It began with pizza… I’d flown in from London Stansted on an Easy Jet flight, which was relatively straight forward. I did laugh that my National Express coach from Andover the previous day had taken three times as long, but I was here, well fed from an all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Premiere Inn, and staring down a doughy monster. I managed most of it, though I was busy catching up with Anja, who had kindly picked me up from Ljubljana airport, about thirty minutes outside the capital.
We went back to the airport to pick up our Finnish friends, JP and his girlfriend Pirjo, and drove to Anja's parent's house on the outskirts of Lenart. On arrival we were greeted with two platters of what I’d describe as canapés, a shot of blueberry schnapps to start (a common tradition) and a jug of home-made wine. It was a lovely gesture, and I forced down as much as I could, though by now I was totally stuffed.
Anja's parents live in a large self-built house accessible only by a hilly country lane. It’s quite popular for Slovenes to build their own houses, and admiring the industrial size kitchen and large table filled hall, which they use for functions, and beautiful setting in the following morning's light, I could totally see why.
Breakfast was served upstairs, and the way Anja had laid it out we might as well had been staying in a five star B&B; a selection of breads, cheese, meat, and fresh coffee. We were well and truly spoiled.
Anja's mother, Andreja was using the car, so Anja’s cousin, Anita drove us to Ptju, a nearby historical castle town on the river Drava. We parked at the supermarket and walked into the centre, where red tiled roofs covered almost every house. I saw the city tower and Orpheus Monument in the main square, Slovenski Trg, and through an alleyway behind us, we found the path up to the castle, which gave great views across town to the river.
After a final tour to the church of Sts Peter and Paul, and a look at some of the ‘Art Stays’ outdoor art exhibition, we flocked back to the car (with a short stop in the supermarket for an ice-cream and to pick up a bottle of Slovenian wine for the evening) we drove to Ptujsko Morje, or the Inland Sea, a rather plain purpose built lake for boating and water sports, which at least made for a nice stroll.
Back at the house, I took a shower then read my book outside as Anja picked some tomatoes and onions from the garden, then shortly called us in for food. Once again, she had gone all out with a tapas like spread of roasted vegetables, potatoes, and pork cooked with cheese in the middle. Lush.
JP, Pirjo and I sat outside for a while after food and watched as Anja’s Dad rode around the fields in his tractor. Anja joined us with her gorgeous dog, Stella who rolled all over JP and wanted lots of attention. Anja showed us her parent's vineyard and then we joined her on a walk with Stella to the pond and back.
That evening, Anja drove us into the centre of Lenart. It may be a small town, but I was suprised to see shops still open at 6pm. We walked through a residential street, and were impressed with the colours of the houses. It’s become quite popular in Slovenia to paint your house a vibrant colour, and each house was different, be it red, purple, green or orange. It made it quite an individual street.
We sat for a while at the hippodrome, a big track for horses, and one guy turned up just as we arrived and did a few laps on a cart with his horse. A short walk then took us over to a picturesque lake, which despite the noise of the overlooking motorway, was really peaceful. Anja took this great picture of us three, which I think would make a great album cover should we ever form a folk band!
A bar in town served us drinks into the night. There are only two beer (pivo) manufactures in Slovenia, Laško and Union, and each region prefers either one or the other. Lenart, being near the brewery in Maribor, goes for Laško. I loved that each has a dark version, a temno pivo, but again I much prefer Laško Dark. It was odd, however, that each was served in the incorrect brand glass…
Before we called it a night, we stopped at the ice-cream parlour for a cone on the terrace. It was like going to a club where booze is replaced with ice-cream; a very unique experience, and a great way to end our first action packed day in Slovenia.
This was the first part of five stage post. In part 2/5, we climb the Maribor Pohorje and go wine tasting in Maribor!
No comments:
Post a Comment