Destinations
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Lent (Photo: Jurij Pivka)
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The town next to the Drava River.
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The oldest vine in the world (Photo: Marko Petrej)
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Along the wine roads, you will encounter numerous wine cellars stocked with excellent, full-bodied wines.(Photo: Marko Petrej)
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500-year old Church of St Bolfenk hosts numerous social events, lectures and exhibitions. (Photo: Dušan Vrban)
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Trekking across Pohorje is a special experience.(Photo: Marko Petrej)
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You can rent a bike in the office of TIC Maribor for free. (Photo: Bogdan Zelnik)
Maribor and Lent Festival
Entertainment Day and Night
27.06.2008
A few days stay in Maribor during the summer Festival Lent is a must. Not only will Maribor surprise you with its variety of possibilities for having a really good time, it will charm you with a wide selection of performances, shows and top-quality concerts on more than 30 locations and stages all over the town centre.
Can you imagine anything more pleasant than listening to a concert under the starry summer sky? Do you feel excited about a classical concert in a 400-year old synagogue? What about some jazz rhythms? Maybe a performance on the floating stage on the river Drava will attract your attention. Why don’t you just take a nice walk along the picturesque streets of Maribor? All this and a lot more makes up Festival Lent, changing the banks of the Drava River into a lively cultural and social centre, pulsing with all kinds of rhythms.
More than 400 performances and half a million of visitors make Festival Lent one of the biggest festivals in Europe. Moreover, the festival is also known across the pond in America. This multicultural festival has received several awards, among them 32 awards from The International Festival and Events Association (IFEA).
Multicultural program
This year’s 16th Festival Lent will take place between 27th June and 12th July. Within it, the International Folklore Festival Folkart, Festival Jazzlent and the Street Theatre Festival will also take place. Among a variety of concerts of classical, jazz, popular and ethno music, evenings with singers-songwriters, chanson evenings, you will be able to enjoy theatre and dance performances, drama and puppet theatres, creative workshops for children, sport performances and much more.
Among this years the most renowned performers are the band the Gypsy Queens and Kings, Laibach (the only Slovenian band to have a successful career abroad and become renowned worldwide), the Cuban band Septeto Nacional. On the final evening of this year’s festival, one of the most charismatic singers of 20th century will perform: Omara Portuondo.
Tickets
In general, you can choose between a ticket for the whole festival which costs EUR 22 and a daily ticket for EUR 11. These tickets are valid for most Main Stage, Jazzlent, Rotovž Stage and Judgement Tower events and classical concerts, whereas many other performances, such all those on the Lent and Večer Stage, all street theatre acts, performances for children and numerous other events are free of charge.
The tickets can be bought in the Information Office of Narodni dom Maribor, Ulica kneza Koclja 9, +386 (0)2 229 40 11, +386 (0)2 229 40 50, +386 (0)40 744 122, +386 (0)31 479 000), info@nd-mb.si, prodaja@nd-mb.si, daily between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. They can also be bought at KIT Kibla, Glavni trg 14, Pekarna Magdalenske mreže, Ob železnici 8, on-line on the Eventim Slovenia web page (www.eventim.si) or at the festival area one hour prior to an event.
For more information see http://lent.slovenija.net/
Which famous artists has Lent hosted so far?
To date, many internationally acknowledged musicians have performed at Festival Lent, particularly at Jazzlent. Along the banks of the river Drava, stars such as Ray Charles, B. B. King, James Brown, Jose Feliciano, Lester Bowie, Stephane Grappelli, Tania Maria, Les McCann, Jimmy Whitterspoon, Maynard Ferguson Big Band, Paquito D’Rivera, Howard Johnson & Gravity, Dr. John, B. Golson, Chicco Freeman, Vocal Sampling, Reggie Workman, Chucho Valdes, Brad Mehldau, Monty Alexander, Ray Brown, Alfredo De La Fé, Bela Fleck, Alvin Queen, Dr. Didge, Esbjörn Svensson, Alfredo Rodrigues, Matt Darriau, Taj Mahal, Malia ,Mercedes Sosa, Olodum ,Eric Burdon & The Animals, David Byrne, Reggie Johnson, Femi Anikulapo Kuti and many others have attracted numerous visitors.
