Why Ptuj, Slovenia, Belongs On Your Travel Wish List

It’s hard not to fall a little bit in love with a town where men dress themselves in sheepskins, giant masks, ribbons and cowbells and dance with strangers on the main street. Perhaps that’s an oversimplification of a centuries-old cultural tradition that’s part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. But it’s not wrong

Ptuj, the oldest town in Slovenia, has become famous for its carnival. (What? You thought the sheepskins and cowbells were an everyday thing? ) The dancing, sheepskinned men are called Kurenti, and the celebration is called Kurentovanje. As one might imagine, it originates in paganism; a centuries-long belief that masks could be used to connect with the spirit world. In this case, they were used to perform fertility rituals and to drive the fading winter away. (Understandably, the Catholic Church wasn’t thrilled with all of this, and the festival became part of the Carnival-Lent-Easter religious season.)

The cowbells certainly make quite a clanging, even though when I visited on an unseasonably warm February weekend, winter was nowhere in sight. It was perfect weather for a street party, one with hundreds of costumed dancers and thousands of spectators. Tradition holds that women tie scarves or ribbons onto the staffs, and are spun around in a dance in return. I felt a bit dizzy by the end.

It was all terrific fun, and I’m grateful to Ursula Kordiš of Wanderlux Journeys for taking me there as a post-script to days of exploring the Slovenian Alps in winter. But Ptuj is worth visiting at almost any time of year. One of the many excellent museums in Ptuj Castle gives an excellent overview of the Kurent tradition, with a full room of masks, costumes and other ephemera from various centuries.

Other museums tell more about the history of Ptuj, which was settled in the 5th millennium BC. During Roman times, the city was bigger than London. Celts and Hungarians passed through, forming alliances for protection and sharing knowledge of skills like metallurgy. In the 11th century, the town was owned by the Archdiocese of Salzburg, and the castle was built. Its museums document that history, with collections of weapons, musical instruments and glass paintings. And being on the hilltop, as castles generally are, it has a lovely view of the town.

But museums and historic castles go only so far in defining the appeal of a place, and Ptuj has much more going for it. It’s a pretty town, with historic architecture, sunny boulevards and an appealing waterfront. Some of its residents are building a year-round cultural calendar.

Among them are the owners of MuziKafe, which organizes the Days of Poetry and Wine festival every summer. This attracts poets from all over the world, whose poetry is presented in their native languages, Slovenian and English.

As the family-owned MuziKafe’s name suggests, it has another focus as well. The colorful rooms of the house, which dates from 1618, are filled with artifacts from all over the world, collected from the owners’ travels as scenographers, costume designers and musicians. (They came back to Ptuj when they started a family, and now “the world comes to them,” says their 17-year-old son, who is an excellent spokesman for the place.)

A brick-walled venue downstairs hosts intimate concerts in different genres. Upstairs, a handful of guest rooms offer a simple yet charming place to sleep. For a more classic hotel stay, the town’s first hotel, Mitra, is still alive and kicking, with its own brand of historic homestyle grandeur.

Ptuj is also known for its wine culture—it’s all local bottles at the festival, of course—and history, which is said to go back to the 13th century. The town is still an anchor of the up-and-coming Stryia wine region. Pullus is part of the country’s oldest wine company, The cozy, old-world tasting room belies the fact that it’s also one of Slovenia’s largest producers, releasing some 1 million bottles a year. The focus is on fresh, easygoing whites and international varieties like pinot grigio and sauvignon blanc.

It also produces a special wine for the Kurent time, an especially young fresh one. One of the wineries partners is a longtime Kurent, and he and some friends were enjoying some in the tasting room’s courtyard before my tour, and before the town’s afternoon festivities began.

Pullus’s tasting room is joined by a variety of restaurants, both old and new. The riverside Gostilna Ribič seems to have been designed for leisurely family lunches of traditional Slovenian dishes, whether on the shaded terrace or inside the white-tablecloth dining room.

On the flip side is the contemporary chocolatier Xococ. Proprietor Matevž Božič made his name as a pastry chef at Hiša Denk, and now it’s making extravagant pralines for “chocolate adventurers.” That means that his bonbons, made of 55% Belgian dark chocolate, are airbrushed and painted like jewels. Inside their ganache is always super-fresh, as in the case of a raspberry puree. Sometimes it’s also a bit outré, with fillings like Ptuj sweet onion, horseradish with pistachio, sea buckthorn, pumpkin seed oil, and pork fat.

As with dancing with the Kurenti, the adventurous chocolates are worth stepping out of your comfort zone, and another reason that Ptuj is worth a visit.