We started a beautiful sunny day with a Franciscan priest blessing the torch at the end of mass in the Franciscan Basilica Mother of Mercy.

Our national coordinator Marjan gave a short speech about the run before the congregation. Then the runners one by one came to the podium to introduce their nationalities. It was a peculiar feeling singing and clapping the World Harmony Run song in this peaceful church. As we proceeded out we could see many of the congregation smiling at us with glittering eyes. The magnanimous priest later came out to meet us again and gave us postcards depicting the church.

We then ran to a park where about 300 children were eagerly waiting for us. We ran in to the sounds of a troubadour playing and singing the World Harmony Run song. The mayor received the torch and gave us a nice welcoming talk. Also present at the ceremony was an old friend and a member of the Slovenian parliament, Rudi Moge.

The children were full of life. Guessing which country each runner was from took the form of 300 voices calling countries on top of each other in an avalanche of eagerness. Local athletic club Poljane accompanied us again as we ran out of Maribor.

On our way we stopped in the beautiful cities of Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenske Konjice, Celje and Žalec. We usually had a big group of enthusiastic children joining us and in all the cities the mayor, or his representative, gave us a very warm welcome and shared with us their own aspirations for a better world. In all places we were also kindly provided with food. We ate a lot of cheese sandwiches today.

Slovenska Bistrica

Slovenske Konjice

The Slovenians openness, their good hearts and sincere longing for a harmonious world has really left an impression on us, and we are very grateful to have the privilege of carrying their boundless inspiration and aspiration forward to the rest of Europe.

Celje

While we were running from the last ceremony an unexpected runner Poldi Oblak joined us. He was having his usual run. When I saw him I asked him if he would like to hold the torch for a moment. He happily did it. We smiled and continued running our ways. But after a while I was so surprised when I saw him again. He joined us and wanted to know more about our run. We talked and he was overjoyed that he could take part in this unique run for harmony and friendship.

We had a really nice run through beautiful landscape of Slovenia: large and steep green wooded hills and farmlands graced the roadside.

We were supposed to finish the day in Kamnik, but we decided to run onwards all the way to the border of Ljubljana, as we will be visiting schools there in the morning.

---

Distance: 140km

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

< Austria - Slovenia 12 October

Slovenia 14 October >