This year’s skiing destination was chosen to be in Slovenia, in the vicinity of Maribor: the 2nd largest city in Slovenia. The city is situated on the Drava river at the bottom of the mountain Pohorje.
Unfortunately I did not have much time to explore Maribor itself, but the hotel itself (Hotel Orel), where we stayed, was right in the heart of the city. The small part I’ve seen gave the impression of a quite nice and clean city. It is important to note, that Maribor is planned to be the European Capital of Culture in 2012.
So, the slopes. The slopes on Pohorje are OK. The only bad thing is the fact that last year I’ve been to one of the biggest resorts in Europe (Les 2 Alpes, France) so the point of reference was quite high. Of course it is by far not as big as last year’s complex on the very top of the Alps, but I think it is a quite neat place.
The difficulty of the slopes varies from easy blue trails to steep black ones. Personally I enjoyed the winding blue slopes mixed with a few wide, red shortcuts. Although it was the middle of the week the slopes were quite crowded, with children learning to ski, but also with pro-skiers thundering down with high speed.
There is a quite modern system of cable-cars and open-chairs which one can use to go back up the top after a fun-ride down. I have no idea about the prices, because for us it was included in the holiday-package we just asked for it at the ticket-shop, presenting the papers they gave us at the hotel.
The entire atmosphere reminded me very much of Austrian/German atmospheres: beer, huge quantities of food and the music. The music was the exact sound as the German counterparts, just that they were all in Slovenian. I guess neighboring countries borrow a lot from each-other. And speaking of neighboring countries: Slovenia is also neighbor with Italy. Italy is famous for their pizzas. That was borrowed also: I do not know if it was the fact that I was hungry or not, but the pizza I ate in a restaurant at the bottom of the slopes was really-really good.
The Pohorje slopes also allow evening-skiing. The front part of the slope-system can be entirely lit in the evening. So after the break between (4PM to 6PM), when the slopes were closed, the second part of the skiing-day started and the slopes were lit to allow skiing in the evening. I did not try it because I was always too tired of the morning rides, but it was quite an interesting sight from the city to see the slopes lit on the neighboring mountain.
Because I am a fairly newbie skier, this year I have only bought ski-boots, because I was told they were more important that the skis themselves. The skis: I have rented them at the bottom of the slopes. They charged me €61.2 for a pair of skis and poles for 4 days. The good thing about renting was that I could leave the equipment at the renting office every day, so I did not have to drag them with me every day.
Which is a good thing, because we were four and I could only fit 3 pairs of skis+poles in my car (although I have a quite neat inner ski carrying system in the car, about which I could tell entire stories, but this is not the time).
The holiday package also included free pass into the local wellness center: a good place to relax after a day of skiing. We used it every day. They have a lot of things from different types of jacuzzi, to sauna. They also had an outside swimming pool with hot water in it. It was interesting to swim in hot water while it was snowing 🙂 .
I must also not forget the community which invited me to this great holiday: the Élő Erdély Egyesület (“Living Transylvania Association”). I am not a member, but I know some people from it, so they were kind enough to invite me also, so I think I have to say: Many Thanks 🙂 , I enjoyed the holiday.
I almost forgot: here’s a link to my Picasa gallery about the holiday. Enjoy 🙂 .
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