This time in Slovenia, my brother and I visited Styria region again. We woke up earlier and took our car to the road from my hometown Krapina in Croatia.

Ptuj is the oldest city in Slovenia. There is evidence that the area was settled in the Stone Age and the Late Iron Age when it was settled by Celts. By the 1st century BC, the settlement was controlled by Ancient Rome as part of the Pannonian province. From these times, the first written mention of the city of Ptuj is dating, thanks to Roman Emperor Vespasian.

From those times it is dating  Orpheus Monument, almost 5 metres high carved of white Pohorje marble. The monument is the oldest public monument preserved in its original location in Slovenia and actually a grave marker from 2nd century, to honor the memory of Marcus Valerius Verus.

20170419_113404
Orpheus monument and the Belfry 

In the Middle Ages, it was used as a pillory of shame, where criminals were tied to the iron rings attached to its lower part. Nowadays has the status of a national cultural monument

From those times it is dating  Orpheus Monument, almost 5 metres high carved of white Pohorje marble. The monument is the oldest public monument preserved in its original location in Slovenia and actually a grave marker from 2nd century, to honor the memory of Marcus Valerius Verus.

The city has beautiful reneissance architecture, so my brother and I really enjoyed the beauty and the peace the city offers. So many small streets, yet wide enough with tall houses and small windows, decorations on the walls whitnessing the crafts of the times . Today many  small shops and bars are occupying these spaces.

In the early Middle ages, after the fall of Roman Empire, the Slavic tribes are populating the area, and Ptuj became part of the Frankish Empire.

Soon, after the renaissance, the Ottomans are trying to enter the city, so the citizens are building the Ptuj castle (originally from 12th century). The castle is situated on a hill alongside the river Drava overlooking the town, and is a prominent landmark.

20170419_123440

The last Lord of Ptuj, Friedrich IX, died in 15 century. His tombstone made of red marble from Salzburg, is built in the ground floor of the castle, where it was brought from a devastated Dominican church.

This mighty fortified construction was handovered then to the Hungarian leaders and Austrian Emperor Maximilian l.

It will take five more centuries  to be returned to its original slovenian owners.

A strategically remarkable position from which it was possible to control the vast surrounding flatland, was the main reason why the castle was important. The same beauty of the views on nearby Alps, river Danube, neighbour country Croatia and local wineyard region are the reason why many tourists visit this place. My brother and I decided to enjoy the exhibiton of the ottoman/islam portraits and glass of Traminac (croatian – slovenian sort of wine).

I am not sure if you still remember the oldest grape variety in the worldfrom Maribor Lent, but its graft was planted there too.

Enjoy the view!

20170419_115208
View on the city of Ptuj, river Drava, wineyards, Alps and croatian hills

 

 

 

62 Comments »

  1. Have you ever thought about including a little bit
    more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is fundamental and everything.
    However just imagine if you added some great visuals or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”!
    Your content is excellent but with images and videos,
    this website could undeniably be one of the very best in its niche.
    Superb blog!

    Feel free to surf to my webpage; xe88 download (http://www.okhy.com)

    Like

  2. Hello there, I discovered your website by means of Google whilst searching for a
    comparable subject, your website came up, it appears great.
    I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
    Hello there, simply was alert to your weblog via Google, and found that it is really
    informative. I’m gonna watch out for brussels.

    I’ll appreciate if you proceed this in future. A lot of other people
    can be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!

    Here is my site … live22 online

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.