This morning, as I was preparing to depart early from the very comfortable and kind hostel where I spent the night, the security guard who was just concluding his night shift asked me about my trip. I described my route and he paused, brow wrinkled, in thought. Then (in English) he said: “One must travel slowly for the mind to be free.” I thought about that profound idea throughout the morning as I rode out of the city and along the Drava River with the sun rising over the mountains. It was a great reminder that every day there are moments of wisdom and beauty if we allow ourselves to see or hear them. The road from Maribor to Ptuj was a cyclist’s dream: curvy roads through farms and orchards and along a beautiful river.

As I cycled, I ate a pocketful of the same delicious little plums I found yesterday and enjoyed a container of Slovenian beet juice, a salty sweet beverage common here that hits the bullseye of my tastebuds. The old town of Ptuj, a center for Slovenian winemaking, was spectacular in the morning light. 

 Turning south towards the Croatian boarder, I found another perfect road, the old two lane highway to Zagreb, now obsolete because of a new EU highway.  
  It took me through a town called Krapina (much lovelier than the name might suggest), where a smiling guy in a pink tank top, blue and yellow shades and flip flops rode up beside me at a stoplight. Pedaling along with me, he asked me about my trip, then where I am from. “Seattle,” I told him. His face lit up. “You know it?” I asked. “Seattle Supersonics!” he practically shouted. I started to explain that the Supersonics left town years ago but he looked confused and once again smiled and said triumphantly: “Seattle Supersonics!” Then he asked my name. “Gabriel,” I told him and again he smiled and said “religious guy.” He turned off to the right and as I waved he looked back and, laughing, shouted “go with God!” I continued on my way through rolling hills and small towns until I was just 20 kilometers outside of Zagreb. If you have bike toured, or just cycled a lot, you understand that getting in and out of big cities is hard and often not much fun. Occasionally I find great routes and avoid the exurban industrial areas and major highway interchanges. Mostly I don’t, and today was no exception. I felt like I was riding into town on the equivalent of Aurora in Seattle on a hot and busy afternoon. Tired, hot and thirsty, I said “why not!” and did what any rational person would do: stopped for a strawberry ice cream!  
Zagreb, in my brief exploration, seems to lack much of the architectural beauty of many other cities I have seen on my trip and certainly that sense of soul I noticed in Maribor. 

I suspect that much of Croatia’s charm lies in the mountains and beaches, which I am off to visit next.