Thursday Doors, 29/11/18: Velenje Castle

Today’s doorhopping comes from the castle above Velenje, the city in Slovenia known for its socialist tradition and values. Not a bad legacy.

I’m sure not everything is rosy there but the joy of the people at the recent re-election of its mayor that I witnessed on Slovenian TV convinced me he is doing quite a few things right.

Velenje, also called “Red Velenje” and in the Yugoslav past officially called Titovo Velenje (Tito’s Velenje), is the sixth largest Slovenian city with the mining past and what must be the largest still standing Tito statue in Slovenia (just guessing here; I’ll show it at another time).

Which comes in handy since on this day Yugoslavia used to celebrate its Republic Day back in the day, and the band from Sarajevo Zabranjeno pušenje (“No Smoking”) could sing “Today is Republic Day and the old man has had a few.”

Ah, hell, let’s hear it out but since I’m feeling lazy, here is a (not all that splendid but informative) translation off the net. I especially like the last lines: “Are you insane, Dragan / Close the windows, the stove isn’t working”).

And before I lose myself in the memories of how it used to be, let’s hop up to the castle with my patient friends, the same ones who waited for us in vain while we were busy getting (almost) irretrievably lost, as I explained in the past post where I showed you the lake, Pippi Longstocking doors and some of the city’s red stars.

My friend looked around with interest where her mother used to play when she lived there. Not that they are some kind of royalty, the castle used to house apartments. Now it holds a museum and provides setting for various events.

The castle has plenty of gorgeous doors and the one at the main entrance is 500 years old (or did the man at the gate say 300? hm…). It also gives good views and I was happy to go there. Thank you, friends!

This is where we entered but the oldest door comes later.

Stylish. Velenje Castle.

Stylish again!

Ready-made for a movie setting.

Hi, Velenje. Can you see another castle ruin?

Mother-in-law door?

A door for those who don’t like doors (there are some!).

Pretty and well thought out.

Here it is, my door keeper. Amore is unsure whether we can enter to have a peek since it’s a museum. But we could.

500-year-old door. I think. The man at the door told us more, for example that they opened the little door to pour out the boiling oil. (Nahh… improvising.)

Another view.

A performance was getting ready.

Well kept, all of it.

An example of going into the light. Can you see it?

There it is, the best light of the castle. The man followed me, curious what I was looking for there. Probably private premises.

This door is plugged in and ready to speak.

Goodbye, Velenje. You have many similar streets.

Lovely.

I might have sneaked in through the open door to get this shot.

My travelling companions. We practised these poses for 20 minutes. (Nahhh.)

Then we went for some icecream and a stroll around town, but as we were leaving, the castle came into view as if to say goodbye. All good to you, red city, keep your people happy.

For Norm Frampton’s Thursday Doors challenge.