If there is one secret place that totally blindsides & amazes our guests, then it is this little unpronounceabubble church that hides a rare and special fresco..

You just don't expect to see something as fantastic as this in little old Slovenia, maybe in Napoleonic Spain, but not here, rudely interrupting your short journey down from the Lodge to the Slovenian Riviera..

Nevertheless.. we pack guests off for their seaside daytrip adventures with extra instructions on how to get to this church with the frescoes and especially how to get inside and then when we see them next day at breakfast it is invariably this little fortress church that grabs all the headlines and the wows.. 

The bells were rung and fires lit to warn other settlements of the Turkish raid..

Hrastovlje is not the most helpful Slovenian word to type into your navigation, especially when you also need to know there are LOTS of other Hrastovljes in Green Slovenia, so you must not just pick one of them blindly..

But "Hrast" means Oak tree in English and so it should not come as too much of a surprise to you now that in the third most forested country in Europe.. there will be quite a few Oak Tree Villages!

Stunning view from Hrastovlje village across vineyards and olive groves to the last cliff in Slovenia..

How to Find Hrastovlje (Oak Tree Village)..

This Medieval church protected by a castle is directly 35 mins from the Lodge and really easy to find from the exit Hrastovlje / Crni Kal on the motorway towards Koper, then you just follow the Hrastovlje road signs into the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland.

There is a little village car park close to the church and a local lady or gent is available to open the church and play you a very informative recording which brings the amazing frescos to life at the end of their stick or laser pen..

Just walk up the path from the car park to the Fortress Church..

The biggest mistake you can make trying to visit Hrastovlje is not getting lost, but to actually make it here, see the castle gate is locked and then TOTALLY miss seeing the Frescoes inside!

To be really clear, you are NOT coming here for the pretty church protected by the formidable castle walls, all of this perched stunningly on top of a hill overlooking vineyards, olive groves and with a spectacular vista of the last great cliff in Slovenia.. oh no..

YOU ARE HERE FOR THE FRESCOES!

All the other eye candy really helps and frankly, is unmissabubble too, but just in case that castle gate is locked, we ALWAYS make sure our guests know what to do..

This is the scene to AVOID.. if the castle gate is locked, phone the number and wait for the guide..

The easiest thing would be to take a few photos, enjoy the vistas, have a little walk around and then just go, BUT then you would miss the best bit and our guests know to phone the number on the gate and wait for the nice man or lady to come and open the castle up!

So the first thing to do when you arrive here at Hrastovlje is walk up the steep little hill from the car park to the castle and check if the church is open or not..

If the gate is locked, immediately phone the number and then you go though a little charade where you are asked "when you plan to come to see the church" and you say, "we are already here" and then you are told, "OK, I will come"..

Just try to imagine the towers being manned and the gate locked, ready for action..

Then you have max 15 mins to wait, which is totally worth it, as now you can do your photos and walk around the outside of the castle a bit until the friendly guide arrives!

You see the guides live in the village just a few doors away and most times this advice will not be necessary as they will be there waiting inside the church when you arrive, but this is not always the case.

Once you do get inside the church and when you have had time to close your "wow filled" open mouth, our last bit of advice to guests is to absolutely suck in all the information available about the frescoes you can with your eyes and especially with your ears..

It is NOT just one fresco, you get the signs of the Zodiac, Bible and so many other Medieval themes here..

So if the church is open and you arrive at the end of a recording, do not think for one second you can skip ANY of the audio guide.. You need to hear the whole thing from the start!

Also, if you are a non native English speaker reading this article, then your English will be a pretty good level, (especially if you get some of our little jokes and deliberate mispellings), but for this Fresco, make sure you LISTEN IN YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE, so you do not miss any tiny detail that makes these frescoes even more magical..

So Why Hrastovlje is so Special..

It will not be before you get here to Green Slovenia that you will realise you can see the whole of Europe in one tiny package and the Slovenian Coastal Hinterland, (the big green bit stuffed with vineyardsbehind the coast) is just another part of this unique jigsaw puzzle..

Is it a castle or a church, well we think it is a Fortress Church..

Pretty much every 15 mins or so you drive anywhere here in any direction the landscape, terrain and even the microclimate can completely change to show you another little part of Europe that you seem to recognise, then have to remind yourself you are in little old Slovenia and not Italy or Hungary or France or Switzerland or Austria or anywhere else so beautiful in Europe!

For many visitors to Slovenia, the "coast" will sadly just be a hurried visit to Piran, (world class of course), but there is a lot more to see along the short but cute Slovenian Coast and EVEN MORE in the much larger coastal Mediterranean Hinterland..

It would be enough to come here for this vista and the church and the castle.. But you are here for the Fresco baby..

So make the most of this little raid along the piczuresque country roads to see this Fortress chuch, as it might be your one and only experience of Green Slovenia's Mediterranean coastal hinterland!

OK, so during the Middle Ages, Slovenia's perfect position in the centre of Europe put it on the front line of the numerous raids from Ottoman Empire troops and the most effective way to protect the local population from these lightning fast attacks was to protect towers and churches with walls and sometimes castles and shove the people and their belongings inside.

