We got up this morning and it was raining. We went down to have breakfast (at about 9:30) and discovered that there wasn’t much left for us after a group of hungry French motorcyclists consumed almost everything. Even all the coffee was gone and there was no black tea, just herbal teas. No caffeine. Needless to say we weren’t happy. The owner was nowhere to be found so we had to make do.
After this meager breakfast we packed our stuff back in the car and started to walk around Ptuj. The first settlements there are actually from Neolithic times. There were three Mithraic temples in 3 different places in Ptuj and Lucy was determined to see the first one, which contained a beautiful sculpture of god Mithra being born (from 2nd century AD). We went on a quest to find it, first into the local museum where we were told to call and make an appointment with a family who have the key. After numerous unsuccessful tries to call, we went back to the museum and were told that we should just go to Mithra 3 where we can find out where Mithra 1 is and get someone to open the temple for us. Since it was a little bit outside the city, we decided to first see the castle and then stop at Mithra on the way out. That’s exactly what we did. It took three tries to find Mithra 3 in a little street without any signs pointing to the temple. The family who were supposed to have the key, were not at home and a woman we asked in another house was visibly unhappy and complained about the museum sending people without a guide. She also told us where to find Mithra 1. After asking again, we found the house of the person who supposedly had the key to Mithra 1, but there was a sign on the house “I went to the market, please wait.”. Reni and I were ready to give up, but Lucy was driven and wouldn’t think of leaving Ptuj without seeing the temple. We started looking around at two garage/shed structures full of what looked like antique sculptures and wondered if these were the ancient Roman remnants. We were even considering putting one in the trunk when the woman appeared. She told us that the temple itself was in a different place and she got in the car and drove with us to the temple. We parked in a field near some trees on one side a a pig sty on the other and walked through a muddy field in terrible stench until we reached a clearing with a small building that contained the temple. She then had to go to the farmhouse to get the key and let us in. The building contained the walls of a small temple and amazingly well preserved marble sculptures. The woman told us about the neglect of these Roman temples and how unhappy she was about what was happening to them and the condition in which they were kept. Apparently, the museum doesn’t have money to exhibit them properly. I offered my help in trying to find some foundation funding. These unique works definitely deserve better care and more exposure.
After visiting the temple, Lucy was finally satisfied and we started driving towards Logarska Dolina in the Savijnski Alps. We got there in about 2 hours and found a room with board on a farm owned by the Plesnik family. It’s a beautiful place. The views are amazing. We took a little walk and then had an enormous dinner cooked by the male farmer.
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