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The strangely shaped whitewashed spire of Stanjel shows up from some distance as you drive from Nova Gorica to Sezana in western Slovenia, where hilltop towns a few kilometres away in Italy dot the horizon. Roundly tapering like some sort of medieval rocket nose cone over an open belfry, the steeple dominates a haphazard scramble of stone buildings that make up the town.
It's old. So old that the cobbled streets leading to it are dented by centuries of walking. Yet the clock on the church tower tells today's time with strangely arrowed-at-both-ends hands, as if to give a second opinion, and the bells ring out proudly soon after we arrive, striking noon into the consciousness of the working locals. Strangely, though, our guidebook is mute on its history.
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This article continues with details of this forgotten medieval town as well as Slovenia itself and includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see.
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(finishes…)
We keep walking, leaving the town at last, the only sound the occasional clink of cutlery from deep inside a house. As we complete the loop back to the church, nearby a man still hammers on something in his back yard, the only person in the place it seems who's working through his lunch break.
©Sally Hammond 2006
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