Trans-Slovenia: Tabor to Murska Sobota

Ah the glorious sun. After the rains from yesterday it was great to be biking in the sunshine with no clouds in sight. I could have been biking anywhere and would have been content. Fortunately I was heading east to one of Slovenias oldest towns, Ptuj (Ptooey). The small town of Celje (Sell-ya), below, was on route as well but would only be a place to grab a coffee.

After a brief stop in Celje I carried on along the secondary road and still found that to be a bit busy so tucked off down a third road. There is no topography on my map so it's always a guess as to what the road will be like. The second half of the road was a bit much and I ended up pushing my bike up the road for 5 - 10 minutes but it wasn't that bad. This is the view down the valley from the climb. The price you pay for not being along side cars is worth a little bit of climbing I think.

It was a long day of navigating the map and the roads with a bit of unnecessary climbing as well. I didn't get into Ptuj until around 6:30 due to some wrong turns so it was a solid day of riding. The hostel I was planning on staying at was full so happened upon a B & B for €18 which was cheaper than the hostel and included a great breakfast. It seems that things are already in place and I just need to show up for my end of the agreement. Its been strange.

Ptuj is a beautiful medieval town that also coincidentally has castle located at the top of the city. Their castle is in great shape and was an amalgamation of styles from the 13th century til the 18th century. The Drava river used to be the main way that goods were moved and traded but after the railway went in trade stopped and the town decreased in size.

The one exhibit that they have that was a little different was their collection of 300 musical instruments from between the 17th and 19th century. It was an impressive exhibit and I could have spent more time there.

They also had an authentic grape press from back in the day. The area around Ptuj is well known as one of the three major wine growing regions of Slovenia.

After spending one full rest day in Ptuj I was headed out to Murska Sobota the next morning. They'd just had a ten year flood so I wasn't sure what shape the roads would be in. It was a nice ride out as it is a plateau, so extremely flat. I was in Murska Sobota in a few hours which allowed me time to relax and see the city; 20 minutes would have been enough. I had another farm stay lined up so as it was only 15 km from town I decided to take my time. It tuned out that the pin on the internet map was wrong and it was probably another 20 to 30 kms away from where it was supposed to be. After looking at the map, the farm was likely only 10 to 15 km from Hungary. I was tempted but had had enough riding for the day. The farm stay was good and I got to share the same space with a Shaman work-group who were there for the weekend on a retreat. You never know what happens in these small towns. I decided to just stay the one night and jumped on the train the next day to head back to Ljubljana. It would be one day in the city and then off to the north the next day.