Mach heritage trail

The tutorial trail of the Mach's heritage that is mostly level, starts from the village of Mali Slatnik 4 km from Novo mesto. The first point of interest is the legendry flourmill of Tičk, now abandoned. The mill was driven by the stream from a 500 meters long channel hand dug from the Slatnik rivulet by the ancestors of Pepi Tičk. Going onward brings us up to the water source of Mrzelček. From here on, the trail runs alongside the Slatnik rivulet through magnificent woods. Walking ahead in tranquillity brings one to the water source Angelski (Angels’); legend has it that Angels drank from this source. Literary, the beauty of the so called Mach’s hill is watched over by a naturally shaped rock sculpture that looks like the face of the chimp and named Kržjačen after the man hired by Johann Mach. The duty of Kržjačen was to use gunfire to scare off birds disturbing Mach’s sericulture of the Asian silkworm Jamamaj on this hill. Not far from here is a deep well called Rakec (Crab) because of the many crabs found in it. Right in its neighbourhood, on the other side of the Slatnik rivulet, the water source Mišja pzdica ushers itself in into the marvellous rivulet. After a while one leaves the woods and countenances a very beautiful view of the villages Križe and Veliki Slatnik. The trail then passes by the water source Jurkovec unto Veliki studenec the biggest of all the trail’s water sources. For many years this source provided drinking water for the villagers. The longer trail option leads one to the rocky vault where the renowned writer Janez Trdina frequently passed the night when enroot for inspiration. To render homage to Ernst Mach’s parents one must visit the cemetery in the middle of Veliki Slatnik where their tomb lies. From here the trail turns towards Novo mesto and leads one to the location where Mach’s castle stood many years in the past; its historic existence is presently depicted only by the renovated remains of its stall. Continuing onward brings one to the legendry cursed nut-tree under which many strange things presumably happened. Janez Trdina writes about the forbidden love between Johann Mach’s younger daughter, Wilhelmina, and a stout steward of their holdings. From here on the trail runs through the woods again passing by the Škrat ‘drug store’ and the Škrat ‘ear’. Enjoying the beauty of the woods one unaware finds oneself out and facing the marvellous views of the Potov Vrh village and her surroundings. After a very pleasant walk over pathways through the woods one comes to the Palčkov castle that marks the end of the trail at Mali Slatnik. The trail has three options of different lengths for individual or group choices.  

Novo Mesto is at the highway Ljubljana-Zagreb, Veliko Slatno is 4km towards Metlika

Local bus to Veliki Slatnik from Novo Mesto

Available