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Maribor- winner of the European Culture Capital Award 2012, first brought to my attention in a domestic Jetstar in- flight magazine. What can I say? Look, I am trying to focus on positives, ok:
Our accommodation was surprisingly lovely, an apartment in a Hostel complex that was ultra-modern, had all the gadgets including a fully appointed kitchen. We even had a huge terrace for outdoor dining. Outside, though, different story.
Whether a designed work of art or real, we never found out, but the whole immediate area was a graffitied ghetto complete with derelict looking buildings, smashed up cars and televisions, huge rubble/rubbish piles. Obscene for us, perhaps wonderful for the pseudo-American reverse baseball capped young peole craving to be authentically urban. Worse still, a live music venue in this space, and when did we arrive?: saturday night- so no sleep whatsoever. The second night, significantly quieter, but the sound of group darabukkas until the early hours of the morning made me realise I have way outgrown the earth child interest phase. Then again, we booked, as it turned out, on the 'wrong side of the tracks'.
On the other side of the tracks, the city: Well, there were a couple of quaint, pedestrian only plaza/piazzas with a few lovely old buildings. The museum was really interesting, but.....we were continuously questioning how this town managed to win the award. That is the most significant feature of this town: every where you look you see giant posters or 3 metre golf balls reminding visitors of the award win. This was probably wonderful for their economy in generating tourist interest, but I don't think that interest can be sustained because aesthetically, other than the plazas and surrounding hills, the town was pure communist era blandness devoid of any significant cultural energy. Wrong time of year?? Maybe when the Lent Festival is on and when the ski season starts it all changes? Anyway, for us, it was NOT a place we would return to or recommend, except for a one day stopover or perhaps, for mountain biking or skiing enthusiasts if research revealed good runs and trails.
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