Valvasor's father died when the boy was ten years old. His mother died when he was 16. At the time he was attending the Jesuit school in Ljubljana. Graduating in 1659 at the age of seventeen, he did not choose to continue his studies at a university but decided to broaden his horizons by meeting learned men on a journey across Europe. This journey lasted fourteen years and it even took him to northern Africa. During this period, he joined the army in the Austro-Turkish War, where he became closely acquainted with the conditions on the Croatian Military Frontier.