48 sustainable hours in Rogla and Pohorje: cycling from Center Noordung to endless forests

Our cycling journey began in Zreče, where Monja and I rented e-bikes and received instructions for exploring the destination Rogla-Pohorje, which boasts a Slovenia Green Gold certificate, as sustainably as possible. Normally, I’m more of a fan of traditional bikes, where you burn your own fat and strengthen your muscles instead of relying on electricity. But given the thought of tackling steep hills while carrying some camera gear, we didn’t shy away from the electric boost.

Noordung: a vast universe in tiny Vitanje

I imagine the residents of one of Slovenia’s smaller municipalities were a bit puzzled when a modern, metallic space station was built in the center of their idyllic town, which is more of a village, surrounded by green meadows and forests. The municipality of Vitanje has only about 2,350 residents, with around 60% of them relying on agriculture for their livelihood.

Our bikes in front of the Noordung Center, a building with an inclined slab that was inspired by the book by Herman Potočnik Noordung.

But here’s the thing: the Noordung Center, built on the foundations of the former cultural home, remains a cultural and social hub of the area. The hall at the heart of the Noordung Center hosts various social events, and workouts. The town has also gained the ‘cultural center of European space technologies,’ now known as the Noordung Center. After all, Herman Potočnik Noordung’s mother was from Vitanje. Potočnik was a Slovenian rocket engineer whose book “The Problem of Space Travel – The Rocket Motor” became foundational for space researchers. I didn’t know that the director Stanley Kubrick got the idea for the space station in the legendary film “2001: A Space Odyssey” from Potočnik’s design for a ‘habitat wheel’ that creates artificial gravity through rotation.

At the Noordung Center, you can explore our solar system, the history of space exploration, and the involvement of Slovenian and European scientists in various space projects. With VR glasses, you can ‘walk’ around a space station or fly over Slovenia in an ultralight aircraft. Besides the permanent exhibitions, you can join nighttime space observations and have fun in the escape room “Mission: Escape to Space.” However, Monja and I had Urška waiting for us, so we had to wave goodbye to space and get pedaling. To get there, we followed the Slovenia Green Wellness Route on this section. And who is Urška?

A farm that could be a model for tourist farms (and more)

Urška Topolšek Planinšek greeted us in front of her farm, wearing a long green summer dress and a kitchen apron, holding a glass of something that looked like sparkling wine. When we hinted that we might pass on alcohol since we still had afternoon cycling ahead, she reassured us: “It’s lavender syrup, homemade, mixed with mineral water for a refreshing touch.” The Urška tourist farm was the first in Slovenia to obtain the ‘eko marjetica’ certificate for tourism providers, and today it also boasts the Slovenia Green sustainability certificate.

Urška in the company of goats on the home meadow around the Urška eco farm.

The Urška Tourist Farm could be a perfect example of a sustainable tourist farm – and of living in harmony with nature in general. We rode our bikes with her husband Jernej to their field and greenhouse to gather ingredients for lunch: fragrant tomatoes, a few sprigs of lush basil, some cucumbers, and a melon that had already decided it was ripe enough. We delivered the basket straight to the kitchen and waited for lunch in a small pool with views of the meadows and forests.

After lunch, I asked the hostess how much of the ingredients came from their farm. She looked up, wrinkled her nose adorably, thought for a moment, and replied, “We buy the pumpkin oil. And of course, the salt… Hmm, the rest is ours.” She continued, “Even the plates are made in Slovenia, and Jernej crafted the serving boards…” They also have their own cows, pigs, and chickens, where the youngest guests collect eggs, as well as rabbits, goats, and sheep.

Urška asks her guests at breakfast, “Will you have soup or a sandwich for lunch today?” She found that some guests spend the day cycling or hiking, and on those days, the homemade vegetable soup, which happened to be pumpkin soup that day, remains untouched. “So, we added sandwiches to the menu, which they can take with them. We won’t waste anything!” And what doesn’t get eaten goes to their pigs anyway.

This is a place where I would have happily stayed for dinner and breakfast, but all the beds were taken. So, we had to push on past Zreško Lake, uphill to the village of Gorenje pri Zrečah.

