Maribor, also known as Marburg an der Drau in Deutsch. It's the 2nd largest city in Slovenia, behind the capital, Ljubljana. It used to belong to Lower Styria, which is why there's quite a bit of Styrian influence here.
It was subject to "re-Germanization" during WWII resulting in many Slovenes running off to Serbia and Croatia. During the dark days, it was a key industrial centre for the production of arms and as a result was subjected to Allied bombardment towards the end of WWII. It was among one of the most damaged cities belonging to Yugoslavia.
We came in to Maribor after Ljubljana and the peace and quietness just went up many notches. For some strange reason, Maribor was almost completely deserted.
Featured in the album cover is Maribor Castle. You got that right, that is a castle. Certainly didn't look like it since it looked more like a mansion of some sort. It now houses a museum which had closed by the time we arrived...
Right, so this is Maribor, the winner of Alpine Town of the Year in 2000 which sits quietly along the Drava. Peacefulness taken to the next level here :)
The Maribor Cathedral was initially built as a Romanesque church before having two naves (and some other things) added to it during the Gothic period and then got 2 additional chapels added to it during the Baroque period.
The Basilica of Our Mother of Mercy (Bazilika Matere Usmiljenja) stands, more or less, just across the Maribor Castle (City Castle). Seen here basking in the evening sun!
The windy conditions helped keep the Slovenian flag in front of the Maribor Castle flying. But it certainly had everyone else pulling out their jackets.
Still going strong and loving the temperature of course! Along Trg Svobode with a peculiar looking object...
Maribor Town Hall and its Main Square as the sun sets.
Continuing from earlier... Slovenia left Yugoslavia in 1991 and was badly affected by it. It subsequently joined the European Union in 2004, adopting the Euro in 2007 and joined Schengen.
Unfortunately, none of that helped improved Slovenia's economic situation. I guess adopting the Euro may not always be a good idea. But hey... food for thought!
Anyway, seen here is Maribor's Old Town along the River Drava in the evening sun.
Unfortunately, none of that helped improved Slovenia's economic situation. I guess adopting the Euro may not always be a good idea. But hey... food for thought!
Anyway, seen here is Maribor's Old Town along the River Drava in the evening sun.
Since we didn't get to go to Bosnia & Herzegovina, I decided to bring them into a place that served absolutely amazing Bosnian food!
Fun fact: Maribor is home to NK Maribor, the team to eliminated Celtic from the Champions League for the 14-15. It's kinda sad that even a tiny city like Maribor is in the Champions League and United aren't anywhere near Europe. Murphy's Law... Sigh...
This was it for Slovenia. Next was returning to Graz to show my family around my home city in Austria. Very close to the end of the first leg of our European journey. Best part is, we're only just a week in!
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