Ptuj, Slovenia (Ptuj, Slovenija)
Our first foray into Slovenia, the tiny medieval centre of Ptuj was a great starting point.
We parked just across the Drava River and walked over the bridge. Our first visit was after nightfall, and there were so many resident spiders awaiting their prey along the railings that Fabienne had a minor panic attack crossing.
This photograph shows the spider's true size when viewed on a 24" screen. (Not really, but some of them were huge!)
The cobblestoned streets of the old town were pretty in the twinkling light of night, and we scoped out many attractive buildings we wanted to photograph in the daytime. Apparently Ptuj is one of the oldest towns in the whole country! In the almost deserted streets (wut, no tourists?) we were mightily creeped out by an art installation involving cow skulls affixed to rusty iron skeletons. In the light of day we scoffed at our wimpy past selves.
One building in particular showed off a bright pink facade with pink and white flowers tumbling from the window sills. This could have been a palace once upon a time. I'd live there!
The city tower dating from the sixteenth century, Mesni Stolp jutted up from the teensy triangular square and featured an unusually coloured spire that converted me to a maroon lover. The Church of Saint George behind it was only open at very specific and brief times during the morning due to vandalism, which I found heartbreaking and also meant we could not view the interior (which contains a depiction of Saint George slaying the dragon).
On many walls of the town, a selection of bunny graffiti was displayed, including a drooly masked crimefighter. We decided not to trek up to the castle on the hill, as it looked more palatial than I'd like and there were no clear paths to the top except one that was blocked off to pedestrians, possibly due to maintenance. Aparently it's a bit of a mishmash of styles dating from between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries and provides good views of the surrounding town.
Parts of the town looked rather more run down, but fresh flowers were present even in buildings with wobbly roofs. I was surprised to find that during the day, tourists were more prevalent than at night but still few and far between, which didn't make sense to me in such a lovely place. Walking back across the bridge, we watched a troupe of broom-wielding high-visibility-vest-wearing workers sweep the spider webs away and we knew how futile their attempts were. The spiders were hiding well, and as soon as the sun set they'd be hard at work rebuilding their moth traps.
Today's post was almost called: Bridge of a Thousand Shelobs
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