Another wonderful breakfast here at Hotel Mrak. From there I went to the garden where one grape vine produces all the grapes used to make the juice available in the lobby and at meals. It’s labeled as “our” grape juice, and it’s delicious!

Note: This is the sixth post in this series. Go HERE to start from the beginning.

The vines cover the entire courtyard and provide a nice shaded area. The mural shows a variety of folks enjoying this fruit of the vine. 😉

Before I forget, here’s a picture of my room. Should have done this before this two-night stay, but better now than not at all, huh? It was very nice. All the amenities and comfortable.

After breakfast, I spent some time reading in that grapevine covered courtyard, then a group of us met to go for a boat ride on the river. The weather was great, a little overcast that kept the temperature down, but still pleasant. We got there a little early. While waiting, I saw this beautiful statue of Gustav Mahler, just standing there beside the walkway. I think the sculptor gave such detail to his expression.

From our departure point, we went 30 minutes in one direction, then 30 minutes in the other. The surrounding area went from busy with lots of people and buildings, to a more wide-open, pleasant country feeling.

The first turnaround was at one of the water gates. This keeps the water level constant, regardless of how much water is in the overall system. The bridges along this stretch are pretty ornate, especially compared to modern, utilitarian bridge construction. The water gate is the third picture, and the river is quite a bit lower on the other side. The last of this set of pictures is a place we recognized as having passed yesterday, where some beekeepers Minka knew were selling their wares–and gave us a taste!

When we went the other direction, towards the “sports” section (with paddle boards, kayaks, etc.), there were lots of willow trees and places to sit under them. Even saw what looked like a little library area. Fun!

Boat ride finished, we headed back to the hotel, but stopped (finally) to see the inside of the library. Unfortunately, the full tour wasn’t until 2 PM, which we couldn’t stay for. But we could see what Minka had mentioned to us, that the architect had designed this to be very dark on the first floor and then becoming lighter as you climb. This was to indicate that knowledge was enlightenment. Cool, huh?

After a quick meetup at the hotel to pick up folks for the next tour, we headed for the national museum. First “exhibit” was outside where we toured various places to see some ruins of the Roman presence. There was a house foundation excavation, then a Roman wall. Back inside there was an underground section showing more of the Roman presence. Upstairs was the permanent exhibit showing the history of Slovenia in its many periods of political and cultural influences. The picture of all the different folks from different historical periods was an area indicating that Slovenia was the history of its people.

I got a nice sandwich in the cafe then headed back to the hotel where we all loaded up the vans for the next portion of our adventure, with the Europa Hotel in Celje as our base of operations. Nice dinner, family style, then back to the hotel to finish this blog and head for bed. Early start tomorrow for what looks to be another very full day!