Emerald adventure along the Giants’ Wall

The Giants’ Wall (Ajdovski zid) is part of the defensive system known as the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum which the ancient Romans built between Rijeka in Croatia and Aquileia in Italy. It is around 7 km long and at one time 35 defence towers stood along its length. Two of these towers have been partially reconstructed, making it possible to get a sense of the boldness of the vision of their ancient Roman builders. The wall has been abandoned for long centuries, yet life along it has never died out. The forest surrounding the wall is home to numerous plant and animal species and is part of a very interesting and diverse landscape.

Children can learn about the ancient Romans and the traces they have left in our present-day landscape, and also about things from Roman times that are still part of life today (such as Roman numerals or Latin sayings), as well as about the unique natural environment of the area. Their guides along the route will be a young Roman boy called Julian and an interesting denizen of these forests, the emerald earthworm. They will also have an important task to complete as they follow this adventure trail: they must carefully observe the nature around them and try and discover the hidden Latin sayings and collect stamps. They will then write the former and stamp the latter in their Emerald Adventure notebook.

The Emerald Adventure notebook is available from four starting points (Vrhnika Tourist Information Centre, the Moja Ljubljanica exhibition space in Vrhnika, the Kljukec café and cake shop in Logatec and Gostilna Mesec in Zaplana – where a special prize awaits them when they complete their task). The trail begins by the old road between Vrhnika and Logatec – by the turning for Zaplana, to be precise.

Access to the starting point

By car or bus (the start of the trail is by the Zaplana bus stop)