Ptuj Day Trip

   


   Stepping out of the car in the warm sun, the driver of a golf cart called over to us offering a ride up to the entrance gates of Ptuj castle, an offer that was immediately siezed by our children. What is it about children that alert them to any opportunity to spare undue physical activity? In a few short minutes of breakneck golfcarting up the hill we were decanted at the gates, and stepping through them, town and river were layed out at our feet. Picnick tables sat below tall trees and to the left the windows of the gift shop displayed items that transported me in seconds to the hot pavement in front of my childhood home.

 

 


 In 1990 my Grandmother and Uncle visited Slovenja, visiting family, reconnecting and generally enjoying a country that was closed for so many years. Stopping in New York on her way home she told us about the various people and villages she had seen, boring us in the way travelers do who are describing their journey and delighting us with the souvenirs she had brought home with her. I got a doll, dressed in Slovenian traditional dress from Ljubljana, a bookmark with a dried edelweiß flower and a piece of lace from Ptuj. So foreign looking to my young mind, fascinating and evocative of distant lands. Interestingly, I never developed a desire to actually go to Slovenja and it was surprising to me how nice it was and how much I liked it when I did go. I wonder if that is the general plight of the offspring of immigrants. Will my children or theirs have a lack of desire to visit North America? It will be interesting to see.

  

The lace in the window of the shop could have been a copy of the same piece I had, so carefully pressed in a book all those years. Never yellowing because of its protection from the sun. 'Ptuj is such a charming town, you must go when you visit Slovenjia' she had said. Not if, but when, a thing I never intended to do yet there I stood looking out over the red roofs, wonding why I had forgotten for so long and wishing earnestly that I had the time to sit and sketch. The polls for the European elections closed at 4 pm and we were making a brief stop on our way home after the wedding.

    Descending from the lofty stillness of the Castle we emerged into an empty town, Sunday afternoon, and bought an ice cream while we negotiated a giant contsructionsite which took up a significant portion of the downtown area. Slovenians eat a lot of ice cream, at least they have a lot of ice cream stands, more than we have, it seems. And unlike Italy, whose food trends tend toward the sumptuous, Slovenja is in love with vegan and bio foods. It was only after the first bite that I realized my Ferraro Rocher Ice cream was Vegan. It was suprisingly good, although given the choice I would prefer my ice cream to have cream, at east for the non-fruit flavors. But that is just me.  

    Ptuj is an interesting city, A mix of old Austro- Hungarian buildings interspersed with a generous sprinkling of concrete objects harking back to communism. Both are crumbling a bit and the overall result is slightly delapidated charm. That and the fact that is is very green. It is very close to us but definitely further south if you look at the flora and fauna.

 

Although our visit was a brief one, I made sure to take a ton of pictures as inspiration for future art work and projects.

Have you been to Ptuj? Slovenia? What is your favorite town? Let me know in the comments.

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