Smogavc: sustainability, self-sufficiency, and locally grown food

The location of the another Slovenia Green-certified Smogavc Farm is simply fantastic. It stands on the edge of a grassy ridge with a few scattered houses and farms, ending with the Church of St. Cunigunde with its cemetery, before descending towards the Dravinja Valley. Some of these buildings, in addition to Smogavc’s home farm, inn, and apartments, are connected to their biomass heating plant.

Cycling towards Rogla, Smogavc guest house in the background (houses on the left).

“We strive to be as self-sufficient as possible. Once you organize a wedding and host a large number of guests, it’s hard to serve everything solely from homemade products, but we try,” explains Katarina Fijavž honestly. “We operate sustainably as much as possible. We heat with biomass, we have solar panels on the roof for electricity production, and in 2018, we built a 450 square meter heated greenhouse. We grow vegetables and herbs there for our guests.”

Before the waiter started bringing out the excellent mushroom soup, pork medallions with ‘štruklji’, and risotto with chanterelles from the nearby forests, followed by blueberry strudel for dessert, he opened a chilled bottle of sparkling wine from the Založnik cellar, just over five kilometers away from our table with a view of the Pohorje hills. The bikes are parked now. Cheers!

View from the window of the apartment at Smogavec.

The rain forecasted for the afternoon turned into a loud thunderstorm at night, but in the morning, the cows were peacefully grazing in the meadow below our all-wooden apartment again.

Between the spruces to the tree canopies

The GPS wanted to guide us back to the main road in the morning, but the red signs marking the cycling routes disagreed. So, we cycled for about fifteen kilometers in the shade of tall, old spruces. By the way, if you plan to cycle in this area, Rogla’s website offers maps, descriptions, and navigation packages for various levels of cycling.

Treetop walk Pohorje as seen by birds.

After the overnight rain, the Oplotnica River was surprisingly wild, and the cars parked along the gravel road signaled that mushroom picking season had begun. With a fond farewell to the porcini mushrooms for another time, we headed towards the spruce treetops. Honestly, I had thought that the Treetop Walk, a wooden walkway with a tower at the top of Rogla, was just another unnecessary tourist attraction. “I can walk among trees anywhere!” But not among the treetops! The path, over a kilometer long, gradually rises above the tops of the old spruces, offering truly breathtaking views of Pohorje and beyond.

From the 37-meter-high observation deck, you can then slide down a 60-meter-long slide on this Slovenia Green-certified attraction in just a few seconds. By the way, dogs aren’t allowed on the treetop walk, but they can wait for you in a doghouse, which is free to use. The next stop wasn’t far away; the turnoff to Mašinžaga adventure park from the main road is well marked.

Mašinžaga: no snow? No problem.

Decades ago, they probably didn’t think that ski lifts would be in use year-round. But winters are, unfortunately, becoming milder, and Rogla’s Mašinžaga adventure park is adapting to the changing conditions.

In Mašinžaga, they bet on adrenaline sports driven by gravity.

The new six-seater chairlift with protective cabins and heated seats (which we definitely didn’t need in August) isn’t just for skiers and snowboarders anymore. It also serves cyclists (and their mountain bikes), hikers, users of the flying coaster, and drivers of mountain trikes. Flying, mountain… what?! The flying coaster is like a ‘zipline,’ but instead of running along a steel cable, it runs along a sturdy, pretzel-like tubular structure at a height of five meters.

Besides the mountain biking descent and the flying coaster, there’s a third option for an adrenaline rush: mountain trikes. These trikes, without pedals or motors, can go pretty fast – as fast as the driver dares by squeezing the brakes.

After earning ourselves a hearty Pohorje stew and another serving of blueberry strudel (which you really can’t get enough of) in the late afternoon, Monja asked, “What was your favorite part? For me, it was the baby goats at Urška’s.” Hmm, probably the forest, the greatest treasure of Pohorje. Yes, definitely. But I also know that a two-day trip with all the stops we made was too packed for a true forest experience. Let these two days be just a hint of what the destination offers – and when planning your activities, it’s better to be more reserved. For beautiful things, it’s nice to take your time.