Celje - the Central City

Celje lies roughly in the centre of Slovenia, just off the A1 motorway roughly halfway between the capital Ljubljana and the second city Maribor.

From Ljubljana the journey by train takes around one hour and twenty five minutes when using a direct train; changing at Zidani Most is not advised. It's better to take the direct service if possible.

From Maribor the train journey takes between an hour and an hour and fifteen minutes depending on how many stops are made. Some services on this route stop at Lasko and Sentjur.

The train journeys to Celje from both of these cities is pretty exciting with some wonderful scenery including the rolling hills around Slovenska Bistrica south of Maribor and the dramatic crags and riverside views between the capital and Celje.

By bus the journeys from both cities to Celje takes around an hour and twenty to an hour and forty minutes depending on the number of stops. I especially like the bus ride from Ljubljana to Celje because you spend a stretch just before Celje with hop farms on either side of the road!

No matter which direction I travel in I always find that the travel scenery is as important an aspect to my trip as reaching Celje is.

Celje is the administrative, cultural and commercial centre for a fairly large area best described as "Lower Styria" (in Slovene, Stajerska) and is as close to the heart of the country as you can get. Geographically Celje is at the confluence of three rivers, the Savinja, the Loznica and the more minor Voglajna at the very lowest part of the Savinja Valley, a glorious part of Slovenia that is hemmed in by snow-capped peaks and attracts hikers, white water rafters, canoeists and horse riders.

Historically, Celje has had a chequered and, at times, tragic past. The Romans knew it as Celeia and the city was in those days one of the most prosperous in the Empire - so prosperous in fact that it was known as the "Second Troy". The most precious finds from this era are on display in the excellent Regional Museum but some pieces of pillar and other architectural remains are on view in the open air in a fenced of area on the banks of the river close to the Old Town.

During the Migrations the city was virtually destroyed by the Slavics but by the mid fourteenth century the city was enjoying a resurgence under the Counts of Celje. It was a busy market town that continued to flourish when, one hundred or so years later, it was taken over by the Hapsburgs, subsequently becoming part of Austria-Hungary in 1867. The arrival of the Vienna-Trieste railway in 1846 further strengthened the city's importance in matters commercial.

At the beginning of the twentieth century the city was a stronghold of German nationalism and very much anti-Slovene. The German influence is easily seen in the architecture of some of the public buildings that still stand today, the town hall - the "Celjski dom" was known for many years as the "Deutsches haus". The end of the First World War saw the collapse of Austria-Hungary and in 1918, Celje became part of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). Celje was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War and the city and its people suffered terribly. At the beginning of the War the population numbered around 20,000; about 500 young men died fighting, over one thousand were deported to Serbia and many died at the hands of the Nazis by hanging or in a prison known as the "Stari pisker" (Old Pot); most tragic of all was the fate of around 600 children who were sent to Germany to undergo "Germanisation".

The years following the war were no more peaceful with first a backlash against the Germans living in Celje and then against those perceived to have collaborated during the war. Today there stands in front of the Municipal Theatre a memorial in the Soviet style dedicated to those lost in "Vojna in mir" (War and Peace) and exhibitions in both the Regional Museum and Celje's Museum of Contemporary History tell more of the story.

Many visitors come to Celje come to Stari Grad or Old Castle that watches over the city from its perch 407 metres above. I knew that eventually I would get to Celje as I spent more time in Slovenia but it was not until I actually went through the town by train en route from Maribor to Ljubljana that I spotted the castle and knew I would have to pay a visit.

Slovenes are active people and a weekend walk is a popular pastime. But when Slovenes go walking they really do go for a challenge. Older walkers are usually equipped with walking poles and the whole family usually comes along. There are three biggish climbs close to the centre of Celje, the most popular being the climb to the Old Castle. We made the ascent through the woods and came back down along the road. When walking in Slovenia it is the custom to smile and say hello to everyone you meet and since the whole town is out walking that mounts up to a lot of "Dober dans".

The earliest section of the castle dates from the first half of the thirteenth century and there have been further additions in the Gothic, Romanesque and Renaissance styles. The castle was at one time the largest fortress complex in Slovenia containing a whole community within its walls. The castle fell into disuse in the eighteenth century and rebuilding has been going on since the end of the nineteenth century.

