Friday, Aug. 5,
2016—Maribor to Ptuj
Ptuj is only a
45-minute bus trip from Maribor. We caught the 10:05 bus, and our
hostess, Metka, was at the station to meet us when we arrived and
drove us to House in the City Center—our AIRBNB “apartment” (House in the city center) on
a cobblestone walkway heading up the hill toward the castle that
stands above the city. It really is a two-story, stand-alone home.
Downstairs we have a living/dining room, a bath, and a kitchen.
Upstairs is a large bedroom.
Ptuj is a beautiful
small town. Unlike Maribor, it apparently did not receive damage
during WWII. The whole town consists of old buildings along narrow,
winding streets. Some are restored, and others still need
restoration. But the general effect is very pleasant.
We were told about a
free shuttle bus that makes a circuit around the city every half
hour. We left the apartment and started the bus tour. It’s
second stop was the Terme Ptuj, a thermal bath complex with a hotel
on the edge of town. We got off, and they allowed us to walk through
the complex for free to see it. It had large outdoor and indoor
pools with different temperatures. There are water slides, too.
Many people were there—scattered throughout he grounds under trees
and in the sunshine as well as being in the pools. If the
airntemperatures were not so hot, I would have enjoyed going to the
hot pools! Thirty minutes later, we caught the next bus and
continued around the town.
After that, we
wandered some local streets, but it was really too hot to enjoy the
day. We came back to our house. Both of us napped, but I was up
earlier than Wes and finished reading my 800+ page novel, TheLuminaries by Eleanor Catton, that won the 2013 Man Booker Prize. It
is a wonderful book. At the beginning, there were so many characters
and there was so much happening that I wondered if I would ever be
able to keep up with it all. But slowly each character became
distinguishable from the other and the pieces of the puzzle of what
the book is about started coming together. By the end, the whole
story becomes known. The reviews reference it as a nineteenth
century novel updated for today’s readers. What is amazing is that
the author was only 28 years old when she finished it and it was
published. I give the book 3 ½ stars out of 4.
In the early
evening, we started walking the streets exploring the town. It is so
small that not much time is required to go through most of it. But
each street has surprises in terms of nice old buildings, interesting
shops, etc. We walked out on a pedestrian bridge over the river and
took photos back toward the town with its castle on the hill above
it. We walked along the river to the lake on the edge of town which
was formed when a dam was built a few years ago.
After eating a
dinner of pizza and local wine (Pullus 11, Moda
Frankinja, Dry, 2011 recommended by the man working in the wine section of the supermarket) at a table on our outside patio, we
went back out to enjoy a band which was performing as a part of a
weekend festival called Oswald’s Fair that is held every year at
the this time. (I don't know the name of the bank, but click here for videos of similar Slovenian folk bands playing polkas and waltzes.) Because of a forecast of rain, most of the events for
the festival tonight were canceled. The festival will continue
tomorrow. But one local band set up on the main square and played
polkas, waltzes, and other Slovenian songs. They were a good band,
and it was fun to hear the music. Unfortunately, the rain finally
arrived around 20:30, so we headed back to our home for the evening.
Note: We do not
have normal wifi here. The owner provided us with a mobile phone USB
thumbnail connection, so our time online is limited. Also, my phone
will not work while I am here. I have not included many links here. I will not post another entry in the blog until we get to Zagreb late Sunday. At that time, I will come back to this entry and put more links.
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