We continued our journey west, but before we could fully immerse ourselves in the world of the Slovenian mountains, we made another detour: Maribor on the Drava River was next. We didn’t want to rush things, so we turned off the highway and stopped for a two-hour exploratory walk through the city.
Maribor – or as it is written on older Hungarian maps, Marburg – immediately swept me off my feet with its atmosphere. You can feel the bourgeois charm of the Monarchy, the mixture of orderly squares and riverside romance.
The history of the city began in the mid-12th century, when a watchtower was built on the Piramida hill to protect the Drava valley. The city itself first appears in documents in 1164 under the name Marchpurg. At that time, it was still a small settlement, but due to its strategic location, it quickly grew into an important trade and craft center, and in 1254 it was granted city rights.
The city’s most famous “living monument” is the Stara trta. It is amazing to think that this vine has been clinging to the wall of a house since the end of the 16th century. This means that it was there even when the city was still defending itself against the Turks, and also when it became one of the most important Styrian cities of the Habsburg Empire. Today, according to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the oldest growing capital in the world – a true survivor.
The 19th century brought another golden age: in 1846 the first train from Vienna arrived, connecting Maribor to the European heartland. It was then that the stately buildings that can still be seen on the main square were built, such as the Town Hall or the Maribor Castle. It was interesting to think that the city’s population was predominantly German-speaking until the beginning of the 20th century, and it was only after the First World War, with the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, that Slovenian became dominant.
The Second World War cast a dark shadow over it: it was annexed by Nazi Germany, and Hitler himself visited the city, in his infamous phrase demanding “make this land German again”. The post-war period was about Yugoslav industrialization; Maribor became one of the largest industrial centers in the country, which also posed a serious economic challenge after independence in the 1990s, but the city successfully renewed itself.
Today it is a vibrant cultural center (it was no coincidence that it was the European Capital of Culture in 2012), where modern galleries and cozy wine bars line the historic walls.
From the riverbank, we turned up the narrow, cobblestone streets towards the main square. We looked at the Town Hall (Rotovž) and the ornate plague column next to it, which is the jewel of the city’s main square.
What I liked most was the tranquility of the city. While most tourists rush past it on their way to Ljubljana, we had time to stop here for a coffee, watch the slow flow of the Drava River and the old bastions along the shore.
