Today we hit the road for Slovenia. After a missed alarm, we got up a bit too late to have breakfast before we needed to pick up the car. So unfortunately we missed out on a third morning a the delightful small cafe just around the corner, with their delicious pastries and breakfast pancakes. Instead, we dragged our suitcases the short(ish) 14 minute walk to the car rental place, near to where we arrived on the train our first day.
The car rental already had a couple renters waiting to pick up their cars when we arrived, but it was only a short wait until we were shown to our gleaming chariot for the next two weeks – a blue Renault Clio. And as promised, its a standard. I’ll have more on the car in a future post so those details will have to suffice for now. We headed out of Vienna a little before 11am on the way to Slovenia.
The drive from Vienna to Slovenia is not a very long one – about 2 and a bit hours, on a 4 and 6 lane highway. So since we didn’t want to arrive in Maribor too early, we made a stop in the city of Graz, Austria, for a walk around its UNESCO heritage city centre. It was a pretty city centre, with grand and ornate buildings lining the streets, and lots of smaller Gasses branching off with plenty of shops and cafes. It was also fairly busy – being a Saturday there were probably plenty of locals and tourists alike. We took a funicular ride to the top of The Schlossberg, a great hill rising vertically just off the main street. The hill used to have a castle at the top, but now there are just some foundations, a plateau garden, and a cafe with sights over the city. There was some relief from the heat today, so it was an enjoyable couple hours seeing the sights of Graz.
Then we were back in the car on the way to Maribor. At the border with Slovenia, we stopped to pay for our e-vignette. It’s basically a pass for travelling the main toll-highways of Slovenia. (Austria has the same). From there, a short 20 minute drive (plus the little detour we took because I was too busy pronouncing Slovenian words on roadsigns and I missed the highway exit) and we arrived in Maribor. Just in time for a torrential downpour!! We waited it out in the car for a bit before making our way to the hotel to register and get directions for parking the car. Because our hotel is in the centre of Maribor, and the centre is a pedestrian zone, we had to get special access to drive in the area – with the bollards sinking to the ground when we approached – by providing our licence plate in advance. Felt kind of strange driving in a pedestrian area. Though because of the downpour, there weren’t many pedestrians in the zone.
It was still raining after we got to our room (which is actually about a block away from the main hotel) so we tried to wait it out a bit before heading out for dinner. The rain let up and I deemed it safe to head out, but no more than 3 minutes into our walk to the restaurant the heavens opened up again. It’s only about a 7 minute walk to the restaurant from our room, but by the time we got there we were both soaked! Oh well, we had a leisurely and enjoyable meal (not Schnitzel, but local beef fillet cooked perfectly) and by the time we left, there were only a few drops coming down, and our clothes had mostly dried.
Calling it a night now, and tomorrow we’ll explore Maribor and its surrounds.
Hey Guys – how about we pitch in and get Darryl and Lisa two of those new “umbrellas” (um-BRELL-uhs)? I saw a person with one the other day and they look great.
Otherwise happy to see you guys are having a fun time and appreciate the instalments. We are hearing about nothing except the global heatwave so hope you can stay cool (you know, in the temperature way). Will be watching!