This most peculiar tower, overlooking a church was once protected by a mighty castle and is the very definition of a Secret Place to Visit, cos even if you know where it is, you might completely miss it!

You will need to look up as you head into the deep Slovenian Coastal Hinterland out towards Buzet and the border with Croatian Istrija.. (Istrija is shared between Slovenia and Croatia)..

When you get to the sign for Kubed, high up above on a massive rock hill are the remains of the castle, a new church and this rather unique tower..

Don't miss this cute little side alley down from the tower..

In Medieval times, Slovenia was a frontline for raiding Ottoman empire armies rampaging into Europe using lightning quick raids as their tactic to steal property and people.

Pretty much the only way to escape these raids was to hide in a cave.. (Slovenia has lots of caves), OR go to a high tower or inside a castle before the invaders arrived and then you would be safe, cos they would usually move on..

The Fortress Church towers above the ancient road..

Slovenia has no shortage of towers and churches and many of these were fortified, with high walls or even castles built around them to keep the enemies out..

We noticed many different types of what we call "Fortress Churches" all over Green Slovenia and Kubed is another unique example of this!

The 5 Sided Tower..

So Kubed tower is not only a peculiarly shaped tower, but a fantastic example to see how Medieval Slovenians dealt with this Turkish raiding threat..

Walk around the base of this tower and have a good look as there are absolutely NO doors or windows lower down, especially not facing out.

Then go inside to the interior courtyard side of the tower and look up to see where the door frame was and has now been filled in..

Nowadays there is a door at ground level too, of course!

Notice there are NO doors or windows at the base of the tower, they were higher up so the villagers could get in by ladder..

It is halfway up the 5 sided tower!

Well in Medieval times this was the ONLY way into the tower, so when the bells rang and the fires were lit to raise the alarm for fast approaching attackers, the locals had to leg it here to the tower as quick as they could..

They would lean a high ladder onto one of the tower's 5 walls and climb up into the tower through the door..

Then when everyone was inside, the ladder was dragged high up though the door into the tower and everyone was safe.. genius!

This is the side where you can see the fifth wall of the tower..

And if you want to see this, it is all here in Kubed..

Indeed as you travel around Green Slovenia keep your eyes open for tall church towers that are seperate to the church building and see if you can see or imagine the locals doing exactly the same to escape the invaders!

The minimum you will get up here on this rocky plateau is an amazing view of the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland, but have a look around and you can see how the tower fits into a defensive wall that protected the rest of this rocky outcrop..

Nowadays a newer St Florian church has been built in the protected compound behind the tower and this new building kinda cuts off the way to the far edge of the rock where the castle was..

the old tower was part of the first walled defences and there was a marketplace inside here too..

But there are still some crumbled walls and evidence of the castle, so maybe visit the church and then you might be able to go through to see the old castle?

Do have a good look around the base of the tower and you will see how they managed to merge the tower into the wall, somehow starting with 5 walls that end up looking like a 4 walled tower at the top!

Quite unique and well worth a stop..

Spring time is Iris time in Green Slovenia..

Visiting Kubed..

Kubed is easy to find, but typical of an Istrijan Hinterland village with narrow little streets and pretty houses all close together..

You do need to turn off the main road to Buzet and then weave your way up towards the tower, where there is a little car park for the church next to the tower..

Slovenians seem quite oblivious to this incredible Fortress Church legacy they have and the little info board in English concentrates more on the newer church, but now you know what to look out for, you can have a good nose around for yourselves!

Fortress churches are almost alway on top of mighty hills..

Other Stuff to do around Kubed..

So Kubed will be a short stop on a larger Istrijan daytrip adventure and there are lots of other places and things to see and do around here..

There was a whole network of Medieval fortresses, towers and churches that would light fires and ring bells to warn the next one in line that the Turks were coming.. Not far from Kubed is the sensational Fortress Church of Hrastovlje, where you can still visit the castle and church, which also protects a must see very special Dance of Death fresco!

We did a couple of other articles about stuff to see near the huge Coastal Hinterland Cliff at the top of this mini coastal region AND and the bit closer here to Kubed we called the Istrijan Coastal Hinterland and any of the places contained in them could be easily combined with the Kubed 5 Sided Tower for an amazing day out..

This road leads to the Slovenian border with Istrijan Croatia and Buzet..

The Coastal Hinterland is also one of the 7 Green Slovenian wine regions, called Vinakoper, so expect to see vines and also olive groves all over the place.

You could also head from the Lodge via Hrastovlje and Kubed to get to the Slovenain Coast without using the motorway and have a real Coastal Hinterland adventure along the way, exploring some other little hill top villages around here and maybe doing an unexpected hike too..

You will be very surprised how big this unknown Coastal Hinterland actually is, compared with the relatively short Slovenian coastline. But expect close to zero traffic and even the villages seem to be empty.. So this is an amazing place to explore and hang out in if you want to be on your own..

the 5th wall has been so cleverly added to make this tower merge with the nature here..

The other main direction around here to explore in an easy daytrip from the Lodge is down towards Croatian Istrija, over the unmanned border to further adventures maybe exploring Buzet Hill Top Village, hiking Buzet Gorge or venturing further inland to other fabulous Istrijan hill top villages like Motovun or Grozjnan..

But there is nothing like returning to Slovenia at the end of the day and being surrounded by the Greeness once again and if you missed Kubed on the way out, then look up for that big rock plateau and maybe check out the amazing 5 walled tower on the way home instead!