If you live in Ljubljana or you are on holiday and you would like to go out of town for a day, Kamnik is a good place to go.
It is situated only half an hour from Ljubljana, towards the breathtaking Kamnik Alps, on the Kamniska Bistrica river. The famous Velika planina, a mountain plateau with green pastures and herdmen’s settlement is located not far from the Kamnik old town. But this time, I wanted to talk to you about less known parts of Kamnik valley, that I discovered recently with my family.
Our first stop was the centre of Kamnik. Because it was Sunday, it was easy to park. The town centre is very small, but if you look closely you will discover numerous old houses, some renovated and others nearly in ruins. I loved the facade decorations and ornaments on the houses, old fashioned front doors, freshly renovated church (with an amazing very innovative Christmas crib) and quiet narrow streets.
You will also spot the Kamnik old castle (today in ruins, a great walking spot) and new castle, the Franciscan Friary monastery and Plecnik’s chapel. You will find more information about the histroy of Kamnik in the local tourist office, also open on Sunday.
After an excellent lunch in the village of Vrhpolje, we drove into the forests towards the Budnar musem house in the village of Zgornje Palovce (about 10 min from the Kamnik town centre). The house was built more than 350 years ago and it is an excellent example of how people used to live so many years ago: a family of 9 lived in one room (called “the house”) and a “black” kitchen (without a chimney so always full of smoke). My children were amazed!
We followed the road passing the beautiful forests, meadows, fields and small villages in the directon of Lukovica. Our next stop was Brdo pri Lukovici, a small village first time mentioned as settlement in 14th century. You can find there a beautiful Brdo Renaissance castle, today in ruins, a Baroque parish church and a Beeking Centre of Slovenia. Well worth a stop and a stroll around the village.
You can find more photos from our day trip on my Google + profile.