple of silver candle-sticks for the glimpse of which I was happy to pay the municipal elections museum 3 Euros. And I got a fascinating explanation of the karst region in Slovenia, its myriad caves and the lifestyles of its inhabitants.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
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    Not very rice

    June 26, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    The San Sabba Rice Husking Mill, just outside the Trieste city limits, has been retained as a monument to atrocities conducted during WWII.

    The German Army initially commandeered the place to act as a prison for enemy soldiers: Stalag 339. After it was decided to send all allied troops to German camps, they handed it over to the Nazis for a police base.

    The Ukranian SS ran the camp as an interrogation / assassination centre against the Italian / Slovenian / Croatian partisans of whom 2000, ( some say 4-5000,) perished. As well as 25 Jews.

    Many more people were channeled through here before catching a train: degenerates, (physical / mental / political / sexual,) inferior races, (Gypsies, Jews, Slavs.) They did not have to wear a colour coded armband though.

    The reported methods of execution included hanging, shooting, gassing and bludgeoning. There are several matter-of-fact video descriptions By survivors of events that occurred: one, by a Taylor who was forced to spend a year making officers' clothing on the ground floor of the factory, says that he never found blood or stains on the clothes he had to retrieve from the killing chambers. The metal whip or knout tells another story though.
    That the Nazis first tried to use the rice desiccator to terminate lives is probably just propaganda.

    The Germans tried to blow the place up when the allies and Yugoslavs arrived. The rooms used to collect people for execution, individual cells holding up to 6 people at a time, & the 3 story transit block survived. An architect sympathetically design a contrasting, concrete framework
    to show where the furnaces and outer walls stood: a steel sculpture marks the position of the crematorium chimney.

    The most poignant image In my mind is the plaque bearing a metal image and translation of the last letter from a 19 year old partisan to his family. It was found hidden in the prison long after his death.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Tarry Easty

    June 26, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Recognise the little leprechaun walking along a street in Tarry Easty? [Finnegans Wake?]
    After dropping Adam at the airport I motored down the coast road past Mad "Emperor of Mexico" Max's Castello Di Miramare, equipped if I remember correctly with a beautiful green marble bath and gold taps, towards Trieste and lunch with cousin Igea (& Vanessa & Alessandro.)

    Whether founded by Japhet son of Noah as some claim, or by the passing Argonaut Tergeste, (one of Jason's buddies,) which seems more likely given its Roman name, Tergeste, it was already a wealthy port in 178 BCE. Travel writers since then have been careful to describe the place as nondescript if they mention it all. Our Jamie, (my Joyce for leading into this,) although living in the place for several years at the conclusion of the Hapsburg dynasty's influence, never wrote about it directly for example. My feeling is that this was done specifically to Keep Tourist Away and Preserve The Purity of the town. Which it has done leaving the older Eastern part of town (near where Igea lives) pretty unscathed and the Western (North of Corso Italia,) redevelopment by order of the Empress Marie Therese is a classical 18th C suburb above the Canale Grande.

    A few tasters including the largest square in Europe facing the sea, Piazza del Unita d'Italia.

    Actually, from a geopolitical point of view, it should be in Slovenia but there you are.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Summit else to talk about

    June 25, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    In 1360 a young shepherd bot was grazing his cattle on the verdant grasses of the manga on Mount Lussari. As he idly sucked on a succulent grass stalk he came across an exquisite statue of the Madonna. Sensing a reward, he picked it up and delivered it to the village priest below in Camporosso. The priest, realising that his fortune was made, carefully wrapped it away in the vestry safe, planning a magnificent unveiling to the faithful on Sunday.
    But alas, when he came to retrieve the figurine before mass, the shelf was empty.
    Later, whilst everybody was tut-tutting about the thief in their midst, the shepherd boy found the Madonna in exactly the same place he originally discovered it. So he brought it back to the church with exactly the same result.
    History glides delicately over the number of times this cycle occurred before the penny dropped. Suffice it to say that they eventually realised that she belonged on top of Mount Lussari, so they built a chapel for her there and it has now grown to become A Sanctuary.
    Well, maybe the silver robes were a later embellishment.

