Magical Treasures of Slovenia with Franci Horvat

Magical Treasures of Slovenia with Franci Horvat - at Javorca and in Vranja peč cave.

The magical treasures of the Savinja Valley - his two favorite spots for calming the mind and clarifying the spirit, Janezov bivak under Javorca and Vranja peč cave - were revealed by photographer and publicist Franci Horvat also to journalists, whom he invited on March 31 to celebrate life and the release of the guidebook Magical Treasures of Slovenia. The vital Celje resident, who celebrated his 70th birthday a few days ago and has been going to the mountains all his life, presents 26 selected destinations in the new Planinska založba guidebook for lovers of solitude and untouched mountain wilderness, for hiking gourmets who love nature and peace.

Photographer, world traveler, alpinist, and publicist Franci Horvat selected his favorite hikes for the new guidebook Magical Treasures of Slovenia, where he felt good - heavenly: "Heavenly is where I feel truly free and where I really feel good, so that on these paths I clear my head. Night hikes are also close to my heart. The good feeling lasts for a while, then you have to set out on another such path." His goal was to present hidden corners throughout Slovenia, so he starts with the Julian Alps, continues with the Karavanke, Kamnik-Savinja Alps, Smrekovško pogorje, Mozirske planine, Ponikovski kras, Prekmurje, and ends with Kočevsko and the Kraški rob. The guidebook lists 26 selected destinations for romantics, but he doesn't invite them only to remote mountain corners, but also to water jewels and even underground.

"Dear hikers, on the described paths I wish you as many heavenly pleasures as possible, and that you return from the hikes pleasantly tired but satisfied. Choose tours according to your abilities, because some are really not easy," Horvat advises mountain lovers. Among the more demanding tours are two that are particularly dear to him - Za Razorcem above Zadnja Trenta, where the Nebeške poljane are, the first hike in the guidebook due to its heavenly beauty, and the unique Dedec under Zeleniške špice in the Kamnik-Savinja Alps, where light climbing and excellent orientation are also needed. Among the mountain destinations for lovers of solitude and untouched mountain wilderness, Horvat selected Zadnjiški Ozebnik, Travniška dolina and planina za Skalo, Visoki Mavrinc, Brinova glava, Križevnik, Stan pod Utami, and Matkovo okno above planina Zabrložnica; remote corners for mountain gourmets include Krstenica, Vošca, Janezov bivak on Javorca, Kozice above Kolpa, Kavčič, and Golič. A handful of the presented destinations are also more visited - Slemenova špica, Viševnik, planina Velo polje, and Sotinski breg. Born on Water Day, he also delights with a delicious selection of lesser-known destinations for lovers of water beauties, such as the waterfalls and gorges of Možnica, Šunikov vodni gaj in Lepena, Vzhodni skočniki of Beli potok, Krvava lokev under Kalški greben, jezero Vodotočnik, Črno jezero under Krnes, Vranja peč cave, and Mirtoviški potok along Kolpa.

"I was definitely a bit in a dilemma whether to present these remote corners or keep them to myself. But I decided to bring my treasures closer to hiking gourmets too. When they are described, they remain for posterity too, right?" Horvat muses, while Vladimir Habjan, editor at Planinska založba and mountain rescuer, also emphasized the safety aspect, as people go everywhere, and if they don't have a description, the probability of an accident is higher, so such a good description is very desirable. In polishing and editing the guidebook, Vladimir and Irena Mušič Habjan, both experienced writers of hiking guidebooks, helped Horvat.



The hike descriptions are complemented by the author's sincere confessions, who has been going to the mountains all his life, admires them with his eyes and heart, describes them insightfully and photographs them masterfully, so the guidebook for mountain gourmets is enriched by inspiring photographs of wonderful corners of the homeland. "In the past, I was cooked and roasted on Okrešelj. I usually exceeded 30 visits per year. Golte or rather Javorca, where Janezov bivak stands, is now my second home. It is a real balm for my soul and body. If I want to be alone with myself and with beautiful views, I head to Mozirske planine," wrote Franci Horvat in the book, who took a handful of journalists on a short but sweet path from Alpski vrt on Golte to the solitary Javorca, although it is just a stone's throw from the popular Mozirska koča on Golte. After the exposed path, they descended to the sunlit Janezov bivak, a special viewpoint with a bench, Aljažev stolp, and a barrel under the rock overhang of Javorca, from where there is a view of Mozirje, Nazarje, and Spodnja Savinjska dolina, as well as Dobrovlje, Menina planina, Čemšeniška planina, and all the way to Kum.

