Ig
The Ig area has typical settlements sitting under steep wooded slopes of karst plateaus. Its center is Ig around which archaeologists have found several marsh dwellings. They are now exhibited in the National Museum in Ljubljana.
Iški Vintgar is a deep gorge between the Rakitna plateau and Kurešček. It has been carved out by the clear Iška stream which flows into the Ljubljanica on the Marshes.
Vrhnika
It was a river port and a military camp in Roman times. Boating gradually disappeared after the road to Trieste had been built in 1720; people took to transport trade instead. The Idrija mercury mine also used Vrhnika as the depository.
On the slope under Sveta Trojica is the house where Ivan Cankar, considered the greatest Slovene playwright, was born. In the house, there is a memorial collection.
The greatest natural sight near Vrhnika is Močilnik. The Ljubljanica resurfaces at seven different places under the karst Logatec plateau ( Logaška planota ). Behind Špica ( 135 m ) atop which is a tower with great views of the Marshes, lies the scattered village of Zaplana.
Vrhnika sits at the south-westernmost point of the Ljubljana Basin. At the edge of the Barje in the direction of Ljubljana lie villages: Stara Vrhnika, Ligojna, Drenov grič, and in the Horjul basin, among the Polhov Gradec Dolomites, Horjul. Some villages on the Marshes are built on solitary hills – Sinja Gorica, Blatna Brezovica, and Bevke.
Where the Marshes meet with the Logatec plateau lie Verd and Bistra with a former Carthusian monastery which today houses a technical museum with an interesting collection of old cars and many other collections. Only a few kilometers further down the road lies at the mouth of the Borovnisnica valley the village of Borovnica, the starting point for the Pekel gorge. There is a path leading through the gorge which boasts a few interesting waterfalls.
Polhov Gradec
The Polhov Gradec Dolomites are like a wedge pointing towards the center of Ljubljana, stretching between the Marshes in the south and the Sava gravel pits in the north. The Šiška Hill ( Šišenski hrib, 429 m ) and Rožnik ( 394 m ) are the last hills in the range. The Gradaščica valley stretches from Vič into the Dolomites. From Dobrova at the very mouth of the valley leads a parallel valley to the west. The road through it leads to Horjul.
The Gradaščica valley narrows after the village of Gabrje. After a few kilometers, the winding narrow part of the valley widens into a three-kilometer long and up to a kilometer wide curved basin.
Two other narrow valleys lead west from the basin, each with a road leading to the Poljanska dolina – through the left Mala Voda valley to Gorenja vas, and through the right one a road with a great view via Črni vrh ( 861 m ) and Pasje ravni ( 1029 m ) to Poljane above Škofja Loka.
Polhov Gradec sits at the end of the picturesque Gradaščica basin at the confluence of the Mala Voda and the Božna which springs under Pasja raven. The area was already settled in Roman times. The castle in the Božna valley was built after the earthquake in 1511 had destroyed the old one. In front of the castle is a marvelous 17th century Neptune fountain. The castle also boasts a clock tower and a huge old linden tree in the castle park.
Above Polhov Gradec rises Gora ( 824 m ) known among botanists as the area where grows Blagajev volčin ( Daphne blagayana ) which was discovered and registered as a new species in 1837 by count Blagay. The following year even the Saxon king Frederick August himself came to see the flower.
Polhov Gradec sits among the hills which attract visitors. Sadly, this hilly country, although very close to the capital, isn’t very well known among the Slovenes.
Rooms in the Polhov Gradec Castle are adorned by rich stucco work.
The Technical Museum at Bistra near Vrhnika is situated on the edge of the Marshes, by one of the Ljubljanica springs. A part of the museum is also the working water mill on the clear river.
The collection of old cars in Bistra is very rich. You can see cars that belonged to Josip Broz Tito, old motorcycles, bikes, and a lot of other objects. The museum is housed in a former monastery, which is surrounded by a park.