THE MERCURY MINE AND BOBBIN LACE EXHIBIT IN IDRIJA – THEN ŠKOFJA LOKA
Idrija sits snugly in a deep basin at the confluence of the Idrijca and Nikova Rivers surrounded by the hills of Idrija and Cerkno. The second oldest mercury mine in the world opened here in 1500. We’ll walk through the Anthony Shaft where miners toiled for almost five centuries to give you a brief feel for what the working conditions were like for the miners of “live silver”. Ladies will enjoy a visit to the bobbin lace exhibit for which the women of Idrija are famous. Idrija is also well known for žlikrofi, which you will taste for lunch in a local restaurant. On the way back, we drive across the hilly forests to Škofja Loka, a thousand-year-old city at the confluence of the Poljanska Sora and Selška Sora Rivers, which was the center of the Loka dominion owned for 830 years by the Bishops of Freising, who placed an indelible stamp on the city. The old city core boasts numerous points of interest from the past, and the LoškaCastle, built before 1202, reigns above the city.