Črni Kal - Osp - Kubed

Črni Kal

The ruins of a castle overlooking Črni Kal, called Town or Old Town, stand on a cliff some 30 meters high that once could be reached only by a four-meter-long drawbridge. Situated on the road through the Rižana Valley towards Klanec, between the Adriatic Coast and the interior, on the border between Venetian and Habsburg interests, Črni Kal was already mentioned in the 11th c.
During the 14th c. it was a resting-place for tradesmen and travelers, but also a place where conflicts for the supremacy of Koper, the Habsburgs took place, as well as attacks of the Uskoks. Due to its great strategic importance of controlling the entire valley, together with Socerb, it was the major point from where Habsburg soldiers invaded their enemy.

Today, the cliff at Črni Kal is a popular climbing site. It offers rock-climbing devotees a variety of routes with different climbing grades and lengths all year round. A local attraction is the "leaning tower", belfry of St. Valentine's Church from the 17th c. which inclines as a result of the caving in of the ground. The village has the oldest stone portal, an example of Istrian-Karst architecture on the so-called Benko House from the 15th c.

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