Colour you day
Those staying in Maribor for more than just one day will quickly discover that the town and its surroundings have so many interesting things to offer. After a festival evening, you can recharge your batteries in the pleasant shade of the old town’s streets while sightseeing or enjoying one of the numerous coffeehouses. Meanwhile, nature lovers will be delighted with the town parks and green countryside. For this end, a special three-day tourist package of festival events and daily adventure has been prepared for very attractive prices ranging from EUR 115 per person.
Surrounded by the Pohorje range, which, in summer, is transformed into a giant adventure playground, complete with biking, hiking and riding trails, fishing spots, an adrenaline park among other things, Maribor and its surroundings are pure heaven for nature lovers, adrenaline junkies and spa devotees.
Though less cosmopolitan than Ljubljana, Maribor is no less interesting culturally or visually - it is just decidedly different. The picturesque town is the second largest in Slovenia and is nestled in the green oasis below the Pohorje range, which covers an area of approximately 1,000 square kilometres. The northern side of the ridge, Mariborsko Pohorje, is a protected region of exceptional natural beauty and well worth exploring while staying at Festival Lent.
Lent, the jewel by the river
Once a dock for wooden rafts, Lent is now the meeting place for the young at heart, dotted with places of interest like the mediaeval Judgement Tower or the Minorite monastery and church. Across the street, you will find Rotovž, the Town Hall with a beautiful loggia. On Slomškov trg you will find the Stolna Cathedral, the oldest and most precious church in Maribor. The little park in front is surrounded by important and beautiful Secessionist buildings, such as the University of Maribor, the Post Office and the Slovenian National Theatre. The people of Maribor are particularly proud of their theatre. The works of director Tomaž Pandur and, more recently, ballet dancer Edward Clug, have been met with great critical acclaim and brought Maribor international recognition in the world of performing arts.
The oldest vine in the world
Maribor prides itself on having the oldest productive vine in the world. Stara Trta (Old Vine) is more than 400 years old and was entered into the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine in the world still bearing grapes. Around 35 to 55 kilos of red grapes are ceremoniously harvested every year in front of a house in Lent, next to the Drava River. The wine is bottled in elegant small bottles, designed by the Slovene artist Oskar Kogoj. Though the majority of the bottles are given as gifts to visiting dignitaries, a small number are reserved for the most avid rare wine collectors. The town plans to convert the house into a viticulture and rafting museum with a cellar offering top quality wines from the region. The old vine symbolizes the wine culture of the Štajerska region and is a star attraction along the numerous wine routes that meander for over 50 kilometres through the surrounding hills.
Exploring the wineries
The most renowned wine trails (vinske ceste) are the Mariborska vinska cesta, the Podpohorska vinska cesta, the Gornje Slovenjegoriška vinska cesta and the Archduke Janez vinska cesta, which puts both Slovenian and Austrian viticulture on show by leading from Maribor to Graz.
What about visiting Merano, the famous estate of Archduke Janez with its unique wine amphitheatre? It is located above Pekre, just a few kilometres southwest of Maribor. There, you can try traditional Slovenian and Štajerska specialties of his time, such as polenta, soup with dumplings, veal with wine sauce, etc. Reservations are recommended.
From there, you can continue your way along the main road to Razvanje and make a short stop at the Pivola Botanic Gardens. Continuing on this road will lead you to towards Fram. If you turn up the hill, you will eventually come to the historic Vešner homestead, which is a cultural monument of a national importance and includes a priceless tool collection, a black kitchen and also has an underground cave.
