"Gobsmackingly gorgeous!" Hrastovlje by CatherineReichardt

It may have been billed by Lonely Planet as one of the 'must see' locations in Slovenia, but I was simply unprepared for the exquisite gem that is the Church of the Holy Trinity in Hrastovlje. Set amid vineyards and fortified by ancient honey coloured walls, the external simplicity of the 12th century exterior is misleading once you experience the riot of detail within.

I have a particular weakness for Romanesque churches and naive frescoes, so when I read that Hrastovlje's frescoes featured a 'dance macabre' (the 'Dance of Death', which was such a central theme of plague-ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages), I took no more convincing - the bigger challenge was persuading the family that they wanted to stop off to visit some old church on the way to the beach on a sweltering day!

The frescoes cover almost every inch of the church's interior and are utterly breathtaking! The church's architecture and fortified exterior is also enchanting, and its location - separated from the village and surrounded by vineyards contribute to an atmosphere of a place lost in time.

If you only visit one church in Slovenia, then let it be this one (and when you're hit by the total onslaught of Ljubljana's Baroque churches, remember the timeless simplicity of this perfect gem!)