It’s not every day you get picked up off the street and treated to a coffee in someone’s home but today turned out to be our lucky day. We were just sitting in the university town of Maribor, having lunch on a bench in the city centre, when a man came up to us and asked if we’d like to share a drink with him. He was also a cyclist, about our age, and had noticed us eating sandwiches from his apartment several floors up in a nearby building. Soon we were chatting together in Bora’s flat, which he shares with 7 other students. It brought back some memories of living in student accommodation for us, not so long ago, with the odd posters, fun music and very interesting people. We got on very well and before long he offered us a place for the night so we could go out in the evening and enjoy a music and arts festival going on in Maribor at the moment. Well, we had a great night out drinking beer with our new Slovenian friends and have decided to stay at least one more day in the city with them. What a wonderful chance meeting. Who knows when we will get to Budapest at this rate, but at least we are having fun along the way!
Some random things we have learned so far from our new friends:
- Albanians make the best ice cream
- Slovenia is a very equal country
- Polka music is actually very popular (yes, really — check out the Atomik Harmonik picture)
- There is no mass exodus to Britain now that they are part of the EU
- Liquor with less than 25% alcohol is considered a “light” drink
- Many people have stills in their back yards and make their own brandy
- If there is a crazy sports person out there, they are probably Slovenian (like Martin Strel)