Slovenia

I have passed through Slovenia many times on journeys that took me to other destinations. It often happened that, when I was in Tarvisio, I would slightly lengthen the route and enter Slovenia for a few kilometres from the Fusine border in Val Romana. From there I would reach the first petrol station, shortly before the tourist resort of Kranjska Gora, where I would refuel cheaply, then, crossing the nearby Wurzen Pass, with its very steep hairpin road, I would reach Austria near Villach. A route I did also in difficult conditions with snow and ice, and on one of those occasions I was even frightened because I kept losing control of the car. Besides, I passed through this country a few times too when it belonged to Yugoslavia. On another occasion I came here simply to accompany a person to the railway station in Ljubljana.

Having made these necessary clarifications, on a couple of occasions I actually devoted myself to visiting Slovenia. That was when, on the way back from a trip to Austria and the Czech Republic, deciding to enter from the usual Wurzen Pass, I spent the night in an elegant hotel in Kranjska Gora, a place famous for its ski facilities. It was a splendid day in May and I was in a valley amid the Julian Alps. The road took me to Bled, a town overlooking the lake of the same name where some rowing crews were training. Bypassing Ljubljana I reached the famous Postojna Caves, where I went in for the tour that takes place among numerous concretions, partly on foot and partly aboard a little underground train. Inside the great cave I also saw a pool containing a strange gecko that lives at these depths.

On another occasion I stopped for a couple of hours in the historic centre of Ljubljana, which I remember as well kept, with a few noteworthy palaces, crossed by a narrow river spanned by bridges. A sober and elegant capital but certainly with few attractions. Other times I passed through the places right next to Trieste, Sesana and Koper, which we call Capodistria. Moreover I crossed the entire country from west to east as far as Murska Sobota, passing through Ptuj. In 2016 I returned to Ljubljana, visiting a school and the castle, which I reached by cable car. On that occasion I had lunch in a place on the riverside. Slovenia is a very well-kept Alpine country with high mountains and green hills, certainly pleasant to pass through but of little interest to a demanding traveller.