Road Trip Europe 2017 - Part 6 - Maribor - unexpected swap

As I mentioned in my previous post, we decided to visit Maribor just the evening before. The initial plan was to go directly to Hungary and have a sleepover on the lake of Balaton, but when we started looking for a place to sleep, we were disappointed by the oldish hotels and guest houses and the prices of the properties. So, after all we changed the destination to Maribor - one more country to visit (Slovenia).

One fast check of the route - 120 kilometers and about three hours of travelling through the village roads. I just hate the highways and love experiencing the nature and the traditional habits of the native residents.

This time even the navigation shocked me, leading me through "unpaved" roads. At one moment I was not sure if I'll be able to reach the final target, but eventually reached safely, and all the roads were just fine!

Soon (this time sooner than the other days) we reached our final destination for the day - Maribor! The town isn't big at all... About 100 000 residents and is very peaceful. It's famous with the vineyards and wine production. In fact we tried some native wine and it was very pleasant!

When we checked in our hostel, we left for a walk in the city and made some photos of it. The place itself is very clean and neat. Not many people, but still not too few for a Thursday evening. The bars and the pubs were full and there were a lot of young people everywhere.

First we got to the river to explore the view of the bridge towards the city center. Going there we passed through a small square with a statue and some very nice old buildings.

This statue initially was wooden one... Or particularly the pillar, but it was eventually replaced by this marble one, which is more durable.

Nice and beautiful!

And soon we reached the river. A lot of swans and ducks were swimming inside.

You can see the 400-year vine on that photo. It's just on the right side of the photo!

Look at that beauty!

After the river of Drava, we passed through the city center and went straight to the park. It was huge and full of people. Such a nice place to relax and stay calm in the nature.

The theatre hall!

Some vineyard hills.

In the peaceful park.

With an hour of walkaround we found ourselves thirsty, so what a better choice than going for a beer and a wine on the street of the old Post office.

Yup, it's the great Bevog Kramah IPA! Hopiness with top quality!

The day faded away and the night came. We decided to go for another tour around the river to see it on the night! This time we went by the old vine, which is 400 years old, and is one of the city landmarks.

Sunset by the river.

That's the 400 year vine!

That was the beautiful and peaceful Maribor. Definitely worthy going there. If I had a chance I would like to visit Ljubljana too, but maybe next time!
Please, upvote and leave your comments! Always appreciated. Until next time, bye and also check the other parts of my trip!

Part 1: https://steemit.com/travel/@mdosev/road-trip-europe-2017-serbia-croatia-slovenia-hungary
Part 2: https://steemit.com/travel/@mdosev/road-trip-europe-2017-part-2-the-ancient-dubrovnik
Part 3: https://steemit.com/travel/@mdosev/road-trip-europe-2017-part-3-drive-alongside-the-adriatic-towards-split
Part 4: https://steemit.com/travel/@mdosev/road-trip-europe-2017-part-4-magical-split-boat-trip-in-the-adriatic
Part 5: https://steemit.com/travel/@mdosev/road-trip-europe-2017-part-5-goodbye-split-hello-zagreb

See you soon, best wishes, Miroslav!