    How Judith got in on the act is anyone's guess; but I wouldn't want to argue with her if that is what she desired. ... ... ...And 2 left feet.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Short walk

    June 24, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    One afternoon we went for a little hike around the Laghi Di Fusine. For some reason luckily it attracts mainly local people, (ie Austrians, Slovenians and Italians for those countries meet nearby,) so we had a nice little jaunt around the two lakes.
    A highlight was sitting on the cafe's terrace / jetty as the sun set over Mangard mountain with a chilled Spritzer in hand. (Aperol, Prosecco and a little sparkling water)
    A, looking pensive.
    A, looking pensive.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Not Mine

    June 22, 2019 in Italy ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    We stayed in the town of Cave del Predel a short distance from Sella Nevea along the valley used troops since Roman times to invade the Central European plains from the coastal area, and vice versa.
    Apparently, a longlong time ago a magician lived in one of the surrounding caves together with his daughter and a stash of loot. The lass was the local beauty queen who loved and was loved by, the handsome prince living in a castle under the summit of Cinque Punte mountains. (We remarked at the 5 digits on the skyline.)
    In those days young lovers ran arm in arm through the meadows, bathed chastely in the waters of the lake, made garlands from dandelions and no doubt kissed each other romantically in the moonlight whilst dreaming of a glorious future together. They did all of those things it is recorded (orally.)
    But the lonely, unkind magician saw this union as an affront to his authority and determined to stop the marriage. Which of course he did, by casting spells that transformed his daughter into Monte Re and the prince into the Predil valley. And so the magician remained alone, filled with hatred but very rich.
    After a few centuries people arrived in the area and started looking around for useful stuff. As soon as they found the treasure however, the magician transformed them into minerals and hid them in the mountain.
    Ever since then, the townsfolk have been excavating tunnels into the mountain trying to locate the hidden treasure, but only coming up with zinc.
    Naturally, anyone who discovers the mysterious hiding place will break the curse and allow the 2 lovers to be re-united in human form. Unfortunately, this does not look like happening soon as the mine closed in 1991 and only tourist visit on a short train ride into the 130 km of tunnels still existing.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler
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    Snow good

    June 21, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Headed North up the Soci river and over the pass to Cave de Predel. The pass was a narrow road with several , even narrower, chicanes created by concrete blockhouses from WWII. And still the 60 seater buses came.
    This trip was to meet up with Adam, Alessandro, Ana, and Vanessa (alphabetic order!) in order to traverse the via ferrata named after, (and paid with a bequest from,) Nonno Augusto and Nonna Elenita Leva.
    Alas the 30* warmth of Slovenia had not reached the Montassio above Sella Nevea and snow blocked the route. Just to assuage any doubt a storm added its water to the message.
    After popping into the Rifugio Alpino G. Di Brazzo and gawping briefly at the Salamander, we
    had lunch instead at the dairy renowned for its cheese and jolly good it was too.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Slovenian warning

    June 21, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Caution! Teachers chasing pupils over the edge.

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Sapota a hit?

    June 16, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    After a fairly solid lunch, we took a short hike up to Slap Sopota. Initially I wondered who Sopota was and what she had done wrong but Larissa laughingly explined that Slap is Slovene for waterfall. (Who said Slavs don't have a sense of humour?) Reminds me of Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains.
    Apparently the mountains surrounding us are riddled with cave systems and are drawing an expanding crowd of adventure tourists. Andre and his gang have been asked by the property owner where they are building a garage if they would clear the entrance to one system that begins in a sinkhole 10m from his backdoor.
    It seems to be common knowledge that illegal hunters gut their kills and leave the offal in bags up in the hills. In this case, as Marco found to his digestive system's detriment when lowered on a rope to inspect the condition of the cave entrance, they had been tossing the bags down the sinkhole, where they not only decomposed but also attracted other animals who then could not escape so contributed more mass to the atmosphere. The guys do not appear to be very keen to take the job.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Javorka

    June 16, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Javorca
    In the southern part of the Triglav Park you can find the Alpine pasture of Polog, above the valley of the Tolmika river, where the rear echelon of the Austro-Hungarian army could recuperate in a relatively safe haven from artillery fire during WWI, and where members of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Mountain Brigade created this church between March 1 and Nov 1 1916
    The Soca (Isonzo) Front from 1915 to 1917 was an area to be avoided if possible. Sadly, many Italians and many Austro-Hungarians were not allowed the choice. The names of 2564 Austro-Hungarians who died fruitlessly are recorded on oak shingles on the walls of this church.
    Remigius Geyling, a Vienna painter and stage set designer, was a 1st Lieutenant who took part in the battles. He drew up the plans for the "Memorial Church of the Holy Spirit in Javorca". The soldiers, most of whom were tradesmen, constructed the monument under another one of their officers, Hungarian Lieutenant Geza Jablonszky.
    The Coats-of-Arms of the 20 provinces that comprised A-Hungary are remembered in panels on the exterior walls. This one is 'Trieste / Trst'.
    Just up the valley during WWII the German Army obliterated the Simon Gregorcic Partisan Brigade in the pastures of Sleme and Mali Stador. So it is fitting that the modern Sentiero della Pace dalle Alpi all' Adriatico, (that from the town of Log to Trst,) passes through this place, where on St Vitus\ day an Orthodox mass is held and at Whitsun, a Catholic one.
    It is a very pretty chapel in a very tranquil setting, and not a Coca-Cola vendor in sight.

