SLOVENIA (6/10) - Maribor

The train journey from Koper to Maribor lasted about five and a half hours. Five and a half hours that brought a considerable change in the tone of my travel symphony, if one wants to consider such an endeavor as a small artwork created by the subjective traveler at least. The change may have occurred from major to minor on this Sunday. From the seemingly cheerful and lively coastal region to the slightly gloomy and rundown Maribor. From oppressive heat to now damp and cool weather. From a Venetian influenced atmosphere to undoubtedly old Austrian. Maribor belonged to Styria for many centuries, which is called Štajerska in Slovenia. But even in terms of pastries, the five and a half hour train journey had brought me this change. From Gibanica to Kremšnita . . . - Because the internationally renowned Bled cream cake now accompanied my obligatory afternoon espresso every time.

So Maribor was gloomy and Monday afternoon it started pouring rain. Many of my photos became blurry because I couldn't properly adjust the aperture and exposure time to the changed lighting conditions, which until then had only been adapted to bright sunshine. In addition, the autofocus failed me, while I was still unfamiliar with the art of manual focusing with my recently purchased Canon Eos 80d SLR camera at that time. A highly specialized and sensitive device requires corresponding knowledge of operation, which is acquired over time. And here in Maribor I had to pay for my lack of knowledge.

On Tuesday, August 4th, around noon, my journey continued. With a local train on the formerly important cross-connection from the then Marburg to Franzensfeste in South Tyrol, which is now a run-down railway, through the very narrow and beautifully winding Drau Valley to Dravograd and then to Bleiburg in Carinthia and from there to Klagenfurt and further to Villach. I spent some time getting ready for the journey in the morning at the hotel . . . - when suddenly I realized that I had completely forgotten to visit a significant landmark in Maribor. I didn't have much time to check out and until the departure of my train to Carinthia, so I quickly rushed out of my room with my easy-to-use compact second camera, a Canon G7X Mark II, and like the devil, I ran down to the riverbank to see the over 400-year-old vine, which is probably the oldest in all of Europe, and of course, I also took photos of it, which was a duty for me as a confessed wine lover.