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It is funny how similar middle-of-nowhere Slovenia is to middle-of-nowhere New Zealand. Pockets of forested area surrounded by farmland, frequent tractor encounters whilst driving, sporadic cellphone and wifi reception, and nowhere that serves a decent cup of coffee. Of course, Slovenian villages don't look much like New Zealand "villages" - wide gabled houses with red tiled roofs and window boxes instead of corrugated iron roofed state houses with paint peeling from the weatherboards; whitewashed churches with onion domed towers instead of run down petrol stations and gloomy pubs; and family run restaurants offering goulash and dumplings instead of a corner fish and chip shop.
Dale and I landed at a funny little B & B about half an hour south of the Austrian border. The outlook is very pleasant - from our wee balcony we look over a lake flanked by green hills (it is a good spot to sit and watch the sun set) - but the serenity is marred by the ever present hum from the nearby A5 motorway. Sasha, the B & B manager, is very hospitable and was excited to welcome his first Kiwi guests (having travelled as far as Australia he even knows where New Zealand is!). Arming us with brochures and recommendations, Sasha saw us off on our first day of village hopping.
Unfortunately the nearest castle to where we are staying is now used as a psychiatric hospital, so we gave that a miss and made our first stop Maribor. Turns out this isn't a village at all but Slovenia's second largest city. Dale and I figured out how to pay for parking (eventually) and walked into the old town, stopping when we came to an impressive looking church. Dale paused briefly to read the tourist information sign outside and declared the church not worth wasting time on since it was only built in the 1800s. New Zealand Dale would think a 200 year old building historic, but European Dale is only interested in artefacts 400+ years old!
In the middle of the old town we found the picturesque public buildings, the Black Plague Memorial, and the cathedral. We also found the city museum...problem was, we couldn't figure out how to get inside! Deciding that the city really can't be used to tourists, we gave up on the museum and made our way to the river which curves prettily through the middle of the city, separating the old from the new. From the vantage point of Tito's Bridge we could make out the old Jewish synagogue and the historic water tower pictured in our guide book. Feeling like very lazy tourists, we ticked those sights off our list, and made our way to the nearest supermarket for more bottled water (it was hot!) and a bag of nectarines costing only 50 cents!
Next stop was the medieval town of Ptuj (pronounced Pa-too-ie). After 4 wrong turns the navigator was under some pressure from the driver to get her act together! But in the end we made it to a carpark on the town outskirts. Crossing a pedestrian bridge into the town we had a great view of the fortress on top of the hill, with the town wrapping the slopes below. We stepped off the bridge and into a ghost town. The streets were deserted, shutters were closed, and doors were bolted. We cautiously made our way up the narrow streets until we emerged onto a road with some signs of life. Down by the information centre were two or three cafes and a bar where people were sitting outside. Cafes in Slovenia differ significantly from cafes at home in that they don't serve food but they do serve alcohol and it is entirely acceptable to order your first beer as early as 8:30am! By this stage it was 2pm, and with stomachs rumbling we needed to find somewhere that served more than a drink. I went into one of the cafes to ask if there were any restaurants nearby. The girl inside did not speak English but spoke some German (once again I was grateful to have a smattering of a second language!) she directed us to a Pizzeria a block further on. We found the pizzeria easily (the only place in town that people were eating) and as usual, Dale and I shared a pizza, while the socks and sandalled Austrians/Germans at the table next to us consumed a pizza each, with sides!
Sasha had recommended Ptuj castle as worth a visit, so after lunch we continued our sweaty ascent of the hill town to the gates of the castle. Dale had recovered his good mood after our driving detours, and took great delight in grossing me out with his chewing-gum-bubble-making attempts - awful! I was doing my best to ignore him as we approached the ticket office.
Once again, communicating with the locals fell to me. Using slow English, sign language, and a couple of German words, I purchased tickets for the castle and museum. We discovered that there were a number of separate exhibitions to see - starting with an exhibition of Slovenian folk-costumes. Some of these were like something from a horror movie and it is hard to imagine these costumes being used for jolly festivals. From folk costumes we moved to the castle's grand living quarters, where the former occupants - counts and countesses - had their dining room, drawing rooms, study, bedrooms, dressing rooms, and chapel. As we wandered these rooms (alone, since it seemed we were the only tourists visiting the castle) we noticed a photo shoot taking place outside. Several crew, a director and photographer were focussing their attentions on a grey haired aristocratic looking man in pyjamas. We were curious, not only because the sight of an old man in pyjamas at a Slovenian castle was unexpected, but also because the photographer and co were clearly American. The purpose of the photo shoot, however, remains a mystery to us.
Continuing around the castle we saw exhibitions of portraits, religious artefacts, musical instruments and armour and weaponry. Particularly impressive were the room of antique pianos, and the double-handed broadswords (each around 2m in length!)
Coming from an Island nation, I still haven't got over the novelty of driving across international borders. From where we have been staying in Slovenia, it is as easy to drive into Austria as it is to drive to the supermarket. The most surreal demonstration of this was when we visited the town Bad Radkersburg. One moment we were driving through a Slovenian town called Radgona, over a bridge we went, and suddenly we were in the Austrian town of Bad Radkersburg and everything was in German!
That night we had dinner at a roadside guesthouse recommended by Sasha. It was within walking distance of our b & b, with a garden and views of the lake. Dale's pork medallions with barley and mushroom sauce was very rich but tasty. I was glad I'd ordered the small portion of turkey schnitzel with diced seasonal vegetables, as even this was large enough to defeat me. We also tried some of the local white wine.I was lucky with my selection (a well chilled, crisp wine similar to sauvignon blanc) Dale was not so lucky with his 80 cents glass of wine (which was dark yellow, cloying, and almost had a fizzy quality which made me suspect it was over fermented).
Overall we enjoyed our quiet few days in rural Slovenia, but with all the Olympics we had been watching we were eager to move on towards London where the action is!
- comments
Angie Gale We have had several stays in rural Slovenia in the past few years. We have found the Slovenians a beautiful race and so friendly. I would say all of the younger people speak excellent English and are extremely intelligent and well educated. We found shopkeepers and cafe' workers all made a huge effort to communicate in English. Even older people did their best. Don't forget Slovenia's history. They are only starting to trust people again, and I'm sure when they get their tourism act to perfection it will be the place to visit. We will certainly be back again.