We have had a lovely time in Maribor but it is time to get back on the road. The weather the last few days has been very hot. Today it is even hotter. The first part of the day we spent riding on the flat and then we ended the day riding 14% to 18% hills. The heat and the hills have really wiped us out.
At Hotel Taber each floor is themed by a season. Our floor is autumn. The mural over our bed is a nice touch.
In addition to the usual star system for rating hotels in Slovenia, they also recognize a hotel's facilities and food in relation to cyclists and hikers. Hotel Tabor is recognized favourably for both.
Barry went into a shopping mall on our way out of Maribor in search for a part for our camera. Instead he found the official shop for the local professional soccer team.
Our route went through a park in Maribor but many of trees had fallen down. Our route was completely blocked by a fallen tree and we had to turn around and head for the road
We saw this sign when we were leaving the town of Hotinja Vas. We think that it says on one side welcome to Hotinja Vas and on the other side farewell or have a good journey.
We were incredibly hot and needed a break. Around the bend was an ice cream shop. Barry had green apple and lemon. Mary Ellen had chocolate and hazelnut
We have found that on Sundays in Europe, there are a lot of motorcycles on the roads. Today however it was quite different. We noticed a huge gathering with 100's of motorcycles parked together and a festival of some kind with lots of food, beer and loud music. We pulled over to check it out and we got a lot of thumbs up and loud cheers from the crowd.
The fellow who owned this bike came over to Mary Ellen and asked her to accompany him as he wanted her to sit on his bike and take her picture. He even kissed her hand in apprecation. Guess you're never too old...
For much of the day today, we were on mainly flat terrain. But the hills we had seen in the distance were now with us. We had found a very inexpensive place to stay which was about 6 km off of our route and we decided to go for it. Well, that was a bit of a mistake as the 6 km were not easy.
And then it got harder. Believe it or not, the 18% down was harder than the uphill 18%. It didn't help that it was in the high 30's and high humidity. There is supposed to be a lightning and rain storm. We're hoping that it clears the air and lowers the temperatures.
The prices are very good in Slovenia, plus the food is great. We had the Sunday dinner: mushroom soup, salad, entree and ice cream desert.In the bottom photo Mary Ellen is using Google translate to translate the menu. We really had no idea what we had ordered. Everything was a very pleasant surprise.
