It Was A Fantastic Trip In Slovenia!
Happy Easter everyone! I know I am so late with my greetings but hey, better late than never at all! I hope you had a wonderful and blessed celebration of Easter. So far, I had a nice Easter Sunday but there is no better one in celebrating it in my home country. Still, I am grateful to celebrate it peacefully.
The City Hall of Maribor on the left and the Plague column.
Let’s go back to my main topic before I hit the sack tonight. My recent travels in Slovenia and partly in Austria is over now. It is sad to say goodbye to those places we visited but I am always glad for the next destinations after that travel. I am at my second home now trying to have a daily routine again. I am glad that I still have some days off to do some spring cleaning before going back to work again.
The trip in Slovenia turned out great. Although I have been to Maribor last 2013, I am glad to visit it again and again. I am also happy to be backed there, because during my first visit, I only had a 2-hour stop-over, which is not enough to see and experience most of the sights. I remember it was raining too hard during my first visit, also the reason why I did not had the chance to walk around the city as fast as I can.
A column on the city center of Maribor.
Maribor is a historic city. It was first mentioned back in the 12th century. Today, Maribor is a trans-regional financial, educational, trade and cultural center. It is pleasantly small and lodged in the nature of Pohorje Mountain on the one side, the wine growing hills on the other, and with the river Drava wending its way through it, Maribor has grown into one of the country’s most important tourist destinations.
Don’t miss to visit the Old Vine (Stara trta), Slomškov Square (Slomškov trg), Main square (Glavni trg), Castle square (Grajski trg), Water tower (Vodni stolp), Maribor castle, the Cathedral, Lent, Vinag Wine Cellar (Vinagova vinska klet), the Old Vine House (Hiša Stare trte) and more.
Ljubljana is the Main Reason Why I Went Back to Slovenia.
The main reason why I visited Slovenia is to experience its capital city of Ljubljana. During my travels last year in the Balkans or Southeast Europe countries, I had a stop-over in Ljubljana’s airport. I told myself, I will surely come back to this city next time. I did not expected that in less than 6 months, I can finally go around in the city.
The Ljubljanica river in Slovenia’s capital city of Ljubljana.
Sad to say, I only had a half-day tour in Ljubljana. I actually went with a group of German tourists that time. We have to follow the itinerary during that trip but sometimes, I evaded from it. If Ljubljana is only less than an hour travel from our hotel, I will surely stay there the whole day. We stayed in a ski resort and hotel near Maribor that time, which is quite far from Slovenia’s capital.
Ljubljana is small and it is fine for me. It is one of the smallest capital cities in Europe. I heard some Germans saying “Klein aber fein”, which means “Small but fine”. It has no world’s famous attractions which is great. You don’t need to hop-on and off with the bus. By walking or strolling the city, you can reach each sights by foot.
The Ljubljanica river flows through the center of town, past Baroque buildings and under the ramparts of the ancient castle on the hill. The new city and modern-day commercial core lies to the west of the river, while the old city and the castle are located on the east side of the river. Many bridges cross the river, the most famous of which is Tromostovje (Triple Bridge), designed by architect Jože Plečnik.
At least, I have seen most of Ljubljana’s sights including Triple Bridge (Tromostovje), Zmajski Most (Dragon Bridge), the Old Town, Square of the Republic, Ljubljana Castle (but don’t have the chance to climb there), and more.
Sightseeing in Celje
The tour guide greeted us with these words, “Welcome to the Most Beautiful City in the World”. For sure, if it is your birthplace or hometown, you will say the same! Right folks! It was a lovely day in Celje. The weather was quite friendly with cloudy skies that morning which is perfect for sightseeing.
The castle on top of the hill in Celje.
Celje is known as one of the oldest cities in Slovenia. It was known as Celeia during the Roman period. Early attestations of the name during or following Slavic settlement include Cylia in 452, ecclesiae Celejanae in 579, Zellia in 824, in Cilia in 1310, Cilli in 1311, and Celee in 1575.
The tour guide introduce to us its sights including the Stane Street with the Cathedral, the National Hall (Narodni dom, today the town hall), the Celje Hall (Celjski dom), the Celje Water Tower (part of the town walls, built after 1451), the Roman ruins and other historic buildings in the city.
I would say, it was so far a fantastic trip considering the cheap amount I paid for it, the superb accommodation, the many places we visited and including the many things that are included during that trip.
