Otočec - Sveta Marija (Trška Gora)

Access to starting point:
A) From the Ljubljana - Obrežje motorway, take the Novo mesto - east exit, then continue driving in the direction of Otočec. Further on, we drive along the old road towards Brežice, then quickly arrive at a junction, where we continue right in the direction of the settlement Lešnica. After Lešnica we arrive at Otočec, but we drive to the other side of the settlement, where we park on the parking lot by the cemetery.
B) From the Obrežje - Ljubljana motorway, take the Kronovo exit (exit no. 28), then continue driving in the direction of Otočec castle. Also from the nearby roundabout, continue in the direction of the Otočec castle exit. Further on, we drive along the old road towards Novo mesto, then after the Petrol petrol station turn right in the already known direction. There follow two successive junctions, where we go left twice, then after the underpass right in the direction of Otočec (left Otočec castle). There follows approximately 1 km of driving, then we arrive at Otočec, where we park on the parking lot by the cemetery.

Path description:
From the starting point, we continue past the church and for some time continue along the road in the direction of Novo mesto. We soon arrive at a chapel, where a road branches off to the left towards Ratež and Gumberk, then at the next junction, a few tens of steps away, we continue right past the NOB monument. We continue through the underpass, then on the other side of the underpass we continue left (right Paha and Herinja vas). At the next junction we continue right, then we walk past the Hočevar confectionery and past the Otočec primary school and along the fields arrive at the end of Otočec and a few steps further to an unmarked junction.
From the mentioned junction we continue left (straight through the underpass under the motorway Stari grad above Otočec and Trška Gora past Stari grad) and descend along the sidewalk to the nearby junction, where we continue right in the direction of Črešnjice and Jelše pri Otočcu. After the junction the road leads us through the underpass under the motorway, then we walk along meadows and fields. We quickly arrive at the settlement Jelše pri Otočcu, where the road starts to ascend gently to moderately. When the mentioned settlement ends we quickly arrive at Črešnjice, where at the marked junction we continue left in the direction of Trška Gora. Further on we ascend more steeply for some time, and part of the path we also walk along Slakova pot. A little higher, at the section where the road levels out, a path branches off to the right to the Teropšič vineyard cottage, Slakova pot also continues in the same direction, but we continue slightly left along the somewhat wider road (to ascend to the church of St. Mary on Trška Gora we can also continue right, in this case we join the path leading from Stari grad). There follows a scenic walk among the vineyards, where with views of Gorjanci and the Krka river valley we arrive at the beginning of the settlement Trška Gora, where we continue right along the main road. At the beginning of the settlement the road still ascends, then a short descent follows, from where a nice view opens up onto the vineyards and the church of St. Mary.
At the junction after Krkin hram we continue straight ahead, then a little further ahead a marked path from Novo mesto also joins.
We continue straight ahead, then a nice view opens up onto Novo mesto, Mirna gora and Gače. The path ahead leads us along an increasingly steep road, which higher up turns into a gravel road, along which we quickly arrive at the church of St. Mary on Trška Gora.
Description and pictures refer to the condition in 2016 (June).