Trip Your Day - Part Two
So, we finished with the caves (big smiles, happy smiles to be back in the sun after the cold of the cave), piled back into the van, contented ourselves with a nice snack of fresh fruit from the market) and set off to Predjama Castle - you should have already worked out that 'jama' means caves, and now let me introduce you to 'pred' - meaning 'in front of'.
One day I was browsing through travel books and saw a photo of this castle and it was the defining moment (apart from the other defining moments) which made me decide to visit Slovenia. The mingle and mash of the castle and the rock face in the photo intrigued me.
I suggest that you only come inside this beauty if you are fit, happy with heights and able to climb slippery stairs (stairs that have seen centuries of feet on them, feet that have worn the marble of the steps into a shiny slippery surface). Don't wear old jandals. Take it from me, they are slippery.
The castle was completed over many centuries, and was owned and lived in as recently as just before the second world war. Actually, on the face of it, that's not so recent now, but you get my point.
Gather around and I will tell you the romantic story (which you may have heard from me last year) of Erasmus of Lueg, lord of the castle in the 15th century and a sort of Robin Hood (a robber by any other name).
According to the legend delivered to our ears via audio kits, Erasmus came into conflict with the Habsburgs when he killed the commander of the imperial army, upon which, fearing for his life, he reached Predjama castle, and there followed nearly two years of siege. The trouble was that unknown to his attackers, there were numerous exits to the castle via routes through caves - Erasmus was able to keep his people fed and safe. Erasmus was finally betrayed by one of his own men who let the army know when Erasmus was in the lavatory, the one place in the castle which was not impenetrable, and a cannon ball ended his life.
One day I was browsing through travel books and saw a photo of this castle and it was the defining moment (apart from the other defining moments) which made me decide to visit Slovenia. The mingle and mash of the castle and the rock face in the photo intrigued me.
I suggest that you only come inside this beauty if you are fit, happy with heights and able to climb slippery stairs (stairs that have seen centuries of feet on them, feet that have worn the marble of the steps into a shiny slippery surface). Don't wear old jandals. Take it from me, they are slippery.
The castle was completed over many centuries, and was owned and lived in as recently as just before the second world war. Actually, on the face of it, that's not so recent now, but you get my point.
Gather around and I will tell you the romantic story (which you may have heard from me last year) of Erasmus of Lueg, lord of the castle in the 15th century and a sort of Robin Hood (a robber by any other name).
According to the legend delivered to our ears via audio kits, Erasmus came into conflict with the Habsburgs when he killed the commander of the imperial army, upon which, fearing for his life, he reached Predjama castle, and there followed nearly two years of siege. The trouble was that unknown to his attackers, there were numerous exits to the castle via routes through caves - Erasmus was able to keep his people fed and safe. Erasmus was finally betrayed by one of his own men who let the army know when Erasmus was in the lavatory, the one place in the castle which was not impenetrable, and a cannon ball ended his life.
His girlfriend wept at the linden tree beside the village church, which is the reason (of course) that this tree also seems to be dying of a broken heart. Tears are falling onto the keyboard as I write this story...
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