St. Lawrence Hill in Bašelj

Route Description

Drive from the town of Preddvor through the village of Zgornja Bela and you will arrive at the village of St. Lawrence. Its church (which bears the same name) is a popular excursion point above the village of Bašelj in the municipality of Preddvor. The church stands at an altitude of 892 meters (2,926 feet) and has a beautiful view of part of the Ljubljana Basin, all the way to the city of Kranj and Mount Saint Mary.

The St. Lawrence Church stands on the southern slope not far from the forested peak of the Gora Hill (918 meters/3,011 feet above the sea level). The church was first mentioned in a 1154 archive record. It is also mentioned in a medieval folk song called "Galjot." The church was built in 1142, burned down by the Turks, later on re-built, and enlarged. The last significant renovation was in 1994. It is a typical village church with a rectangular nave and an apse, which was later on rebuilt into a presbytery. On the outside wall there used to be a mural of St. Christopher carrying Christ on his shoulders. The beautiful landscape enchants anyone that reaches the top. Our family visited this hill on a beautiful summer day and even carried our youngest in a baby carrier the whole way!

Imagine being up here. The basin below with all the villages and their inhabitants drowns in a sea of fog as if by a cosmic flood. A few small islands protrude from the slightly curled surface: the Rašica Hill, Mount Saint Mary and the St. Margaret Mountain rising above Kranj. On the edge of this cauldron-like view, reminiscent of a pot of milk that will boil over at any moment, so many hills paint the horizon. To the east, the snowy Krvavec Mountain with an antenna tower, to the south, the picturesque Snežnik Mountain and the Krim Hill. The Javorniki Hills, the Polhov Gradec Hilld, the Lubnik Hill, the Stari vrh Ski Centre and the Blegoš Hill stretch to the east. This family trip will make your family feel all sorts of good!