sLOVEnians travel

I lived in Maribor my whole life. Well ok, the past 8 years not anymore, but I still feel it as my home town.

Recently I had the opportunity to see some parts of my city through the eyes of a tourist. And I loved it.

Here are some ideas for all art-loving souls:

Begin your day with good coffee on Poštna street in one the cute cafes. Art lovers might be interested in Isabella food and wine as this café is also a gallery – often you’ll find great work hanging from the walls (and their coffee is amazing).

Continue north, when you hit a church with a square – architecture neard alert – here you can see some interesting buildings around the square: beginning with the lovely cathedral (you can go up to the tower), continuing clockwise you can see a big green building where today is the post office, next the immense yellow baroque building are the headquarters of the University of Maribor and next to it to the right is the Opera house and Theater.

The next stop, just 3 minutes by foot from this square is UGM – Art gallery of Maribor, which is open every day except Mondays and when we visited it hosted an impressive photo exhibition by Inge Morath. Don’t miss the big exhibition hall where the ceiling paintings are like in the best Italian churches.

By now I hope you are hungry for lunch. Stroll through Koroška street – one of the oldest streets in Maribor, where the city will show you its roughness. Don’t be afraid, just open your eyes, have an open mind and don’t judge.

When you arrive at another big square, turn immediately left and you’ll stand in front of Gostilna Maribor. They serve traditional Slovenian dishes prepared in a modern and tasteful way. We had barley with vegetable and veal chop with roasted potatoes, both super yummy.

Fueled up you are ready to wander around the main square, take a look at the town house, marvel at the beautiful facades and don’t forget about the center peace of the square – the plague memorial.

Do we have here some designers or design lovers? The next 3 places are for you:

Walking from the main square north on Gosposka street, you’ll come across a small shop on the right named E2RD. The owner and creative mind behind the brand is Bojana. She’s usually there and she loves to tell you all about her jewelry and clothes collection. There is also one wall dedicated to art, where you’ll find some modern art. You can take a look at her amazing creations on the E2RD website 😉

Another shop which is fairly new (at least to me) is right (or better said left) behind the corner. Slovenska – local made is a concept store, with curated selection of local designers and products. You’ll find everything from clothes, jeweler to natural cosmetics. I was impressed how wide the selection is and how many designers have come together. That’s why if you are looking for a special and unique gift for someone from Slovenia or just a unique souvenir for yourself – this is the place! Pssst – I just love their wooden earings, you might want to take look 😉 Slovenska – local made (and no, this is not a payed ad and I don’t get any commision, I just sensirely like their stuff)

When you step out of this lovely shop, turn right and just walk straight. Now you are on the Slovenska street, where you can enjoy some home made ice cream on the way from Teta Frida on the right or the legendary Ilich on the left.

You’ll come across a big dark grey round monument – this is the monument for everyone who fell in WWII and the local name for it is Kojack. Ok, let’s continue a bit further.

The third thing I wanted to tell you about is a Centre for creativity (kind of a mix of an office and exhibit place), where you can come with ideas if you’re a local, but as a tourist you can step by and look (and buy) designer pieces shown there. Everything was designed and made in Slovenia and to get an idea – you can get wooden children toys, kitchen supplies, jewelry, minimalistic furniture to creative mudguards.

We are in a very good wine region, that’s why the best end of the day is with a glass in your hand. Let’s walk down to the river Drava where crooked but proud stands the oldest vine in the world. I bet you didn’t know that, did you?! 😉 To nourish your inner art freak one last time, here another art fact – in the House of the old vine look down. On the floor is a huge mosaic which connects all exhibition rooms and this is one of the biggest floor mosaics in Europe!

There are many more things to do in this lovely city which I called home for sooo long, but today I concentrated on art thanks to UGM, who pointed out all this great places.

Till next time,

s