    Inscribed above the door by Italians renovating the building in 1934 is the phrase:
    "Ultra cineres hostium ira non superest".
    [Anger / violence does not survive the ashes of the enemy.]    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Arch triumph

    June 11, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Its the day of the wedding in Tolminski Lom, the next village, and the village lads have turned out to prepare the "parton". This is an arch of spruce boughs under which the bridal couple must pass and which holds a sign wishing them luck. They must keep the sign safe until the next wedding when they hand it over to the newlyweds.
    Now each village has its own variation on the theme, and there is great rivalry between them. Andr, who comes from Tolmin on the other side of Most na Soci, is quite scathing about their preparation for he tells me in his village all the unmarried souls turn out to make an elaborate parton covered with flowers and baubles, and he is ashamed that he shows me this paltry excuse for one.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Hills alive with the Sound of Music

    June 9, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    My timing has been perfect for experiencing the local festival, which they tell me is shrinking year by year. Some relics of the communist past are hard to break, and the mayors of the local towns who should be facilitating the event for the benefit of the population do not want to stick their heads above the parapet. So they do nothing.
    This tiny stage is all that remains of a once glorious tradition. The party goers were all standing around chatting to each other, drinking and generally behaving well.
    There are 3 big, back-to-back festivals in the valley later in the year: Heavy Metal, pop and reggae. The biggest by far, attracting 30,000 people, is the metal one. Surprisingly, this is also the best behaved group even though movement is well nigh impossible. The worst is reggae which seems to be frequented by impoverished drug users and brings little to the economy.    Read more

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    Slovenian slab

    June 8, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Here in Slovenia a slab is not beer drunk at a BBQ: food is cooked on it.
    This is just a granite block and works very well to retain juices and to stop crumbly bits burning.
    And the trout tasted excellent.Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Alps

    June 7, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    A strange symbol on top of the mountain opposite the house.
    The head of the Soci valley where much fighting between Italians and Austro-Hungarians took place during WWI. The hobbit house was built long before the kiwis had them: this one housed artillery and machine guns though.
    The weather is very variable as the warmer air from the Adriatic meets the cooler air from the Hungarian Steppes over these mountains. This storm cloud over Krnsko Jezero formed and disappeared within 20 minutes.
    One fortunate by-product of the weather systems is that hang-gliding and parasailing enthusiasts have one of the best environments for flying in Europe. Many push their luck too far though: although fatalities are rare the helicopter gets to practice quite often. Some of the valleys have particular systems that act as traps. Get caught in the cooler air in the valley and there is no way out.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Town with the most

    June 7, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    It could be a delightful weekend escape for romantically inclined couples if the hotel by the bridge had not closed. Instead Most na Soči, occupying a rocky crest above the confluence of Soča and Idrijca rivers, is just delightful.
    7,000 grave sites date settlement back to between the late Bronze Age and the Roman period but not much seems to have happened since then. The earliest name seems to have been "In Ponte Sancti Mauri", (at Saint Maurus' bridge.) Then it became "Sveta Lucija na Mostu", (Saint Lucy on the bridge) after the local church; followed by 'Santa Lucia di Tolmino' and "Sveta Lucija ob Soči", (Saint Lucy on the Soča River) before ending up as 'Most na Soči' as a result of the communist government 1948 Law on Names of Settlements and Designations of Squares,
    One suspects a sense of humour regarding the chrome bannister leading down to the water. Is it a lure or a test for those with walking difficulties? Larissa assures me that it is in fact a work of art, though she finds it inapproriate and incomprehensible - as do I.
    Construction of the dam for the Doblar hydro plant downstream has backed the river up to form a torquiose lake which reflects the mountains and adds colour to an evening glass of schnaps.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    No kanal

    June 7, 2019 in Slovenia ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Here in Slovenia, at a small mountain village called Kanalski Lom just over the border with Italy, my hosts Andre and Larissa are renovating a small cottage and garden.
    Andre qualified as a civil engineer but his life has been redirected by an encounter with Leukaemia from which he is supposed to be convalescing. He says he feels more invigorated getting up to start work at 6 and constantly on the go between his 5 ongoing projects. He is acting as project manager in the reconstruction of various buildings in the area, made more difficult perhaps by knowing everybody having been born and bred about 6 km away.
    Larissa is a nurse who has been working with disabled children and is now going on to geriatric care for a while. She has no desire to work in a hospital, preferring like many of her generation to remain local, growing much of the food and hanging out with old friends even if that means doing with less money. Turns out she is the same age as Nandalie.
    Slovenians have been charming and welcoming to me: we have not been able to visit any town without someone - often related to Andre - saying hello and stopping for a chat. All the roads are narrow, so locals do complain about the 60 seater buses that clog the roads and provoke German motorcycle posses.In high Summer there is an over supply of motorhomes and cars that result in a quick trip to the shops taking up to 3 times longer than in Winter.
    We are at about 600m altitude and the nearest town with a cafe is Mosti na Soci, 400m lower and about 4km away. Village life is not centred on the church, although people have turned out for the Saint's day and are having a bit of a picnic. I took this shot because there is a man standing in the bell tower with a hammer: real man, real hammer and he bangs out quite a tune!

