Styrian sky

DURATION: 2 days (1 night)
GUIDE: partly

PROGRAMME:

DAY 1
12:00
Accommodation in Hotel Habakuk 4 *
Hotel Habakuk offers you in unspoiled nature on the slopes of the Pohorje forests the enjoyment of superbly equipped rooms, the Babor wellness & spa center, a modern congress center and a restaurant and bar with many local specialties.

12:30
Organized transport to Starš – Lavender Land, tour of lavender production, lavender harvesting, workshop for making various lavender products.
The lavender fields simply enchant with their beautiful purple color and fresh scent. Full of flowering shrubs, they attract butterflies, bumblebees and bees that fly from flower to flower and are stunned by the essential oil of lavender that breathes in the air. At these scenes, we see ourselves somewhere in Provence with a hat on our head and a basket in our hands walking among the lavender bushes on a sunny warm day. But this time you don’t have to go all the way to Provence. All this can also be experienced near Maribor, in Starše na Dravskem polje, at the Selinšek Farm.

15:00
Departure to Excursion farm Markuš – Vina Oskar. A visit to the cellar, a cold lunch and a tasting of top wines.
The Oskar wine cellar is a family wine estate that started a serious wine story only twelve years ago. Their story comes from a vineyard, where they strive to produce only top-quality grapes, which enables them to produce wines with a pronounced Styrian origin and varietal recognition. Their style is character wines that are both likeable and modern. They own 7ha of vineyards and produce about 40,000 liters of wine per year. The varietal composition of our vineyard is 40% Laško Riesling, 25% Yellow Muscat, 20% Šipon and 15% Sauvignon.

17:00
Return to the hotel, free time until the evening.

19:30
Departure to Tinjska gora, where we spend the whole evening. At the Gora pod lipo homestead, a culinary and wine fairy tale was organized for us, which we can indulge in until late. At the request of the group return to the hotel and overnight.
Top-quality ingredients from the local environment are the basis for the preparation of the culinary story of Gora pod lipo. They pay special attention to a healthy diet and creativity in preparing new dishes. For you in Gora pod lipo, culinary master Andrej Kuhar reigns culinary. In summer you can blink at the sun and listen to the birds singing at the foot of Pohorje, and in winter you can warm up in the corner by the fireplace. The Gora pod lipo homestead was declared the Best Homestead in 2014. They produce still and sparkling wines with a touch of terroir.

DAY 2

Breakfast at the hotel

10:00
Departure to the center of Maribor, a short tour of the city and a stop at the House of the Old Vine, the oldest vine in the world. Visit the collection and tasting top wines.

Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia and the center of the Municipality of Maribor. It is a university and metropolitan city and the economic, financial, administrative, educational, cultural, commercial and tourist center of northeastern Slovenia. Maribor was the European Capital of Culture in 2012 and the European Youth Capital in 2013. In 2012, it also hosted the European Youth Chess Championship. The town developed along the Drava River, below the castle there. The first mention of the castle dates back to 1164. The castle was called Marchburg, which means castle in the mark (the mark was a border county). The castle stood on the hill of the Pyramid, just above the city.

The settlement did not form under the fortress itself; firstly because of the dock under the castle and secondly because of the heavily swampy southwestern area. The settlement was formed along today’s Koroška cesta, ending in today’s Glavni trg, where two important routes from Koroška to Ptuj and from Ljubljana to Graz met. The first mention of the settlement of Maribor is from 1204. The square next to the castle is mentioned. In 1254, the square was granted city rights. With the victory of Rudolf of Habsburg over Otokar II. in 1278 the town began to develop rapidly. Maribor defied the siege of Matthias Corvinus in 1480 and 1481 and the siege of the Ottoman Empire in 1532 and 1683.

