Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting There & Around
Two to five buses a day pass by Podčetrtek and Terme Olimia on their way from Celje
(€4.70, one hour) to Bistrica ob Sotli (€2.30, 20 minutes) and vice versa.
Podčetrtek is on the rail line linking Celje (via Stranje) with Imeno. Up to eight trains
leave the main Podčetrtek station every day for Celje (€3.25, 50 minutes)
KOZJANSKO REGIONAL PARK
03 / ELEV TO 685M
Established in 1999, the 20,760-hectare
Kozjansko Regional Park
(Kozjanski Regijski
Park; 800 71 00;
www.kozjanski-park.si
; Podsreda 45; 8am-4pm Mon-Fri)
stretches along the Sotla River, from the border with Dolenjska and Bizeljsko in the south
to Podčetrtek in the north.
The forests and dry meadows of the park harbour a wealth of flora and fauna, notably
butterflies, reptiles and birds, including corncrakes, kingfishers and storks. There are a
number of trails in the park, including educational ones and the circular 32km-long
Pod-
sreda Trail
(Pešpot Podsreda), which ends at one of the best-preserved Romanesque
castles in Slovenia.
Podsreda Castle
(Grad Podsreda; 580 61 18; adult/child €4/2.50; 10am-6pm
Tue-Sun Apr-Oct)
looks pretty much the way it did when it was built in about 1200. A
barbican on the south side, with walls 3m thick and a medieval kitchen, leads to a central
courtyard with a sgraffito of a knight and a dungeon hidden beneath a staircase. The
rooms in the castle wings, some with beamed ceilings and ancient chandeliers, now con-
tain a glassworks exhibit (crystal from Rogaška Slatina, vials from the Olimje pharmacy,
green Pohorje glass). The fabulous wood-panelled Renaissance Hall hosts exhibitions,
classical concerts and, of course, weddings. Next to it is a wonderful collection of prints
of Štajerska's castles and monasteries taken from
Topographii Ducatus Stiria
(1681) by
Georg Mattäus Vischer (1628-96). There are exhibition spaces of art and photographs in
the east and north wings. The tiny Romanesque chapel is under protracted renovation.
A rough, winding 5km-long road leads to the castle, but you can also reach it via a rel-
atively steep 2km footpath from Stari Trg, less than 1km southeast of the village of Pod-
sreda. In the village there's a bar near the park headquarters called the
Pod Gradom
(
580 61 04; Podsreda 49; 6.30am-10pm)
and a
Tuš
(Podsreda 53; 7am-4pm Mon-
Fri, 7am-2pm Sat, 7am-noon Sun)
supermarket around the corner.
You can reach Podsreda from Podčetrtek (€4.10, 50 minutes, 33km) on just one week-
day bus at 11.11am, though there's another one during school term at 4.12pm.
