Thursday Doors 19/8/21: Betnava, Maribor

This is one of those posts that transfer you to a place, and doors – doors are always somewhere near. This was last Saturday when I took father to his city of birth. First we stopped at a castle.

We start with mom seeing us off and end with the best photo of the bunch, taken by dad.

Of Betnava Castle (in German Schloss Windenau) I only heard before but never visited it. It is near the main road as you enter Maribor, Slovenia’s second city, and it’s in dire need of TLC but still a magnificent building.

The building in this location was first mentioned in 1319. Its style went from Renaissance to Protestant to Baroque after a fire in 1685. Even though it made the Slovenian Immovable Cultural Heritage list in 1999, nothing of substance has been done for this beauty since it was returned to the Church a year later as part of denationalisation.

We heard that there was a grand hall on the first floor where weddings used to be held. We could hear some noises on the inside and were told that there were some tenants living in the castle. Imagine that. I’d take a million photos and sleep in a different corner each night.

We were also told that there was a grand old sycamore in the castle park, now more a forest. We planned to continue with our plan for the day but upon hearing this just had to go and see it. I will show it another time, suffice to say that it carries the plaque: “Miss Tree 2021”.

Here is the tour of the place from the outside without the forest, as is my habit: as if you are walking right there with father, bestia and me and we are having a great time.

But first mom will wish us bon voyage, just like she did on Monday when uncle, bestia and I left for Italy. It was a hellish 10-hour drive at 35-40 degrees C, moving bit by bit before Florence, searching for shade of a truck or a tunnel. I arrived in such a state that the next day amore promptly bought two fans. Now it’s better.

And this just in: I had another look at why I didn’t get the notification for Dan’s Thursday Doors post and realised that I had been removed from his followers! (Last week I was still on the list, I checked.) The same happened on the blogs of Crystal, Sandy, Bushboy, Andrea and probably some others. I take it as a personal affront, WordPress.

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  Bye, mom!

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  From our home in Ljubljana…

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  …to Maribor where dad was born.

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  The first door we saw from the not so promising side.

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  Quite a fascinating door-in-door.

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  The first view of Betnava from the sunny side.

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  The clock.

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  Towards the park, now a forest.

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  You can feel the good old days.

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  The wider view. Not fully unlike Italian.

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  Full of beautiful details.

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  The coat-of-arms. Was here the mysterious White City? (I found a very cosmic article online. In Slovenian only.)

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  These two are jolly.

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  Imagine all the comings and goings.

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  I like this view. Hello!

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  Imagine how it would look all pimped up as Italians do it.

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  This pretty bridge leads to Miss Sycamore.

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  Father said: “But of course we must go to see the tree.”

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  The look back.

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  Through the branches.

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  I liked this one the most.

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  Or this one? This location has so much potential.

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  Bye bye, Betnava.

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  My father, the Druid.

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  And this is what he saw. Photo: Dad.

For Thursday Doors challenge hosted by Dan at No Facilities

This day in my blogging history

• 2015: When I was bought, or is it sold

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  2015: I think that the ideal space must contain elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery.
  —Luis Barragan

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  2016: Monochrome mountain madness

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  2017: A fascinating collection of shinies from Slovenian coast

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  2019: Four subjects from three different angles from Arboretum Volčji Potok

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