Podsreda Castle

Podsreda was built in the twelfth century and, unusually, never got the Baroque overhaul that reshaped most Slovenian castles, so the Romanesque plan survives: a rectangular court, a palace range with round-arched windows, and a keep, restored over decades from near ruin without being modernised. It stands on a wooded ridge in the Kozjansko Regional Park with the hills of the Sotla valley below. The rooms hold changing exhibitions and a glassworks collection from the nearby Zelenjak works.

What you actually see

• The Romanesque core - a twelfth-century plan that escaped Baroque rebuilding.
• The round-arched windows - original openings in the palace range.
• The glass collection - pieces from the historic glassworks of the Kozjansko hills.
• The ridge position - the view over the Sotla valley and the park.

When to go

April to October; winter opening is limited. Summer brings a concert and exhibition programme. The steep approach road is difficult in ice.

Honest expectations

The interiors are bare stone rooms with exhibitions rather than furnished period spaces. The road up is steep and narrow and the last stretch may need walking. Opening outside the season should be checked first.

Nearby

Kozjansko Regional Park surrounds it, and Bizeljsko is south.