Gostilna Pri Izviru Hublja

Walking from the airfield to Ajdovščina the day before, Flemming and I noticed several manhole lids featuring a man working with some kind of metal:

We were curious and investigated. It showed up, already in 16th century there were ironworks near Ajdovščina, and the remains of them we could visit! Flemming found a moderate hiking trail, with a mountain restaurant somewhere in the middle. We happily left for the hike:

There were waterfalls and mountain rivers:

Some of them dried out during this hot season:

We appreciated the drinking water along the way:

By the time Flemming and I reached the top of our hike, we were completely wet of sweat. It was a hot day, with the warning of thunderstoms. Gostilna Pri Izviru Hublja was a highly recommended restaurant where we had planned to have our meal:

The food was truly homemade, everything from scratch.

We started from mushroom soup, followed by seafood and veggies:

Everything was so delicious! Whilst we were eating, a thunderstorm came. It was a short one. Afterwards we could sit in the garden. We were full, but wanted to try their desert. So we asked for a break 🙂 The staff was very kind and friendly. They would come and ask, if it was ok to serve desert, and we’d answer “please give us 15 minutes more” till we were ready. The desert and coffee were also very good, though we couldn’t eat even half of it. The portions were generous and so tasty!

Later we continued our hike, and reached the irownworks. They were called Fužine ob Hublju:

Those ironworks were built in 1561. The ore was transported from a nearby iron ore mine through the forests by horses, and then along a former Roman road to the ironworks. This location was initially just wilderness without any supply routes or distribution channels. However, they were able to survive due to the close location to the mountain river, the very rich iron ore, and the extensive forests feeding the charcoal production, together with the proximity of large cities, like Venice and Trieste, for celling the production.

By 1566, around 12 tonnes of iron were produced and processed annually. The year after the volume raised up to 110 tonnes. The ironworks were in use till the 20th century, with different success during the centuries. They were closed on the onset of the First World War.