| The writer Fran Levstik is primarily known for his
story of Martin Krpan, but not many people know that he
was also an enthusiastic beekeeper and even wrote a book
titled Bučelstvo (Beekeeping). This is why we decided to
name the route along this part of Slovenia after him. In the beekeeping book
mentioned above, Levstik described a type of hive known as
a podkladnik in Slovenian (the predecessor of today’s box hive) as well
as a “little house” for queens, now known as the “queen cage.” Ivan
Grajš, an excellent practitioner and honeydew flow expert, kept his
bees near Kočevje; he also invented a special type of hive known as
Grajš hive. This region is well-known for its extensive forests,
which provide excellent foraging for bees, especially
on fir. Recently, the local beekeepers have begun protecting
their products with a “Kočevje Honey” registered designation of origin. |
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| The Velike Lašče region lies in the part of Slovenia where the southernmost
edge of the Ljubljana Basin gradually merges into the
Ribnica region. This special karst landscape with extensive forests
is one of the best-preserved natural Slovenian landscapes,
which even boasts six stands of virgin forest. Its turbulent history
is recorded in memorial rooms dedicated to prominent Slovenian
people and along the stony paths that the moss of
time cannot obscure. |
BEEKEEPING POINTS OF INTEREST
* The Brane Borštnik Bee Farm near Velike Lašče: a nicely
arranged bee house with painted hive fronts and a
small museum housing several objects from
Fran Levstik’s estate;
* The Kojek Family Bee Farm in Dolga Vas near Kočevje;
* The Pešelj Bee Farm in Livold near Kočevje;
* The MA-JA Bee Farm, owned by Branko Obranovič from Šalka Vas near Kočevje.
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HIGHLY RECOMENDED
Raščica: the home of Primož Trubar,
the author of the first Slovenian book;
Turjak Castle: a Renaissance castle,
which inspired Slovenia’s greatest poet France Prešeren
to write the poem “Turjaška Rozamunda” (Rosamund of Turjak);
Velike Lašče: memorial rooms dedicated
to the writers Fran Levstik
and Josip Stritar;
Ribnica: an ethnographic museum with
an exhibition of wooden ware and pottery the Stanislav
Škrabec House: the house where the priest Stanislav Škrabec,
a Slovenian linguist and author of informal
linguistic articles, was born;
Kočevje: visit the museum of the Kočevje
Germans and the Kočevski Rog plateau, with preserved virgin
forest and the oldest Slovenian fir; Občice: visit the Kočevje German cultural center |