Visitors can now wander around the walls and take in the tremendous views stretching out first over tree covered hills to the snow capped peaks in the distance. At present the reconstructed main tower - Fredericks Tower cannot be climbed but this may happen in the future.

Admission to the castle is free and there is limited car parking if you come by road. Further parking spaces are available at intervals on the winding road up to the castle. A refreshment kiosk is open during summer only and some seating has been installed in one of the courtyards for musical performances in summer.
A trip to the castle is really about enjoying the climb – whether a leisurely stroll by way of the road or a more strenuous ascent by the wooded trail. Perhaps when some more work has been done it will be possible to take a tour and learn more about the construction and the history but at the present the highlight of a visit is the selection of views from various parts of the promontory. On a clear winter’s day you can see right out to the snow covered peaks of Zreče but even the views over to the city centre with the Old Town beside the river are pretty good too.

Smash Bar is situated a stone's throw from the train station and the Deutsches Haus in the centre of Celje. It's nothing special from the outside, we really just dropped in because it was a cold January day and we were early for our train. The interior is quite simple, a bit like a British or Irish pub. The front part is quite cosy but the back section stretches a long way and this part is not so nice. I can't imagine however that it would ever get so busy that this section would be used.

At five o'clock on a cold Sunday afternoon the place was understandably quiet but one of two people arrived while we were there. They were young couples mainly and judging by the music being played - middle of the road pop - this place never gets that lively, in contrast to its name!

The service was quite slow but since bar staff are constantly changing in Slovenian pubs I wouldn't let that put you off. There'll be someone else entirely working there now! I asked where the toilets were and was told "out the back" and found myself following a long and convoluted route through unused parts of the building, down a separate (perhaps function) room before I found the toilets. However I couldn't find the light, and it was FREEZING. I ended up having to do my best in the dark.

There are a handful of cocktails and the usual beers as well as coffees and fruit teas. Food isn't served.

It's a quite average place to be honest but is handy for the station and might be a safe option if you want somewhere less crowded on a weekend evening.

Cantante has branches in Celje, Ptuj and two in Maribor which makes it about as close to a chain as you get in Slovenia. It is a Cuban/Che Guevara themed bar and restaurant that serves great cocktails and excellent Mexican influenced food (I say influenced because a great deal of licence is used).

Had we wanted to eat on other days - we were in Celje on a Sunday on this occasion - we could have gone to one of several places serving good value local meals, a Croatian restaurant serving traditional dishes from Dalmatia or one of a number of pizzerias.

Anyone visiting Celje should also be advised that few restaurants open in the centre in the evening except on Friday and Saturday evenings; for food in the evenings, hotel restaurants or restaurants in the villages around the city are the places to dine. When we asked about the lack of open restaurants, the waiter in Cantate told us in sombre fashion "Celje is death town on Sundays".

Although it was the case that visited because there was little else open we did enjoy what we ate at Cantante. We ordered a plate of bruschetta which was heavy on the topping of tasty tomatoes, pepper and cheese and a portion of hot peppers stuffed with cheese. We also shared an enormous dressed salad which we might have enjoyed even more had it not been drenched in a rich creamy dressing that - while tasty- proved a bit on the heavy side and cancelled out the good intentions we'd thought of when ordering the salad.

Cantante also do a selection of filled tortilla wraps, chilli con carne, soups, chicken wings and main courses dishes like posk cutlets with a spicy sauce. The wraps are good value and we sometimes have these at our local branch in Maribor.

As you would expect there is a strong enphasis on cocktails with al the Cuban classics like mojitos and daiquiris being served.

The music is mixed but there's often Cuban/world music being played and the atmosphere generally is laid back and as close to a South american or Cuban bar you're going to get in Slovenia! The interior is all wooden tables and chairs, wooden floor and lots of Che Guevara memorabilia on the walls.

There is plenty of outdoor seating and as the bar is on a pedestrian only street, it's a nice place to sit outside on warm days.

The place gets livelier in the evenings and its one of the more youthful places to drink in Celje although its never too crowded and the music never gets too loud.

Mon - Thurs: 8-24h, Fri -Sat 8-03h, Sun 12-24h