Slovenia: Maribor

We’re spending just 3 nights in this northern Slovenian town that’s made its fame and fortune from grapes and wine.

A highlight of Maribor is the Old Vine – a grapevine that is 450 years old, planted and propogated during Roman times and still bearing grapes suitable for winemaking.

An interesting mini museum inside, tells Maribor’s wine tale. There exists an Association of the Slovene Order of the Knights of Wine where members sit around 8 Knights’ tables (for 8 different Slovenian wine growing areas) and discuss all things viticulture.

Visiting Vinag Winery in the Old Town was another highlight of our time in Maribor. Established in 1847, it is the oldest underground winery in the world in a city centre. It stretches 2.2 kms underground and our tour (just hubby and me) was excellent. So many great wine stories told about Vinag, so many great wine barrels (wooden and concrete) to see. The wine tasting afterwards saw this predominantly red wine lover give the tick of approval to a couple of Vinag whites.

Wooden barrels once held up to 3000 litres. No longer in use, now heritage listed

Glass pipes to carry the wine. A sign of affluence

Maribor has a compact old town, easy to wander, easy to like.

The Plague Column – original built in 1681, this replacement built in 1753 in gratitude for the end of the 1680 Plague which killed one third of Maribor’s population

Below is the Liberation Monument in Freedom Square. Look closely and you can see the faces of the Slovene partisans who were killed after defying Hitler’s Nazis. Hitler certainly had big plans for Maribor. This website offers an excellent explanation of this awful time. https://www.spomenikdatabase.org/maribor

We experienced plenty of liquid gold rain during our stay, which gave us a chance to enjoy a couple of good movies and central heating in the very comfortable Romantic Apts Sweet Baci. Another goodie from booking.com