Predjama Castle

Situated in the gaping mouth of a cavern halfway up a 123m cliff just 9km northwest of Postojna, Predjama Castle has one of the most dramatic settings. Although a castle has stood on the site since 1202, the one you see today dates from the 16th century. Then - as now - the four-storey fortress looked unconquerable.

The castle's eight rooms contain little of interest - oil paintings, weapons, a 15th-century pietà - but the castle does have a drawbridge over a raging river, holes in the ceiling of the entrance tower for pouring boiling oil on intruders, a very dank dungeon, a 16th-century chest full of treasure (unearthed in the cellar in 1991), and an eyrie-like hiding place at the top called Erazem's Nook.

The cave below Predjama Castle is a 6km network of galleries spread over four levels. Much of it is open only to speleologists, but casual visitors can see about 900m of it. Longer tours to the end of the cave's Eastern Passage or Erazem's Gallery available by prior arrangement only. There is also Gostilna Požar, a simple restaurant conveniently located next to the ticket kiosk and in full heart-stopping view of the castle.

Erazem Lueger was a 15th-century robber baron who, like Robin Hood, waylaid wagons in the deep forest, stole the loot and handed it over to the poor. During the wars between the Hungarians (under 'good' King Matthias Corvinus) and the Austrians (behind 'wicked' Frederick III), Lueger (naturally) supported the former. He holed up Predjama Castle and continued his daring deeds with the help of a secret passage that led out from behind the rock wall.

In the autumn of 1484 the Austrian army under Gašpar Ravbar, the governor of Trieste, attacked the castle, but it proved impregnable for months. All the while Erazem mocked Ravbar and his soldiers, even showering them with fresh cherries to prove that he came and went as he pleased.

But Erazem proved to be too big for his breeches and met an ignoble fate. Having gone 'to where even the sultan must go on foot' (as Valvasor described it), Erazem was hit by a cannon ball as he sat on the toilet. It seems a turncoat servant had betrayed him, by marking the location of the water closet with a little flag, for Ravbar and his men.