Bizeljsko, Ptuj and Rogaska Slatina

As our final month approached we had some hard decisions to make about what to do with the little time (and money) we had left.  We had visited all the nearby countries and seen a huge chunk of what we had hoped to achieve, so this left us with either places further afield, like Poland or Berlin, or to see some more of Slovenia.  Since we had been busy travelling and some of the train trips had been a bit tortuous we decided to do some research and then plan some overnight trips to different bits of Slovenia.  We realised with all the travelling that we hadn't fully explored the country we were based in.

First off was Bizeljsko.  Slovenia is a perfect place for vines and produces a lot of wine.  We had tried more than a few from the local supermarket but thought it would be fun to visit some vineyards and do some wine tasting.  There are areas in Slovenia where they have "wine roads", where there are mile after mile of vineyards and you can stay on Tourist farms that produce their own wine.  One such area is around a village called Bizeljsko.  A lot of Slovenia is made of limestone - that's why there are so many caves, but this region is made of flint and sand.  The locals have dug Repnica, which are small caves in the sand, held together because it is damp, and these produce perfect conditions for the storage of wine.  We found a tourist farm to stay in from a local website www.turizemzidanicah.si, and organised a wine tasting with them and another local vineyard within walking distance.  Unfortunately, the first date we booked we had a bad snow storm, and although all the snow ploughs were out and the roads just about passable, I decided I didn't fancy the two hour trip and we postponed until later in the week. 



Vineyard at Pudvoi



It was still a little snowy when we walked over the hill to Vina Graben, and the nice man who did the tour and tasting thought we were a little mad!  He gave us an interesting talk about the history of wine making in the area and showed us his Repnica.  Then, finally we were on to the tasting.  The wine was excellent, and we must have tried about 10 different types (they produce over 200 different wines).  He kept refilling our glasses, and we finished off with some cognac and a herbal spirit thing.  Needless to say we were a bit more wobbly walking back over the hill!

After an hour's break we were on to the second wine tasting at the Tourist farm Pudvoi.  We got to see their Repnica too, but got onto the wine a bit quicker.  The wine wasn't as good quality as Vina Graben, but still very drinkable and we had an interesting chat with our host .  The stay at Pudvoi included dinner and, of course, we had a bottle of their Laski Rizling with the meal.  A very happy evening was had.

The next trip was to an ancient market town in the east of Slovenia, Ptuj.  This is listed as one of the must see places in Slovenia.  The snow had gone by now, but spring hadn't quite made an appearance.  Ptuj is quaint old town with lots of medival townhouses and beautiful buildings and dominanted by it's castle.  We went at the weekend, which turned out to be a bad idea as this part of Slovenia still has afternoon closing on Saturdays and nothing open on Sundays.  Although the architecture was lovely, the place struck me as a bit sad as it no longer has the life and energy that it must have had in it's medival heyday. 



Ptuj with castle

We stayed in the very nice Silak B&B in a 300 year old house near to the river - just be careful avoiding the beams!  Then we spent a wet afternoon exploring the town and trying the local restaurants and bars.  The next morning we visited the castle which had an extensive collection of old stuff, and a quite interesting exhibition on the medival Lords of Ptuj.  I think Ptuj would be better in the summer as there weren't many visitors when we went and there is a good thermal spa and swimming complex just over the river.  It would be a good area for cycling too, as it was fairly flat, had good cycle paths and there are vineyards nearby for tastings!

The most recent of the trips took us to Rogaska Slatina for our anniversary.  It is one of many Spa towns in Slovenia, the magnesium-rich spring was discovered in the sixteenth century and it is full of gorgeous looking hotels in the Austro-Hungarian empire style.  The Grand Hotel Rogaska was particularly impressive.  We didn't stay in any of the expensive-looking hotels but found a small apartment (Apartment Pak) to the south of town, only 10 mins walk away from the main square.  We did try the "curative" waters, meant to be particularly good for gastrointestinal complaints!  It tasted pretty horrid, and the magnesium content is so high it fizzes as it comes out the tap. We tried the local swimming complex rather than the medical centre herbal baths, though.   Other highlights in the area include the crystal glass factory, where we picked up a souvenir, and the Rogatec Open Air Museum, where we got to see the inside of houses and other Slovenian buildings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

It has been interesting to visit other areas of Slovenia, but I still think Bled is the prettiest and the best. 