    It must be a Slavic thing as, like Russians, everybody sinks shots of (frequently home made) schnaps at the slightest opportunity; Na zdravje!    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Silent Sentry

    June 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Which is more frightening; the bishop on the staircase or the devils by the window?
    Legend of the White Lady:
    The wife of one Count, Henry IV, had rather a nasty streak in her. Countess Catherine had seven Great Danes she had trained to savage people on command. One dark and stormy night a messenger carrying gold to a nearby castle got caught out in the storm and sought safety in Gorizia castle. The Countess welcomed him and offered hospitality: and the next day set the dogs on him. Whilst the curs slavered, she took the loot to the subterranean cellar to add to her considerable hoard. A servant saw this happening and wanted in on the action. So he crept downstairs after her and suddenly slayed her with a sword.
    Unfortunately, the moment the vassel wacked her, all the treasure vanished.
    Now every 7 years the ghost of the White Lady, Catherine, appears with long, flowing hair and a light white robe - and 7 howling hounds - to float through the rooms and along the castle walls making sure her treasures are safe.
    Now the good news is that if you see her and ask where the cash is cached, not only will you be given the entire amount but you will also free her spirit so she can rest in peace.    Read more

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    On top of the hill

    June 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Couldn't resist forking out 3 Euros to see inside the castle as it has much contemporary furniture from the old days as well as an exhibition of musical instruments re-created from old documents.
    When Gorizia was first mentioned in 1001, (a document by which Emperor Otto III granted half the village of Gorizia to the Patriarch of Aquileia,) a tower in stone / wood /earth was present on the hill of Salcano. This became the castle and seat of the Mainardis who ruled over much of central Europe until the 15thC as Counts of Gorizia and Tyrol. The present structure attempts rather well to re-create their environment as much was revealed when the place was shelled during WWI.
    Here's a flavour, starting with the kitchen and dining room. The 'Hall of the Provincial States' contains many of the musical instruments which on rare occasions actually get played. That would be quite something in this room which must have been used for town council meetings as it is ringed by stalls beautifully made from inlaid walnut and burl by Bottega Veneta in 18th C.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    On top of the hill

    June 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Couldn't resist forking out 3 Euros to see inside the castle as it has much contemporary furniture from the old days as well as an exhibition of musical instruments re-created from old documents.
    When Gorizia was first mentioned in 1001, (a document by which Emperor Otto III granted half the village of Gorizia to the Patriarch of Aquileia,) a tower in stone / wood /earth was present on the hill of Salcano. This became the castle and seat of the Mainardis who ruled over much of central Europe until the 15thC as Counts of Gorizia and Tyrol. The present structure attempts rather well to re-create their environment as much was revealed when the place was shelled during WWI.
    Here's a flavour, starting with the kitchen and dining room. The 'Hall of the Provincial States' contains many of the musical instruments which on rare occasions actually get played. That would be quite something in this room which must have been used for town council meetings as it is ringed by stalls beautifully made from inlaid walnut and burl by Bottega Veneta in 18th C.    Read more

  • Roland RoutierRenault RoamingTraveler

    Gorizia

    June 6, 2019 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Finally a pronouncable name: Gorizia / Gorica in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Never thought I would miss vowels so much. 'Gorica' is the Slovene word for "little hill".
    Only a brief stop at the foot of the Julian Alps as I have to be at my next workaway tomorrow.
    Something unusual if not unique is that the 3 towns of Gorizia, Nova Gorica and Šempeter-Vrtojba, straddling the borders of Italy and Slovenia, are run by a joint administration board established in 2011. Now thats a change for the better after centuries of fighting about who owns it.
    Had time to take a photo of the pretty dull inside Cathedral, which was demolished during WWII and rebuilt on 1682 guiudelines.
    Piazza della Vittoria
    and the castle.
    Another unusual ceremony took place at 2 a.m. on the carpark where i was stealth camping, not far from the university. Half a dozen cars full of 20 year olds raced in and deposited white sacks in a pile. Then they hung around the pile gossipping quietly for a while before walking off with their booty. Make of it what you will. I just went back to bed, puzzled.    Read more

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