Further Wanderings

I had these grand dreams that Europe was where I’d finally catch up on my ‘blog writing, as we had several lengthy train trips in quick succession. Instead I seem to have fallen further and further behind, because, as we are moving quickly from place to place I’ve just felt to busy to really do that much writing.

Ah well. Onwards, ever onwards. Both in terms of my writing, and for the narrative of the ‘blog.

Our last stop in the Balkans was the little nation of Slovenia. It’s actually debatable whether Slovenia is actually a Balkan nation. It usually gets lumped in there just because it was formerly a part of Yugoslavia. But in fact Slovenia seemed to have a lot more in common with Austria or even Germany than with the other Balkan nations we visited. As soon as we’d crossed the border on the train the contrast was evident. Run down old buildings punctuated by communist era concrete hulks gave way to a general sense of prosperity and neat villages full of highly sloped, orange tile roofs on modern alpine-styled homes.

One of many brightly coloured homes in the Solvenian village of Apace.

When we arrived at our destination, the town of Ptuj in northeastern Slovenia, our couchsurfing host (or in fact her sister, Lučka) picked us up at the train station and whisked us off to the quiet little village of Apace, where we’d spend the next three days. “Little” is a key word in that descripton as, with not many more than 500 people, Apace was certainly the smallest town we’d couchsurfed in and quite possibly the smallest town we’d stayed in at all over the 1 year+ of our trip.

Though a small village, Apace didn’t really feel remote. Other small villages were nearby, indeed, within sight on a clear day. And the big local employer, an aluminum building products factory that had survived and thrived following the switch from communism to capitalism in the 90s, was only a few km distant. But that said, its smallness still gave it a unique character: everyone knew everyone, and when we walked into the local pub (despite not looking particularly un-Slovenian) everyone took a turn walking past to the toilets, to grab a new glass from the bar, or whatever else, so they could check out the newcomers.

Sarah and Maja waiting at the Apace bus stop. Buses came about two or three times an hour for the quick ride into Ptuj

All that said, it was more an issue of curiosity than anything else, and we had a wonderful few days in Apace with Lučka, her sister Maja (who was actually the one who invited us) and their parents. And we got a good taste of everyday life in the Styrian countryside.

Beery friends of mine might recognize the name “Styrian” as Styrian Goldings are a variety of hop. And sure enough, it’s northeastern Slovenia and Southeastern Austria where they’re grown.

The area around Apace is famous for wine production as well. The larger town of Maribor, 25km or so north of Ptuj, is home to the world’s oldest grapevine. And both Maribor and Ptuj are historic wine production centres as well, to the extent that back when they were independent city states they fought a war over the wine trade. And also to the extent that we had no trouble going on a winery tour in central Ptuj when we went into the village with Maja the day after our arrival.

The tour was a touch pricey, but was very well done. A walk around the ancient cellars with a personal guide and a fabulous multimedia presentation about the land, the history and the wines while we tasted. The wines were fabulous too, clearly the best we’d tried since leaving NZ. Mostly whites, minerally, tart and delicious (e.g. Rhine Riesling), but with a tasty red and a divine sweet white thrown in at the end as well.

Massive oak casks in the cellar of the winery used for both fermentation and aging

Part of the “wine library.” The oldest bottles in their collection were 1917 Rieslings, which survived Nazi plunder during the second world war by being walled up in a dead end of the cellar

Back out in town we had a lovely walk around the quaint and charming centre of Ptuj. As we walked we chatted with Maja, who pointed out the high proportion of unoccupied shopfronts and explained that in many Slovenian towns, small locally run businesses in the city centre were dying out and being replaced by international chains in malls on the fringes. Depressing that the lessons taught by American cities in the 70s and 80s haven’t helped others avoid the same mistakes…

Ptuj’s old town hall (I think.)

The big church near the centre of Ptuj which, oddly, had a bell tower detached from the rest of the structure.

The view from the ramparts of Ptuj castle

The foreground isn’t so scenic, but I so loved the facade of this building I had to include a photo

Though much smaller than even Ptuj, Apace had enough around to keep us occupied during our visit:
A walk through the fields and up the hill to the pilgrimage church of Ptujskagora, a fabulous Slovenian dinner prepared by Maja and Lučka’s mom, and even another night out at the Hobbit pub. Sarah and I sat on the couch beneath drawings from Tolkien novels and photo stills from the Peter Jackson movies, playing a card game while in the next room a raucous birthday party carried on late into the night, with two very talented singer-guitarists leading the way.

The last of the fall colours in the woods on our walk up to Ptujskagora. Small roads criscrossed the countryside meaning that although there were lovely little patches of forest like this one, there wasn’t even the faintest hint of real wilderness nearby

Ptujskagora church sitting atop its hill

The Ptujskagora complex included homes for monks and a pilgrim’s hostel as well as the church. It’s located along a hundreds of km long pilgrimage walkway that runs between several historic and revered churches of the virgin Mary in Slovenia and Croatia

Llamas! Right in the shadow of Ptujskagora. And they were even ACTUAL llamas, not alpacas!

A farmhouse on our way back down from Ptujskagora. I think we ended up with so many photos from that walk because it was the one really bright and sunny day we had in Apace

On our final day in Slovenia Maja and Lučka gave us a lift up to Maribor where we spent the afternoon taking a look around that town. It had some similarities to Ptuj, lots of pretty medieval buildings, impressive towered churches, and grape vines growing just outside town. But it was also different. Down on the ground floors, many of the medieval buildings had obviously undergone recent renovation, many of them in the city centre having being converted into modern cafes or restaurants. Oddly, however, even on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon, most of the public squares and pedestrian streets were eerily quiet. Not so for the riverfront promenade, or the vine clad “pyramid hill,” both of which attracted plenty of walkers. But in our short time there, I still couldn’t really get a handle on what was going on in Maribor. Pretty town, pleasant riverfront, a few cool sights, but with a bit of an odd feeling around it.

Well kept old buildings in Maribor

An armada of swans on the river. We sat and watched, fascinated for a good quarter of an hour, by the run in between these guys and a small dog out for a walk on the banks. Bark bark bark! Hiss! Hiss! Run. Swim. Repeat.

Sarah with the oldest grape vine in the world (over 500 years!) It just managed to limp through the communist and early post-communist days when no one really cared much about it, and has now once again become a local treasure

Our departure from Slovenia was by a new (for us) mode of transport: pre-organized, paid ride sharing. I liked it. Maja had arranged our ride up to Vienna for us by using a Slovenia-specific website, but there are plenty of others where people who are planning an intercity drive post their itinerary in hopes of having people joining them to fill the empty seats in the car and chip in a few Euros for petrol. Our driver and fellow passengers were friendly (all Slovenian except us) and the trip cost less than half of what a bus or train trip would have, so I give it two thumbs up.

I’ll finish with the usual big thanks to Maja, Lučka and their family. M and L are both planning to head to NZ soon (on a working holiday and immigrating respectively) and we sincerely hope we’ll be home to see them by the time they arrive.

Sunset over Maribor

Masses of crepes that we made for breakfast one morning, accompanied by a big pitcher of Maja’s fresh squeezed mixed fruit juice

Sara, Lučka and her mom with our Slovenian Sunday dinner of smashed potatoes, salad and fried pork/chicken, finished off with a huge pan of a cherry strudel-like dessert

Tags: Apace, Llew Bardecki, Maribor, Ptuj, Ptujskagora, Slovenia, Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 25th, 2012 at 7:41 am and is filed under Slovenia, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.