Spring arriving in Bled

Watching winter sports is easier than participating

It's been a while since the last posting so I thought it was time to update on a couple of things that I've been up to.

After my "heroics" at cross country skiing I decided that it might be easier to watch winter sports rather than participating in them. Thus for a couple of weeks after my efforts I watched the final races of the biathlon World Cup events on TV as well as venturing out to watch some new and interesting sports as well as watching some old favourites in the local area.

Preparing the slalom course
at Kranjska Gora

It started off with a trip to Kranjska Gora to see the penultimate race in the mens slalom World Cup. It was a bit of an early start but I got there about 20 minutes before the start whilst Gemma parked the car. The racing was really good and as it only cost 10 Euros to get in I thought it was well worth it, although Gemma wasn't as keen as me as the day was cold and rainy.

Ivica Kostelic from Croatia won the event but it was mainly due to the French skier, Alexis Pinturault, failing to finish the 2nd run whilst having a comfortable time advantage. Unfortunately the only British skier, David Rydding, failed to finish the 1st run although he did win the overall Europa Cup slalom title the following day.

Gemma watching the Alpen Cup
at Pokljuka on a warm, sunny day

It was also the final weekend of the Alpen Cup, which is the third tier of biathlon (not a breakfast cereal) and is mainly for up and coming biathletes. There was some good racing although I felt sorry for one of the biathletes who missed all of her targets and had to do 10 penalty laps which turned a 6km race into a 7.5km event for her.

An added bonus on the day was that as it was bright and sunny day and I even got Gemma to come along and watch quite a bit of the event.

The BIG hill at Planica

Towards the end of March there was the Ski Flying Final held at Planica, which was an event I had been longing to see ever since we arrived in Slovenia. Ski Flying is a version of ski jumping but whereas ski jumping usually sees people jumping around 95-130 meters ski flying involves the people jumping between 160-240 meters.

I managed to get to see the team event whereby 4 people from each national team make 2 jumps each and the team with the best overall points total wins. On the day I was there 35-40,000 people were there and the majority of them went home happy, as well as slightly drunk!, as Slovenia won the event.

Ice Stock Sport
 European Championships

It was then time for something a bit different and that came in the form of Bled hosting the European IceStocksport Championships. This is a game played across the width of an ice rink (about 30 meters) where players "push" a "stone" across the rink and try to place their "stone" as close to the centre as possible and on other occasions knock targets out of a designated area. It was a bit like watching a cross between curling, bowls and skittles.

What was interesting was to see that not only were the "normal" winter sports countries like Germany, Austria and Switzerland taking part but also teams from Brazil, Israel, Guatamala and Kenya.

Watching the skill involved in this sport was a good way to spend the afternoon and I think it could be something that catches on in the UK as it is relatively cheap to buy the "stone" and targets.

I know how this person feels

Just before Easter we went back to the Ice Hall to see the Triglav Trophy. This is a competition held annually in Bled for ice skating. Previous participants had gone on to win Olympic medals.

The competition was of a high standard and I think we may have seen at least one if not two future World and Olympic champions. These being the junior mens winner Alexander Petrov and Taichi Honda from Japan who was the runner-up in the same event. The Brits did quite well in the event coming 3rd and 4th but were quite a way off from winning.

My pharmacist says that I am still not allowed to do anything sporty due to my dodgy knee and so this weekend I am off to watch the 54th Bled Rowing regatta and then a couple of days later the Taekwon-Do European Championships which are being held in Bled. Should be fun as there are usually beer tents at these events and they do say "if you can't join them, then have a beer instead!"