Along the wine roads, you will encounter numerous wine cellars stocked with excellent, full-bodied (usually white) wines. Ask the villagers about the local winegrowers and you may end up with superb wine (in a plastic bottle) for next to nothing. Since these wines are rather heady and acidic, we recommend enjoying them over a traditional Slovenian meal in a relaxed rural environment at one of the many tourist farms. If you haven’t enough time for that, then pop into the Vinag wine cellar in Maribor; it is one of the largest and oldest classic wine cellars in Europe. Established in 1857, its 2.5 kilometres labyrinth of underground tunnels is home to a wine archive holding more than 250,000 bottles of the best local vintages.
Bolfenk
From the centre of the Old Town, it takes around half an hour by car or by bus to get to the slopes of Pohorje. Once you reach the last bus station, at 1,050 metres above sea level, take the cable car to the top (8 a.m. to 8 p.m.). There you will find the Bolfenk tourist information centre and the 500-year old Church of St Bolfenk. The small, attractive church set amongst the forest, is not only a cultural monument but also hosts numerous social events, lectures and exhibitions. Don’t miss the “Concerts at Bolfenk” held every Sunday from May to September - the acoustics of the former church presbytery are absolutely magical. You can reach Bolfenk on foot, by car or by cable car.
Not only is Pohorje suitable for sports tourism, it is also becoming one of the most important congress tourism centres in the country. The high-tech Habakuk centre offers a wellness centre, various massage centres, Scan Tao, aromatherapy, different types of body packs and a variety of relaxation and beauty programmes.
Trekking across Pohorje
Climb up the 20-metre-high viewing tower and admire the spectacular views not only of Maribor, but of the whole Pohorje ridge and the villages nestled into its foothills. Nearby, you’ll find the start of the Rozika education and nature trail (yellow and blue signs with a pine tree representing the Pohorje forests, its plants, animals, and minerals). You may even find a mushroom or two along the way.
You could also start your trek at Areh (accessible by bus or car) and spend the night at Ribniška koča, where you will undoubtedly develop a liking for the authentic bilberry brandy offered at any of the mountain hostels.
When one looks at Pohorje from the foothills, it may seem like any other mountain chain with cliffs and forests, but if you take the time to explore it on a two-day trek, you are in for some stunningly beautiful and, at times, unusual natural sights. There is a dense primeval forest harbouring an abundance of wildlife (including the brown bear), numerous streams, rivers and two beautiful waterfalls. The Veliki and Mali Šumik waterfalls drop 25 metres into the Lobnica River and can be reached by following a marked path.
One of the most interesting streams on Pohorje is the Bistrica stream near the town Slovenska Bistrica, which has a marble quarry dating back to the Roman era at its source. Among the most attractive natural sights of Pohorje are the peat moors with Lake Lovrenško, Lake Črno and Lake Ribniško. Together with the Pokljuka and the Jelovica moors, the moors of Pohorje are the southernmost mountain moors in Europe. They were formed about 8,000 years ago from clay, sand, weather-beaten tonalite and the remains of dead animals and plants. This slowly developed into several metres of thick peat, on which vegetation gradually began to grow. The peat swamps are home to many rare, endangered and endemic plants and animals. From the moor, continue on towards Kope and Kremžarjev vrh. The trail will eventually lead you to Slovenj Gradec, from where you can drive or take a bus or a train back to Maribor.
For the adrenaline junkies
There are more than 100 kilometres of marked bike trails criss-crossing Pohorje that are suitable for just about any type of cycling you may want to indulge in. If this doesn’t tickle your fancy, how about fishing, parachuting, horse riding or hunting? If you yearn for a bit of summer sledding, you can spend a day on the 5-kilometre-long toboggan track! Want even more adrenaline? Well then, head for the Adrenaline Park for a couple of wild rides…
After an active day on the slopes of Pohorje you can relax in the thermal spa at the Habakuk Hotel at the bottom of mountain or just relax, lying on the green grass, treating yourself to some quality time in harmony with nature.
Surrender to the unlimited opportunities for fun, thrills and relaxation in the natural beauty of Pohorje; be it for an hour, a day, a week or more!