When almost every other place has an avalanche alert, most tour skiers head for the Svete Višarje
Svete Višarje or also known under the Italian name Monte Santo di Lussari is in the western Julian Alps. At the elevation of 1766m there is also a village, which is an attraction on its own. The view, if the weather is nice, is the main reason for making a visit.
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Tour skier's paradise
The mountain of Svete Višarje is very popular for tour skiers. And although there’s a cable cart leading up (as the mountain has regular ski slopes) many tour skiers head up on foot. The way up is not really arranged. But the marked paths have many more tour skiers on them than they do other hikers. And everybody chooses their own way down for skiing (on paths, ways or even through the forest). The number of visitors even raises, where the avalanche alerts are given. It’s due to the fact that the danger is much smaller here – but you can still reach a tall view point, which usually features a great skiing descent. It would take you some two and half hours to get to the top and you can even get down in twenty minutes.
The special feature of Svete Višarje
Undoubtedly the most special feature of the mountain is the village on top! The village is cantered around the church of the Višarske Matere Božje and that made it a pilgrimage village. The well-marked path to the top also features a cross path. Unfortunately, when a lot of snow falls the markings may get covered and not seen. The tradition of this pilgrim path is well known and many people from home and abroad tend to visit it. The history of the pilgrimage dates back to the times, when the pilgrims were bringing fire-wood to heat the pilgrim homes. Today the fire-wood is brought up by cable-cart, which connects the village with the valley for 50 years. Still the pilgrimage path is much more romantic. There’s even a whole book on miracles that might have happened on the mountain – and that certainly didn’t hurt the number of visitors. Due to a short season the pilgrimage is limited to summer only. As with many other holy places, there is a legend about how this pilgrimage started. The story says that in 1360 a shepherd was looking for his lost sheep and has found them at the top of the mountain rage of Višarje. The sheep were kneeling around a bush, where there was a wooden statue of virgin Mary with Jesus. He took the statue with him to the home village and gave it to the priest. Although the priest took the statue and placed it to a safe place, the statue was gone and reappeared on the mountain, to the same place where the sheep were kneeling a day earlier. This happened again on the third day as well and when the church authorities heard about it, they built a chapel there. Through the various historical periods there has been turmoil, which caused the prohibition of pilgrimage, demolishing the altar, and so forth, people never forgot this holy place, so the emperor gave the permission again, for this to become a pilgrimage destination.
