Green Promenade along Vegova Street and City Fortress of Palmanova
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
319 km
Riding-time estimate
5 h 43
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 319 km round trip from Ljubljana - roughly 5 h 43 in the saddle. On the way it passes Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on, City Fortress of Palmanova and back through Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on. It crosses from Slovenia into Italy - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Green Promenade along Vegova Street
Vegova Street is one of the quieter corners of Plecnik's Ljubljana, and the green promenade that runs beside it was one of the places where he turned a piece of ordinary city into something calm and ordered. The area lies in the district between the old town and the university, where the new National and University Library stands, and the planting, avenues of trees, paths and small spaces have been laid out with the same care he gave to the grand squares. It is a modest thing, but modest is what makes it special.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Green Promenade along Vegova Street is where the day begins. Next is Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on.
2. Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on
The Klavže at Idrijska Bela are a surprising piece of engineering, a huge stone wall built across a narrow gorge in the eighteenth century, with a gate in the middle. The idea was brilliant and simple. The mercury mine at Idrija, one of the largest in Europe, needed vast quantities of timber for its shafts and furnaces, and the forests were in the hills, far from the town. So the woodcutters piled logs behind the barrier, the gate was opened and the stored water carried the logs in a rush down the stream to the mine. Such water barriers, called klavže in Slovenian, were used here for generations, and the one named after Putrih is among the grandest.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. Next is City Fortress of Palmanova.
3. City Fortress of Palmanova
From the air Palmanova is a perfect nine-pointed star, and even from the saddle you can feel the geometry. The roads come in through monumental gates, cross the moats and ramparts, and run dead straight to a vast hexagonal piazza in the middle, where the whole town seems to stop and look at itself. It is one of the purest examples of an ideal Renaissance city ever built, and it sits on the flat Friulian plain between Udine and the Adriatic like a diagram that somebody forgot to take back.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Green Promenade along Vegova Street. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Green Promenade along Vegova Street to Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on
Green Promenade along Vegova Street → Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on to City Fortress of Palmanova
Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on → City Fortress of Palmanova is 90 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
City Fortress of Palmanova to back through Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on
City Fortress of Palmanova → back through Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on to Green Promenade along Vegova Street
back through Idrijska Bela - Putrih’s Water Barrier on → Green Promenade along Vegova Street is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.