//Day 70 /20-05-22 /Zagreb-Maribor

My alarm clock went off at 7.00. I made some coffee with the hotelroom Nespresso machine. Carried Black Horse out of the basement, oiled his chain and cycled out of Zagreb. Traffic was busy but most of the time I cycled separate cycle paths. I got cut off by an idiot in a big SUV but eventually exited safely Zagreb. 

Soon I was cycling on a small road and would for the rest of the day mainly be cycling on small roads and often a excellent unpaved roads. Both in Croatia and Slovenia I seem to be following local cycle routes. Signposts at every crossing which Komoot instructed me to ignore. Sometimes I cycled  gravel paths but not to be compared with the Bosniak gravel paths. These gravel paths were as silk…no potholes, small gravel,….I cycled most of the time parallel to a highway which didn’t seem to have much traffic. After 50K I climbed some hills, one of them quite steep. Slowly I cycled to the Slovenian border. The closer I came the more the landscape became “Austrian”. I’m using “Austrian” as I assume that there are more blog readers who have been to Austria then Slovenia, of course the landscape became more “Slovenian”…hills, small villages, church in the middle, perfectly groomed gardens, houses wel maintained….Jesus Christ hanging around….

I was somewhat concerned if I would be able to cross the frontier via the small road I was following. Komoot only showed the frontier but I could not see the typically turns before and after the frontier indicating checkpoints. On the highway I could see that there were posts on both sides….When I reached the frontier I was informed by a signpost that to reach the checkpoint I had to follow the highway….at the same time Komoot instructed me to follow the secondary road which I was cycling…Cycling on a highway did not seem to be the best option (although I had done the same in Bulgaria) so I continued on the secundary road. After some distance I passed a derelict frontier post…..I continued cycling untill was stopped by 2 border guards patrolling the road….I was informed that should have taken the highway to pass the border. When I informed them I was a cyclist they said : “no problem, go…..”. I turned around, cycled back to the highway and started cycling it. Luckily I did not have to cycle it too long before arriving at the border. Nobody seemed suprised and after checking my ID was shoed to the Slovenian checkpoint, 2 K further…I passed by a queue of trucks  before arriving at the Slovenian checkpoint. After my ID was scanned I asked the border agent how to get of the highway. The man was not the most supportive and the only thing he said : “go away , go to highway…” indicating I should not waste his time….Luckily a colleague informed me that I could leave the highway some hundred meters further ….which I did.

Slovenia is considered to be part of the Balkans, at least from a geographical point of view. But when I crossed the border I had the feeling I had taken the Balkan exit. Perfectly maintained -roads, - houses, -gardens , -churches,… When I entered a shop to buy a drink (it had become hot by now)  I was remembered that Slovenia is part of the eurozone…..Signposts informed me that I was on a (well maintained ) cycle path direction Maribor. Along the way I got a bottle of water of to roadworkers from Kosovo which were cleaning from my point of view an already perfectly clean road….nice guys. 

Some 20 K before Maribor, somewhat in the middle of nowhere, I passed a icecream “container” with people queuing…Either there is an icecream shortage in Slovenia or this is would be so good icecream that people are prepared to go the distance….it turned out to be the latter…definitely ice-cream champion league material….

The last 20 K I cycled small gravel roads along the Drava/Drau river. When I arrived in Maribor, I started looking for a bike-shop as Black Horse has lost a screw of the back luggage carrier. Along my route to the city center I passed a shop managed by an old man who looked in his jar of screws, found one, a little bit to long, shortened it, installed it and didn’t charge anything…

I had booked a room what seemed to be a an Irish pub. The room and the shower were excellent. I made a stroll to Maribor city center,  a small but nice place. The center mostly pedestrian with a lot of bars and restaurants and some nice squares. As the Michelin guide would say “mérite in détour”….There is a free electric shuttle cruising the city center….reminds me of a city……

Later in the evening I had an Aperol Spritz to celebrate the weekend and a nice mixed meat dish with a local white wine. Tomorrow I wil cycle to a Camping some 60 K before Ljubljana following a local cycle path. I just see that some rain is expected….we’ll see….

Lessons learned :

• Slovenian Icecream …super.
• Slovenian mixed meat…great  
• Slovenian aperol spritz …nice
• Kosovo roadworkers…friendly. 

Song of today : Keep me in your heart - Warren Zevon