This fabulous castle dates as far back as the 12th and 13th century–a magnificent sight to see jetting out of the rock cliff with a vast gaping cave below and the wide open blue sky above. I was incredibly fortunate to have gone to visit this castle on August 20th as they hold the annual “Erasmus’s Knight’s tournament” on that date. It’s a festival celebrating the times and lives of the place during the 16th century with knights, jousting, street bazaars and the likes as it might have been then. This was actually the fascinating bit as you are able to get hands-on with medieval weaponry, there was also organized games for kids, costumes, food and drink all in one of the most picturesque settings I think I have ever been to in all my life.
The castle is open most of the year but this one fair is only for one day so it was a bit of a mad scramble to get there as it seemed thousands of other people and hundreds of cars had the same idea as us and there was bad traffic for kilometers and frustrating parking on little field hilltops and village roads to get anywhere within walking distance of the castle and little hamlet village where most of these events were taking place. My advice is if you are driving to get there early and leave early as the roads are not made for heavy traffic and the organizers are naturally unwilling to make a lager state road there just for this one day event or mess with the natural beauty of the small country roads so you have to take it as part of the experience. But one look around from the castle bridge at the castle and surrounding countryside will make all the inconvenience seem small in comparison. I was not able to have time to visit inside the castle itself but I hear it is very well maintained and beautiful, guess I’ll have a good excuse to get out there again sometime.
There did not seem to be any public transport so arranging a trip will have to be planed through a tour agent or personal/rent car. We went to the Postojnska jama (caves) in the afternoon but to really absorb it all I’d recommend one day each especially of you go there for the tournament event too. I was with a bunch of friends and just caught a ride but I would have loved to have taken more time at the tournament and castle.
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