Week 5 - And eastwards to Slovenia...via Graz

My last week in Oldenburg with my sister and her family....  time truly does fly...

My last few days of cooking for the family, they are on their own now....cook or starve....!!!

I had a great and relaxing time with the Heinens, and I am glad I could be of some use to them during my stay....  THANK YOU!!!!

I decided to travel light, and sent my small suitcase with all the stuff I don't need in Slovenia back to my parents by road courier.... so much better to travel light!!!

I have booked an overnight train from Oldenburg to Graz, but not a sleeper - I am a budget traveller after all!  I told myself, it's just like being on a long-haul flight...  The train journey is about 12 hours. I change trains in Hannover @ 11.00p.m. and for the next 6 hours can relax and try to sleep!... sort of...  I am in a closed compartment with 3 people only... however, the guy was snoring his head off....oh well, the joys of travelling...

We have to change trains, early morning, in a small town in the Austrian Alps.... (Steiermark = Styria is a state located in the southeast of Austria. It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states The capital city is Graz) - my goodness... there is snow and mountains everywhere.  It was a picture perfect scenery.... I forced myself to wake up and take photos.... for my blog!!!!

Once we passed through the mountains, there was less and less snow and suddenly blue sky and sunshine - Hamdullilah... finally sun - after almost 3 months of grey skies and rain in Germany!!!

My friend Yvonne picked me up from the Graz train station in the morning.  Her husband Ken, was on his way back from the UK and was arriving mid afternoon at Graz airport.  So we decided to explore Graz.  I needed the fresh air and the walk and the sun!!!! It is about +3C. How absolutely beautiful.

Graz is the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. It has a population of 291,890. Graz has a long tradition as a student city: its six universities have more than 44,000 students. Its "Old Town" is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.
Politically and culturally, Graz was for centuries more important for Slovenes than Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and still remains influential.
In 1999, Graz was added to the UNESCO list of World Cultural Heritage Sites.

We walked around town, discovered a farmers market and bought some fresh produce (which we carted with us around town...); then had lunch in a nice coffee shop... I did the translating from Austrian to English for Yvonne... how handy!

Yvonne... you can see it's cold!



This was a bizzare modern building in the middle of this beautiful city with its old architecture.  It's some art museum I believe....looks more like some intestines....

They seem to like modern....

Schloßberg, hill dominating the old town (475 m high), site of demolished fortress, with views over Graz.

Silly us, we decided to take the steps up the hill to the fortress instead of the little train thingy... it was very very windy and hence cold, but did us good!  Good exercise. We also walked back down the steps!!!

Then it was time to drive to the airport and pick up Ken... and on to Slovenia and Santa Ana, to their home and the dogs!

 We had to pass through the former border from Austria into Slovenia... as Slovenia is now an EU country, there is no need for a border any more.....

Slovenia officially the Republic of Sloveni, is a country in Central Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, where it has also a small portion of coastline along the Adriatic Sea, Austria to the north, Croatia to the south and east, and Hungary to the northeast. It covers an area of 20,273 square kilometres and has a population of 2.05 million. Its capital and largest city is Ljubljana.


Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the internationally unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, which merged into Yugoslavia. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, Hungary and Croatia only to emerge afterwards as a founding member of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 1991, Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia. Today, Slovenia is a member of the European Union, the Eurozone, the Schengen area, NATO and OECD.

Culturally and demographically, Slovenia has been a border area throughout its history. Here, four linguistic and cultural groups of the continent have been meeting: Slavic, Germanic, Romance and Uralic. The population of Slovenia has become more diverse in regard to its language and ethnic composition through recent decades but is still relatively homogeneous.

Slovenia is a largely secularised country. However, major religions are politically and legally privileged. Roman Catholicism is the most prevalent religion and has had an important historical role in the formation of Slovenian culture and identity. The development of the Slovenian culture and identity was also markedly influenced by Lutheranism in the centuries past.

The minute you cross the border the countryside is hilly not flat anymore.....

Ken & Yvonne are friends of Hisham and myself from our Dubai days... they decided to retire and bought a house in the Slovenian countryside close to Maribor.  They live quite remote on a big piece of land, very idyllic!

Yvonne's vegetable garden...

Ken's private vinyard.....

 Cindy and Leo... the two georgeous dogs....

Saturday morning, my first day, I slept in and had a lazy morning with the dogs, .... in the sun! While Ken & Yvonne went out for their dance lessons....

When they came back, they got me and we drove back (1 hour) passed Maribor, to their friends' Igor & Ivana's place for lunch. On the drive I went gaga about the beautiful mountains (with little snow).... it is a big ski area here, they have the ski olympics and other international ski events here. But at the moment there isn't enough snow - it's been a mild winter so far and the ski season was delayed by months....

Their friends live on a hillside with the most amazing views.... They are Slovenian and very nice and hospitable people.  They had just been on a holiday to Jamaica and cooked us a Jamaican BBQ.....and showed us their holiday photos.

Slovenians are generally very friendly people, very hospitable with a great sense of community and family. The older generation still speaks German, the younger ones learn English now. And Ken & Yvonne are studying Slovenian: srečno (good luck)....

 Typical Ken, he had to be the proper waiter.....

The meal was delicious, the company divine, the view dramatic... we went home to the dogs early evening, as they also wanted to be fed!

Time to go to sleep......  LAHKO NOCv = Good Night!

S & D & L