Vhrnika Springs
For many visitors to Green Slovenia, Vhrnika will be just another one of those unpronounceabubble motorway exits just after Ljubblana on the way to the coast and the Lodge!
Actually Vhrnika is a very handy place to exit the motorway if you are coming south to the Lodge and it looks a bit busy after you leave the Ljubljana ring..
Just hop off at Vhrnika and follow the country roads through Logatec, then to Planina turning off towards Predjama castle and you will get a fab Green back route to the Lodge.. takes a little longer, but is often completely clear, apart from the few towns on the way!
But for us, Vhrnika is the sweetest smelling town in Slovenia and we have always loved going there to visit our coffee suppliers, the Escobars, Katja and Omar. Just wind down the window as you approach their little hamlet on a hill to smell that coffee roasting.. lush!
Omar and Katja met working on the cruise ships in the Carribean, married, moved back to Katja's hometown in Vhrnika and with Omar coming from Honduras and being a coffee expert, they decided to set up a coffee business, importing the best beans from the best organic fincas around the world and roasting them to order for customers here.
You see, most Slovenian coffee comes directly from the old Slovenian port of Trieste, now in Italy (another very sweet smelling city) and is very good indeed.. You will certainly get to try it while you are here in the cafes and restaurants.. everywhere.
We were lucky enough to meet Katja and Omar at a trade fair many moons ago and haven't looked back since, asking them to make a special capuccino mix and a morning blend coffee for our guests to enjoy..
We are always looking to serve the best local options and these guys are the very best!
But this article is not about coffee, it is about the very special river that flows out of the sweetest smelling town in Slovenia!
We have always been very interested in a magical, almost mythical river that flows through Green Slovenia, ducking underground and popping back up to the surface 7 different times..
Each time it reappears it gets a new name and the final section of this river pops up again in Vhrnika creating the Ljubljanica river.. which is the same river that flows through the centre of Ljubljana!
We have been discovering and exploring several sections of this spectacular river over the years, putting bits of this massive 7 piece Green jigsaw puzzle together..
We have swum in one section, hiked along another and even paddled up another in a rubber boat inside a cave, but we only very recently researched on a map where the final part of river of 7 names, the Ljubljanica, pops up again for the last time..
And it is in Vhrnika, just down the road from the Escobars!
So we mentioned this to them and they offered to show us where the "Izvirs", (springs) for this river were located and you guessed it.. another Green Slovenian adventure was about to start!
Even though we are so regularly surprised and even shocked at what Green wonders we find whenever we go out exploring, we still had little to no idea about what we would be shown here..
We were looking forward to spending some time with our friends, but foolishly, we did not expect Mother Nature to wow us here in little old Vhrnika..
We had always thought Vhrnika was just a little dormitary town for Ljubljana commuters with a very small but cute old town and cracking coffee..
Well.. How wrong were we and what Green treasures we were destined to find!
So it is about time we wrote this Secret Places to Visit article on Vhrnika and tell you how to find the Last Springs of the River of 7 Names and a few other little Green nuggets into the bargain too!
What is the River of 7 Names?
We are also very excited to write a separate and complete Secret Places to Visit article on the whole length of the River of 7 Names, which is a river so long, mysterious and amazing, that you cannot realistically see all of it in just one day..
Green Slovenia is pretty much half covered in leaky limestone rocks known as Karst, (especially here in the south west), with all those amazing caves, disappearing lakes and sinkholes, created over millions of years, that you might have heard about.
Well, the Karst also created the River of 7 Names that starts somewhere near the Croatian border and flows up through Slovenia, going directly under the biggest disappearing lake in Europe at Cerknica, colliding with the river that flows from the Postojna cave, literally smashing into it in the Planina cave, (the only cave in Europe where you can see two rivers becoming one), then flows out to create another section of the river of 7 names, this time called the Unica river, (which is one of the best fishing rivers in Europe for marble trout, by the way) and this Unica river overflows to form another huge disappearing lake (Planina), which is bigger than lakes Bled and Bohinj put together!
Pretty epic so far! It is ok to catch your breathe now, if you need to!
Well the water that flows from the Unica river into the Planina disappearing lake floods down deep underground at the very end of the 7km long disappearing lake and takes 2 to 5 days to travel completely underground to where this last part of our story finally begins.. Vhrinka!
The Sources of the Ljubljanica River in Vhrnika
It is so much fun and a truly Green adventure to explore the hundreds of places in Green Slovenia, where a new river springs to life..
So much so, we also had to do a whole page on River Springs to help you find some of the best ones!
To remind you, we mentioned the River of 7 Names gushed along vast underground channels from the Planina lake to Vhrnika.
There are actually lots of little springs, but TWO main locations you need to find where you can see the water pouring out of huge rock faces in Vhrnika to start the new river Ljubljanica, which will flow into Ljubljana and eventually join the longest river in Slovenia, the Sava, finishing its journey in the Black sea!
