Celje

(Pron. cell-yeah)


Known for it's hops, goldsmiths (I met two rather famous ones) and for the Counts of Celje. This is Slovenia's 3rd largest city, with a population of around 65,000 people. Celje derives it's name from the Roman settlement Celeia. Economically and culturally Celje peaked in the Middle Ages, under the Counts of Celje, who were one of Central Europe's major ruling dynasties for over three Centuries.
Yesterday I boarded an InterCity train for my first venture out of Ljubljana. I was headed 89 km east to Celje, to spend the most delightful day catching up and sightseeing with my friend Tanja.
After a great breakfast we set off to explore the city, with our first stop being the Museum of Modern History. Here I was introduced to a wonderfully presented Celje of the 20th century. After taking in the exhibits, we left the museum and wandered about the old town.

One of the structures that fascinated me was what Tanja referred to as the "city castle' where there is currently a dig and restoration going on.




Stones and pillars dating to Roman times.





Celje's old town square.



When we had wandered the old town we drove to pretty Gorerje, where we lingered over a wonderful lunch including the best mushroom soup I have ever had, the mushrooms picked from the surrounding forests. Heading back to Celje we stopped to visit Tanja's church, then in stark contrast, walked over to the large mall where we solved my coffee dilemma. Large and modern was followed by a visit to the beautiful windswept Old Castle from the 12th Century, (it acquired it's current layout in the 14th Century), and I was suitably awed. This is one of the countries largest fortifications.




After walking the ancient pathways, and wondering of the stories the stones would tell if they could speak, we went to meet her delightfully warm parents, Vlado and Anita Planinsek, who turned out to be two of the regions well known goldsmiths! I was treated to a detailed and fascinating introduction to their art, and before we knew it the time had passed very quickly, and we had just enough time to dash out to the countryside to see Tanja's younger sister Natasha (who I met last year in Vancouver) and her new husband David, visit over some wonderful ice-cream (my third helping of the day!), and then make a mad dash back into Celje to catch the last train of the night with barely 2 minutes to spare. Thank you my dear friend "Cookie Monster" for such a wonderful day. I am most looking forward to our planned trip to the Soca River Valley next month!