In the city of Maribor, Slovenia

 "The willow tree plays the water like a harp." -- Ramon Gomez de la Serna

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(in Slovenia's second city) Maribor, the largest city of the traditional region of Lower Styria, is also the seat of the region of Eastern Slovenia. Found on the Drava River near the Austrian border, Maribor lies between the Pohorje mountains and the hills of Slovenske Gorice. Although a settlement existed here in Roman times, the present city grew from the mid-12th century around Marburg Castle on Piramida Hill. It developed as an important commercial center in the 13th century. Prior to World War I the city’s population was predominantly German. Under the command of General Rudolf Maister, Slovene and Yugoslav troops gained control of the city after that war in 1919. During World War II, Maribor was subjected to Allied aircraft bombing on some 50 occasions -- which destroyed the city’s infrastructure and industry. Eventually rebuilt after WWII, Maribor is now one of the largest industrial cities in Slovenia. Local attractions still include St. Madeleine Church, the 16th-century City Hall, and a monument recalling the great plague of 1680. Another popular attraction is a roughly 400-year-old vine (claimed locally to be the world’s oldest) from which grapes are harvested annually.