Maribor - a city surrounded by beauty – part IX

You have to ways up the river Drava, on either one of the banks, naturally. Right bank goes under the foot of Pohorje and that’s where the railway is, but the road network is not as good – for it virtually ends at the cliff of Fala, which has throughout history represented a natural barrier. The left bank is where the regional road (also since historic times) leads towards Dravograd and further on all the way to Salzburg. I’ll take you on the right bank, all the way to the Fala castle and the first hydro plant on river Drava, from where you can decide to return once again to Maribor, or continue upstream to discover the rest of the Drava valley.

I really believe the rail station at Studenci is one of the most beautiful ones I’ve ever seen. You can still fell the spirit of the beginnings of the industrial revolution here, which will automatically tell you it’s a train station. Since Maribor was the first Slovenian city to be connected in the railroad network, I suggest we follow the rails.

From Limbuš continue through Laznica and Bistrica ob Dravi towards Bezena – although you can turn towards Pohorje again to visit the lodge at Pečke (which has a path connecting it to the Meranovo estate). But Bezena is the village at the beginning of Ruše.

Ruše are a prehistoric settlement with an ancient culture living here, that still hasn’t been fully identified. People try to place them either as Celts or Ilyrs, but it’s a still unknown culture that used clay urnes for burial rituals. It’s probably the same culture as the one that built Poštela (the largest iron age site in the area) and the Klein Glein (on UNESCO list) in Austria.

Apart from that, Ruše are known for the pilgrimage church dating back to high midlle ages and later on even for the first Slovenian grammar school. It was not only the first such school on Slovenian ground, but it even thought Slovene as a course.

I’d also suggest you go and see the summer amphitheatre Letni oder, which is placed in the middle of a forest, where the people were performing plays. It’s not an accident that you’ll find a replica of the duke’s stone here (the original is in modern Austria, but it’s where the dukes of Karantanija – ancient Slovenia – were crowned as the leaders – after being elected, placing Karantania the first democracy after the antique Grece and Roman republic). It’s this national pride that is visible throughout the village. There’s even a street named Mali Beograd (small Belgrade), which has nothing to do with Belgrade as the capital of the former Yugoslavia. The village got this nickname back in the days of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy!!!

Back in 1914, when the Drava valley was under a strong pressure of germanization and Maribor was mostly a German town, it was Ruše that kept the banner of Slovenian nationality. It was here that Slovenian citizens of Maribor gathered for a great feast (which was perhibited in the city) and it happened on the very day of the assassination of grand duke Ferdinand of Habsburg (which latter on lead to the beginning of the First World War). When the news came, that the crown prince was murdered, all festivities had to end, but the people in Ruše didn’t care about a foreign crown prince – so the village was raided. 21 villager was brought to jail under the accusation of national treason and Serbophillia (since it was a Serb who shot the grand duke in Sarajevo). So Ruše got a nickname after the capital of Serbia – Belgrade, becoming Small Belgrade (long before Ruše was in the same kingdom, country, realm… as Belgrade.

Ruše also paid with blood during the Second World War, so there’s no wonder so many things still remind us of the Partizan movement. But don’t confuse these patriots with the communist party agitators. These were proud local people that Gestapo tried to eliminate even prior to occupation of Yugoslavia on April 6th 1941. It’s the names of local people, who did not agree with Hitler’s plans to make this part of Slovenia a direct part of the Third Reich. They were killed off for cherishing their mother tongue. Many families disappeared or lost their loved ones. No wonder then, two thirds of streets in Ruše carry names of partisan heroes of WWII – all local people from the village!

On the way to the next location, which once again shows national pride of people, we cross the creek of Lobnica, that forms the beautiful waterfalls Šumik. You’d have to follow the creek uphill to see them, all the way to the top of Pohorje, but trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

But let me lead you towards Falska pečina. When the Ottoman Turks tried to conquer Vienna (and they attempted several times), the were making their way up the Drava river. Now as I’ve stated previously, the cliffs of Falska pečina is a natural hinderness for that plan. So it was in the 17th century, when Turks were besieging Maribor that one devision decided to plunder Ruše. The people, however, retreated towards the Fala castle and prepared a defense line called the Turkish wall. From here they’ve started throwing beehives at the invading army. The confused attackers started throwing down their armour, to get rid of the bees and at that time the people pulled up their sleeves and disposed of the invader in the local manner as dr. Mišič wrote, while describing this adventure during both world wars. When the beaten up bodies, that were thrown in the river reached the city of Maribor, the main force thought that reinforcements for the city were on the way and retreated from Slovenian lands.

You can’t see any of that any more, but you can, however, visit the castle of Fala, which is opened every weekend. A gentlemen resides there today in quite a noble fashion, and if his other plans for other nearby castles work out – as well as his plans for the abandoned old factory in Ruše, new life will come to the Drava valley.

Right under the castle is the oldest hydro power plant on the Drava river! It was made in the days of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy (before the first world war) and provided electricity to Graz and even Vienna itself! It’s still operational and you can cross the river on it as well. From there you can decide if you’r rather go back to Maribor or continue upriver towards Dravograd, Koroška region and onward (for although people might tell you differently, Dravograd was historically always a part of Štajerska region, not Koroška, as they claim today).