From Javorca, one could continue towards Smrekovec and along the way admire Črno jezero under Krnes, where both of Franci's guidebooks meet, Magical Treasures of Slovenia and Po poteh XIV. divizije, which was published four years ago. But Horvat took the selected company further underground, to Vranja peč cave in Andraž above Polzela, a hidden underground beauty of the Savinja Valley, which at low water level allowed an attractive passage through its bowels. "I descended to the loner, nearby there is a short wall with climbing routes. My fingers itched and I had to do a little climbing, then I stepped to the magnificent cave entrance. There I meditated a bit, wished for healing, and then left my 'sanctuary'. I felt reborn. I was aware that I was heading into battle with cancer, where I 'must' win!" we read in the guidebook and rejoice that Franci managed to overcome bile duct cancer and get back on his feet after a complicated operation: "Recovery was long, but the hills were the ones that brought me back to life. I have the feeling that they help me to better well-being - it was like that even before the illness, now even more so. I no longer tackle alpinistic challenges, but adapt hill visits to my abilities. I say it's better to live one day as a lion than a whole life as a sheep."

Franci's mother first took him to Klemenča cave at four years old, and love at first sight ignited, the next ascent was already to Ojstrica. He fell in love with the mountains and passed that love on to his daughter, whom he also took to Klemenča cave at four years old. From time immemorial, hidden natural treasures attracted him, and as a child he explored numerous corners around home in detail that others did not visit, then he was drawn to pathless terrain and realized that he would have to enroll in an alpinism school and acquire knowledge for safer mountain visits. This year he celebrates 50 years of alpinism, as an alpinist he has completed more than 600 ascents at home and abroad, including 42 first ascents. He climbed in the Alps, Peru, Bolivia, Nepalese Himalayas, Tanzania, and Turkey. The active retiree is also the creator of Grintova pot, a circular path around the Grintovci, otherwise he worked for many years as a cultural creator in the field of photography.

Franci's great role model was alpinist Tine Mihelič, one of the most prolific Slovenian writers of alpinistic and hiking guidebooks, who often revealed hidden corners to him not only in the Julian Alps, but also in the Andes and other mountain ranges around the world; his brother Jože Mihelič also generously pointed out some enchanting areas of Slovenian mountains. In paving his photographic path, two friends helped him, top photographers Matevž Lenarčič and Tomo Jeseničnik, who wrote for the book: "Horvat's book cannot be classified among ordinary guidebooks on diverse paths or more or less visited corners of Slovenia, but rather it is a textbook on how to understand principles and sequences in nature, how to experience nature in a way that leaves no trace in it, to which humanity in recent years gladly and very superficially commits."

Horvat says he knows no better teacher than nature - that in it he finds everything that fulfills and completes him. Therefore, he wants visitors to his magical treasures to help preserve them: "I ask hikers on my paths to treat nature respectfully, so that posterity can still admire the mentioned beauties. In some hikes, I write that nature is increasingly affected by ice storms, windfalls, avalanches, so some of the presented beauties may have lost their shine and are no longer as I saw them. I can say that nature is slightly avenging our careless behavior."



The world traveler also always tries to find hiking spots that attract him during his wanderings around the world. In an exploratory style, he also celebrated his 70th birthday in March - on a trip to Malaysia with his wife and daughter, during a visit to Robinson's waterfall: "The path to this waterfall was almost the most I experienced in Malaysia, really incredible. I felt fantastic, met locals, and also a couple of tourists - and really felt heavenly." He presents his travel experiences at travel lectures, of which there have already been more than a thousand. Magical Treasures of Slovenia will also come to life as a lecture and photo exhibition, specifically on June 22 at Osrednja knjižnica Celje.

"Franci, who has really walked and explored a lot, in his creatively mature years combined his joy of photography and writing. Magical Treasures of Slovenia is a somewhat unusual guidebook, where we describe a path and the characteristics of the selected destination, and at the same time in a special frame the author's experiences on that path. The introduction is thus more general, a geographical outline of an area, added is what attracted him. I think there won't be crowds on these paths, but people who recognize some magic off the visited paths. These ends are for those who know how to enjoy," emphasized editor of Planinska založba Vladimir Habjan.



The book season at Planinska založba has just well begun, but Habjan is already announcing what all mountain lovers can expect this year. First, Mateja Pate's alpinistic stories titled Šefica, before summer the hiking handbook for parents and children Majhni koraki, veliki vrhovi by Urška Petek, autumn will bring the literary debut Oblekla sem tišino by Mojca Volkar Trobevšek and the Posavje guidebook by Marjan Pergar, winter the handbook Smučanje v gorah by Jak Ortar. Soon, reprints of the English guidebook on the Slovenian Mountain Trail by Gorazd Gorišek, Mojca Stritar Kučuk, and Andraž Poljanec, and the Slovenian guidebook Karnijske Alpe by Vladimir and Irena Mušič Habjan are expected, which will also be published in German and Italian by the Milan publisher Versante Sud, which is a great achievement for both the Alpine Association of Slovenia and the authors.