Excursions

During a guided tour of production facilities at Rogaška glassworks visitors learn about hard work of glassmakers, who skillfully produce real glass masterpieces in extremely hard working conditions. The tour begins at the melting tanks, where glassmakers take a small amount of molten glass and start shaping it by blowing until it resembles the final product, which can be a glass, a bowl, a vase or some other product. The next step is the cooling of the products. When they have cooled down, different ornaments are cut. In Steklarska nova products are also decorated by hand painting. The entire manufacturing process has changed very little in the course of time. Glassmakers still make their products by hand, which makes them even more precious. After the tour of the factory visitors visit the company shop, where the glassworks products are sold at convenient prices.

In Olimje you will visit its Baroque parish church and the third oldest pharmacy in Europe, run by the Friars Minor. The pharmacy also offers a great variety of home remedies and cures. A world of chocolate treats with Slovenian pralines awaits you in Chocolate Boutique Syncerus. Next is the tour of a deer farm at Jelenov greben and Amon restaurant. We’ll also stop by the Haler brewery and pub, where you will learn how beer is made. 

The open-air museum collection preserves fok architectural heritage and cultural tradition of the Posotelje region from early 18th century to mid 20th century. The core of the museum are original buildings and reconstructions of crafts and farm buildings built in 1980s and 1990s on a chosen location near the historic town of Rogatec. In the Rogatec museum you can see the Šmit homestead, farm building called »štala«, a traditional hayrack »toplar«, a pigsty »štalunci« and a well »štepih na čapljo«, as well as the reconstructions of a beehive, vinedresser’s cottage, vineyards, blacksmith’s and »loden«, a country shop with assorted goods from 1930s. Apart from the buildings and equipment, the museum also hosts various ethnologic workshops, where visitors can learn about the life, work and traditions of our predecessors.

 Strmol Manor, today’s Baroque-Renaissance manor, originally developed from a Medieval tower granted by the Counts of Celje to Knight Jacob of Strmol in 1436. The manor changed hands many times in its long history and it always played an important role in administrative and economic life of the town of Rogatec. In the manor you can see the conference and wedding hall with classicist paintings, the manor chapel with Baroque frescoes, an exhibition of contemporary European art, a “black kitchen” in a former Medieval tower, the restaurant with period furniture and chosen culinary offer, and originally restored cellars with a first-class wine shop.

The wonderful pilgrimage church of St. Mary in Sladka Gora is one of the most important cultural monuments in the Štajerska region because of its special architecture and rich ornaments. The church and the nature around it are interwoven, creating a wonderful harmony. Pilgrims can enjoy wonderful nature and relax in a beautiful park next to the church. Apart from its Baroque exterior, the interior of the church is also breathtaking. Frescoes painted in 1752 and 1753 by Baroque painter Franc Jelovšek cover the entire ceiling, representing the worship of St. Mary of Sladka gora.