Thursday evening my friend Michal (Poland) told me he was going to Slovenia on Friday by car, and there were two empty places if I wanted to join. It only took me five seconds to decide… yes of course I will join! I really wanted to travel last weekend, and my roommate and friends were going to Vienna, so this trip to Slovenia was perfect. And, I really never imagined going to Slovenia, so I was even more excited to go! So we came back to the dorms and he told me he would keep me updated with the details. The next morning things were very unsure… We were to carpool with a guy coming from Krakow to visit his girlfriend in Maribor and he had been quite specific about only 3 empty spaces in his car, and we were now 4 people (me, Michal, Pieter (Belgium), and Kristijan (Croatia, but lives in Maribor, Slovenia)). We also weren’t sure of a place to stay… so it was really up in the air. We ended up bribing the driver with more money to let all of us come, and Kristijan’s girlfriend made a reservation at a hostel outside of the city for us… so we were on our way!
The guy we carpooled with was really cool, but his car was a very small Fiat! I was crushed between two guys in the backseat for 5 hours… but it was actually ok! We had great conversation the whole way, and it went by really fast. We arrived in Maribor before midnight and Michal, Pieter, and I took a taxi to our hostel… which we were thrilled to find out was actually a three star hotel! It was amazing – we had our own room with three beds, a great bathroom, and a TV. It was so luxurious. We brought some food with us (bread, meat, apples), so we made a little dinner and went to bed.
Saturday we needed to find our way to Maribor, which was 10 km away from the hostel. We were told there was a bus or a train we could take, but Michal really wanted to try to hitchhike into the city. My first reaction was, “No way!” but everyone talks about hitchhiking in Europe! And, I was with two guys, so I figured I’d be safe for the short ride. Unfortunately, we did not get a ride, so my first go at hitchhiking was not very impressive. We decided to find the train station because we heard it was cheaper, but when we got there we learned no trains ran on Saturdays. So we hurried back to find the bus stop… and this is where it gets exciting! A bus came our way, but we were on the wrong side of the road. The driver saw that we wanted to get on, so he pulled over to pick us up. We tried to pay, but it was a challenge with the language, so he just waved us back and we figured we would pay when we got off. When we got off the bus we tried to pay, but he just smiled and waved us out of the bus! It was amazing. We were so thankful to save 3 Euros! That was definitely a great start to the day.
Maribor is an absolutely beautiful, clean, and calm city. It is the second biggest city in Slovenia and is very near to the Austrian border. The river Drava runs through it and the city is known for its wine. It’s kind of small, but very easy to get around. The weather was perfect and people were sitting outside at all the cafes… it was just perfect! We walked around the city a bit before meeting up with Kristijan and his girlfriend, Taja. With them we ate the typical fast food of the Balkans called “burok” (fried dough and meat… so good!) sitting on the bank of the river.
We then walked a beautiful path back to Taja’s house and proceeded to have a very relaxing afternoon. She and Kristijan cooked for us and even though we asked to help, they had us sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. I think I got a little color while we were there! We had a great dinner and went for a great walk to the top of a hill overlooking a vineyard. You can see these everywhere in Maribor, and they each have a little church on top of them. That night we hung out at the house, drank wine, and ate cake. It was perfect!
The next day we walked around the city and bought and sent some postcards. We saw a park and went to the top of the cathedral. To thank Kristijan and Taja, we treated them to some delicious ice cream before saying goodbye to them. Our last activity in Maribor was having a little picnic of wine, bread, and cheese sitting next to the river! I just kept thinking how beautiful it was there, and how relaxed and happy I was. It was so nice to be in the sun with good people. We had such great conversation the whole weekend. Coming all different countries and backgrounds made the topics of conversation really interesting, and I learned a lot from my new friends. The weekend really was perfect!
Slovenia is a really wonderful country with quite a difficult past. It was apart of the former Yugoslavia, so it endured a difficult war in the ‘90s. Today it is incredible clean and doing very well. Every person we encountered was incredibly friendly and good to us – we had free rides to the city and were fed! What more could we ask for! Seeing the vineyards everywhere was really something special. Everyone seemed to have a tree/bush that produced grapes for wine. They also have the oldest vine in the world! It’s over 400 years old and still produces grapes! I never did find out how expensive that wine is…
I really recommend that everyone visit the Balkans some day. They unfortunately have a negative stigma attached to them because of the crisis in the ‘90s, and because of the centuries old “othering” the West has done to them. By this I mean that Western countries and cultures have put Southern Europe/the Balkans in a very low category far from being like them. They are different – skin, culture, language – and so they were looked down upon. Today I think we should work to come away from this “othering” of this region of the world. Slovenia is a member of the EU and uses the Euro, and from what I saw it is a very progressive and productive country. I am definitely looking forward to being in Croatia in a week and half to see and experience another Balkan country.
Every day I am thankful to be living in the Czech Republic! I really enjoy being in this country, and having so many other places easily accessible. It has been a great semester so far – and there’s more to come!
what a weekend it was. do you remember that the last night we were watching the shining on tv? the fact of watching it in a hotel emphasized the plot a bit. one day we have to watch "speed" while riding a bus
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