So the first of these springs is called Mocilnik in Vhrnika and the second springs are called the Big Window (Veliko Okence) and the Small Window (Malo Okence), located in a little village just outside Vhrnika called Mirke..
We brought some bikes and pedalled off with the Escobars, who first showed us the Mocilnik springs and then two other main springs in Mirke afterwards.
There are multiple little springs bursting out of the Karst rocks at Mocilnik, where you can find lots of little channels flooding into the new Ljubljanica river, alongside the main spring..
But the two largest springs are about a km or 2 away in Mirke at the Big and Small Windows and now we need to explain another little magic trick of Mother Nature, as it depends on which time of year you come as to WHAT you can see or explore here in Vhrnika!
You see, these springs act like giant taps that are turned on or off by the water levels underground and can be bone dry or absolutely bursting with water..
So this also makes these two starting sections of the Ljubljanica river into a kinda "disappearing river"!
Our first trip here was in late summer when the springs were magnificant and dry, but we needed to go back to the sweetest smelling town in Slovenia to pick up some coffee later in the year at the start of Autumn after some heavy rainfall and the springs were overflowing with water, so we took some more piccies!
It means on this page, we can show you how these water springs look at different times of the year by labelling each photo as "SUMMER" or "AUTUMN"..
In General, full from autumn to spring and empty from spring over summer..
So you can compare TWO photos of the same spot next to see the full and empty versions!
Summer..
In summer, generally the springs will be dry, but the water still flows underground along the river bed and pops up further down the river bed to create the Ljubljanica river, so you should still see the river, but the really cool thing to do is go find the dry springs..
At Mocilnik, you can see the various caves where the water comes out of next to the bike path..
But in Mirke, you can hike all the way down the river bed to the Big Window and Small Window springs to see where the new river would gush out!
Standing there on the dry green rocks next to the Big Window cave, your head would be deep under water if the river was flowing.
However, if you are here in the summer and you notice a few days of heavy rainfall, then it would be a great idea to go visit these springs, cos if there has been enough water, you might be lucky to see the river flowing out..
But either way, you are still gonna get a Green adventure.. There will ALWAYS something cool to see!
Autumn..
At the exact same time when the Disappearing Lakes start appearing, the autumn rainfall puts the massive Karst underground systems into overdrive and will usually mean the springs start bubbling up here in Vhrnika and fill with water.
At Mocilnik you will see lots of little springs flowing into different channels all along the short bike path loop and then in Mirke it is all about getting to the wooden bridge that crosses the river where the two separate channels are brought in from the Big and Little Window springs and stand above the incredibly powerful new water flow!
How to Find The Sources
You could do this Green adventure by bike, or hike it all, but it is also possible to park a car near both the two spring areas and just go walk to see each.
We would suggest you start at Mocilnik, do the loop to see the rock face and spring, then take the quiet village back roads to Mirke village..
In a car you could easily see all the main springs in 2 hours, but if you hike or bike it could turn into a half day adventure.. Especially if you add in some of the other little Green treats we have in store for you below!
If you are gonna hike it all, then maybe leave the car at Mocilnik, if you will bike it, then just do a big circle..
You can find Mocilnik on Googlemaps.. It is a little left turn just off the main road going up the big hill on the way out of Vhrnika, direction Logatec.
Take the turn and follow the narrow road to a small car park and you will immediately see a small bridge there over the river.. This is where you will get your first glimpse of the River of 7 Names!
There is a little nature path here, so just walk or bike upriver to get to the first Mocilnik springs.
It is not far at all to a huge rock wall behind the main springs and an almost perfect rectangle hole that looks a bit like a doorway inside the cliff face.. It is said that this is where Jason and his Argonauts gave up travelling by river and completed their epic journey across land to the Mediterranean sea!
Just complete the circle back towards the car park and you will see an abandoned restaurant, maybe someone has reopened the restaurant by the time you go visit.. it certainly is in a beautiful spot for a restaurant!
Anyway, look out here for a small road going off to the right..
This is the track you take for Mirke.. whether you walk, bike or drive.. at the end of this track you go RIGHT onto the road that leads to Mirke..
So either jump back in the car and drive, continue on your bikes as we did, or hike from here.. (walking time to the Big and Little Springs from here is only 20 mins or so).
In Mirke you head towards the river, (kinda same direction as the motorway flyover high above) until you get to a small car park with some recycling bins and a bike path that leads off alongside the river..
From here you can walk to the largest wooden bridge and if the river is full you will see the new river cascading under the bridge..
If the river is empty, then it is from here, behind the bridge, where you can walk down and follow the dry riverbed all the way to the Big and Little Windows! Wow.. Only about 10 mins of walking, by the way, with a bit of scrambling under branches!
If the river is full there is no way you can get back to see the springs, you will see!
Whether wet or dry, follow the path around further from the main bridge, as there is a collection of maps and info boards built into a rotund circle shape where you can stand inside and see drawings of all the different parts of the River of 7 Names..
Unfortunately not in English yet, so you will be looking at the maps and pictures!