The city remained under the rule of the Habsburg Monarchy until 1918.
Today, the city has a number of institutions of national importance. The University of Maribor, the Institute of Information Sciences – IZUM, Nova KBM, Zavarovalnica Maribor, SNG Maribor, the University Clinical Center Maribor and the Archdiocese of Maribor are based here. National institutions such as Pošta Slovenije, the Slovenian Enterprise Fund, the Public Energy Agency of the Republic of Slovenia and the Railway Transport Agency are also based in the city.

Maribor is the center of Slovenian Styria and the seat of the Podravska region and the eastern cohesion region with a very favorable position at the crossroads of important European routes, along the Drava River, between Pohorje, Kozjak and Slovenske gorice, between the Drava Valley and the Drava plain.

12:00
Transport to Jarenina and visit to the Dveri-Pax cellar. Tour of the estate and the castle, lunch and wine tasting. Rest in the embrace of beautiful nature and vineyards.
The vines are grown in a nature-friendly way. The grapes are picked by hand, gently separated from the stalks, and then their knowledge, experience and tradition are successfully intertwined with state-of-the-art wine production technologies. With maturation, wines are developed, which are distinguished by a wonderful harmony of freshness, delicate fruity taste and quality of each variety. The most important feature of all their wines is the exceptional drinkability. With knowledge, dedication and innovation, and following the goals they have set for themselves in the field of brand development, with the goal of becoming the leading wine producer in Slovenia, and at the same time building the brand’s reputation abroad. The wines are produced in the building of the former castle port in Jarenina, where the company is also based. In May 2007, the renovation of the two-hundred-year-old building was completed and in June 2007 the doors of one of the most modern wine cellars in Slovenia were opened. The cellar offers storage capacities of 300 thousand liters of wine, of which 50 thousand liters of wine are stored in oak barrels.
Next to it is Jareninski dvor, formerly the monastery’s wine cellar, where many guests are offered wine tastings in a pleasant ambience. The Benedictines have been producing wines in the castle cellar of the Jareninski dvor since 1139. The wine cellar is also the oldest part of the castle, as the above-ground part of the castle complex has been upgraded and renovated several times in history. Lovers of Dveri-pax wines can also visit our wine-growing mansion Železne dveri, a building from the second half of the 15th century, in which they have arranged a wine shop and a mighty arched castle cellar. The Iron Gate mansion is located along the Jerusalem Wine Road and offers a beautiful view of the Jerusalem Hills from the large castle courtyard.

16:00
Transport to an organic farm nearby, presentation of the story of a long struggle for the farm (Pohorje Beef). Tasting of organic products on the farm (liqueurs, spirits, syrups). Dinner of local eco delicacies. After dinner some more time for a possible purchase of products on the farm and the end of the trip. Organized transport back by arrangement and request.
27 years ago, the doors of the homestead were opened for guests at the Uranjek Excursion Ecological Farm. Initially as a wine shop, later they added delicious lunches to the offer. All 27 years, the foundation of their work is fresh home-grown organic raw materials, which are prepared by careful domestic hands into extremely tasty, high-quality meals and products. Through hard work and dedication to guests, the farm has created many stories over the years – a story of growth, development, trust, partnership and reputation. On the farm they are engaged in organic breeding of calves Pohorje Beef. In the barn they have 9 suckler cows and about 7 calves Pohorje Beef. Pohorje Beef is the meat of young calves, aged 8 to 10 months, bred in a nature-friendly, organic way on our vast grasslands. In all seasons, calves move with their mothers through unspoiled nature, sucking their milk and grazing on meadows fertilized only with home-made natural fertilizers. They feed only on quality fodder grown on the farm. Breeding takes place without artificial additives, such as antibiotics, growth stimulants, hormonal and synthetic additives, and genetically modified organisms. Fodder production and farming on the farm are under constant strict control of independent authorized organizations, which ensures the quality and safety of meat. The nature-friendly, organic way of raising calves ensures that the meat is safe, healthy, of high quality, full of flavor and rich in nutrients.