Sat on top of a little hill to make it even more difficult for invaders to attack..

We think this is such an overlooked historical feature unique to Slovenia that we did another special section on the Fortress Churches.. There are quite a few in all shapes, conditions and sizes and Hrastovlje is an amazing example.. but not the only one, by the way.. 

It was only in the 1970's that the frescoes inside this church were actually discovered, hidden away and now revealed for the world to see.

It is quite a shock for guests to see this perfect little castle, but there is an even bigger surprise inside..

The main event is undoubtedley "the Dance of Death", which is an incredibly rare depiction of this Medieval tale..

The base of the story is we are all equal in death and you can see Mr or Mrs Death marching babies, Popes, Kings and all sorts of people to his or her own kingdom..

Look carefully for where a rich man is trying to bribe Death with money, but is being waved away..

Everyone is equal in death is the message and here Death is waving away the attempts of a rich man to cheat him or her..

The quality of the artwork AND storytelling is worthy of a Master and this is also why you should listen carefully to the recording in YOUR language so you do not miss any tiny morsel of information.

Bur your senses will explode in colour when you enter the church as EVERY wall, corner and even the curved Medieval ceilings are covered in detailed frescoes..

This is a complete glossary of Medieval story telling depicting the seasons, signs of the Zodiac, Gods and saints and the New and Old Testaments.. It is uber fantastic..

If the church door is closed it might be cos other people are listening to the audio guide recording..

A Few Extra Secrets to Look for..

Despite attending several viewings over the years, we clearly wee not paying enough attention, cos only last time we realised there was even a little Green Dragon painted here.. how cool is that!

And make sure your socks are firmly pulled up cos this next one will knock your socks off when we tell you that there is a possibly a corner of the church where maybe, possibly the artist painted themselves.. 

If this little church was not cool enough, it even has a little Green dragon, make sure you find it on your visit..

So you need to find the Dragon and the artist, but seriously, how cool is that?

Even more reason to pay careful attention to the audio and if you are French and arrive while the English one is finishing, "attend Sil vous Plait" and ast to hear the French recording apres!!

All in all this little cultural detour will just take up a small part of your daytrip adventure to the coast..

If you were lucky enough to have a setting and a Medieval treasure like this in your own country, there would be queues lining out into the olive groves and souvenir shops all over the village selling fake skeleton hands, furry green dragons and "I did the Dance of Death and Survived" T shirts..

It is church tower o clock..

So thank the Lord this is Green Slovenia and there is absolutely none of that nonsense in Hrastovlje.. Not even a coffee shop! Please do help the good people of the Fortress Church continue to do their excellent good work by buying a souvenir at the church and then it is time to go to the coast!

There is actually a very nice traditional local restaurant in the village just around the corner from the church, you can find it easily from the car park.

But do not whizz back the same way to the motorway.. we always suggest our guests make a bee line cross coutry following the yellow signs for Koper and this is not far, but you get to soak up a little more of the Coastal Hinterland and see a few more little villages and vineyards!

Not sure who designed the wonky windows on this side..

The Coastal Hinterland is one of Green Slovenia's 7 Wine Regions, called VINAKOPER and produces lots of excellent Mediterranean wine, the two most unique Slovenian ones being a white Malvazija and a red Refosk..

We totally understand if you do zip off to see the seaside now, but there is nothing stopping you hanging out a bit longer in the Hinterland..

Maybe you can spot a local vineyard or tourist farm open to try some Slovenian Tapas or wine at.. Maybe you will drive off a bit, park up and go for a hike in some vineyards or Olive groves.. Maybe you will head towards St Anton and find the Wine Fountain at Marezige.. What about going climbing on the cliffs at nearby OSP or driving up to the little wiggly road that hugs the huge cliff you can see from the church to have more adventures exploring and finding more secret villages and a few more towers and castles..

If they didn't want you to come in, you were not coming in..

There is a church with a wonky spire back at the village of Crni Kal and a steep hike up from there to a crumbled castle tower on a cliff stack and on the way to Crni Kal is a mighty fine 1950's style American Diner called Vikki's Burgers, which, in our humble opinion, serves the best shakes and burgers in Green Slovenia..

You are also a stone's throw here from the Croatian border, so how about popping over the border to visit probubbly our favourite Croatian hill top village called Buzet..

Your choice.. Look at a picture of this in Ljubljana or stand next to the real thing on the way to the coast, less than an hour away..

The one thing we can tell you for sure is that with only 2 million people in the entire country there are vast pockets of Green Slovenia with hardly anyone living there at all and this Coastal Hinterland is one of them..

The secret's out.. Don't miss the fresco.. Have a great time in a region you might not have even know existed as you powered on to Piran, but look at a map and you can see it is all there hiding right in front of your eyes!!

Oh yes and people tell us you can see a copy of the Dance of Death Fresco somewhere in Ljubblyjana.. Well we would say if you ain't seen the real thing, in the real location, with all the hills and green and castle and church then you ain't seen Green Slovenia, Baby!