Just trot on a little more around the corner and where there is another smaller bridge and a very impressive rock face that is used by rock climbers for training and here you can also see lots of extra places where the river pops out of the rock.. See if you can find them all!
If you are a football fan there is a ridiculously lavish green space for kids to play football here too, with a little grass pitch, goals and even some grass terracing..
Lucky kids, sure beats a couple of jumpers for goalposts on a mud patch that one member of the Lodge team was used to in the early eighties!!
There is one massive final gushing spring flowing out under the path by this football pitch and this signals the end of this particular mini tour and time to head back or onwards!
Other Cool Green Stuff in Vhrnika
So if you just wanted to see the springs, then this is the end of the tour, but we were on bikes and our hosts took us off to find more of the little Green secrets of Vhrnika!
From Mirke, we cycled alongside the motorway for a bit on a brand new road and then cut into a large forest area on the other side of the motorway from Vhrnika which used to be the site of an old Brickworks..
the Old Brickworks Ponds..
The large ponds here were used to gather the clay to make bricks and have long been retired and now form a really lovely little nature park that you simply wouldn't know was here!
To get here, either drive or continue your bike ride, like we did. There are little paths through the forest to the lakes and it is very green indeed.. You might not even believe this was an old industrial area!
The lakes are called Ribniki Opekarna in Slovenian, so you could find them on Googlemaps, we just made up the name "the Old Brickworks Ponds" in English cos it sounds just about perfect for this magical secret place!
Vhrnika Old Town..
We cycled along the river a bit from the lakes and back into town along a secret path that went back under the motorway.. don't ask us where that particular short cut was.. this is why you follow the locals!
Most old towns in Green Slovenia have a really good ice cream bar and we had a very nice gelato in the small one way street that hides adjacent to the busy main road that goes through the centre of Vhrnika..
Another little zone of happiness that you would definetely not spot from the motorway and easily miss if you just drove along the main road through the town..
Our hosts offered us a final little detour, a challenge we gratefully accepted!
The road rises steeply here from the old town up to a big beautiful church that you CAN see from the motorway on top of the hill.
Ivan Cankar's House..
The road is ridiculously steep and a real challenge on a bike for those determined not to walk.. Not far up we ditched the bikes next to a little cottage that is the main museum for one of Slovenia's most famous writers, Ivan Cankar.
Slovenians are rightly proud of their language and writers & poets.. As a tiny nation that was so often ruled by somebody else, they somehow kept the lingo going..
But the problem for visitors all over Slovenia is that these writers and poets are almost never translated into something that we can read, even a few paragraphs would do.. so we really don't have a Scooby Doo if they were any good or not.. or for that matter what they were writing about!
So unfortunately, proud locals often ambush you, banging on about how wonderful a particular writer was or how there is a statue of them over there next to the big tree or a national holiday tomorrow for another writer, but us visitors just don't have a clue what they are going on about!
Having said that, we DID decide to go into this little micro museum, partly cos the lady inside was so enthusiastic about us coming inside and having a look around and although she only spoke Slovene, we had our friends to help translate!
We heard a few stories about how naughty this particular writer was and also saw a collection of his books, some translated into other European languages, so we decided he must have been pretty good!
We did say this Green adventure was not about coffee, but one of Cankar's most famous short story's is called Skodelica, which means "cup of coffee".. So it is fitting to also know that you can get the best coffee in Slovenia here in Vhrnika, the home of Ivan Cankar!
Anyway, the Ivan Cankar micro museum is here in Vhrnika if you want it and we jumped back on our bikes for the last struggle up the hill, through a beautiful little park to the church..
It is fair to say.. look up in Green Slovenia and you will either see a church or a hill or both!
You get the best views in Vhrnika from up here and a different take on doing the wayside shrines depicting the last journey of Christ that are often positioned in Slovenia on tiny roads leading up to churches..
Here, on top of the hill, they are positioned in a perfect circle around the perimeter courtyard of the church!
We found a friendly pussy cat relaxing up here and then had to jump back on the bikes to go home with the Escobars, for you guessed it.. a very good cup of coffee indeed!
the Museum of 7 Museums..
Otherwise known by the genius marketing name of the "Technical Museum of Slovenia", which is sure to put so many people off going, so we decided to call it the far more accurate name of "Museum of 7 Museums" as yes, it does have some technical stuff, but is packed with so many exhibits showing off all facets of Slovenian culture, history and life in general..
All this set in the most delicious old country manor house with gardens, actually an old monastery and well worth a visit indeed.
You can find it near Vhrnika in the next village of Bistra and this is also the direction you would go for a Blueberry farm and the much bigger challenge, verging on dangerous of a climb up several interconnected waterfalls..
Nuff said, so please at least give Vhrnika a little wave now as you whizz by on the motorway and see the glorious church on top of the hill and wonder if the cat is up there cleaning his whiskers!
And if you were wondering if the Final Springs of the River of 7 Names are dry or full of water, then now you know where to go to find out!
Have a great adventure!
French Connection en Slovenie
