July 11, 2017
The morning train from Pula to Buzet (at the Slovenian border) was a single self-propelled rail car with old-school windows that open from the top to let in the breeze and provide for an unencumbered view of the countryside. Judging by the map of southern Sweden affixed to the wall, the train car is second-hand from Sweden.
We climbed the rolling hills of the Istrian Penninsula, past olive groves, vineyards and tidy kitchen gardens. At Buzet, I heard the third worst phrase I've heard in my travels (1) "there is track work ahead, you need to take the bus."
We just caught the train at Divača, Slovenia heading for Opicina, Italy, in the suburbs of Trieste. We walked over to the unique tram/funicular for the ride down the steep hill into Trieste, which many travelers consider the scenic highlight of Trieste. "Tram service is temporarily suspended, you can take the bus." Onto the crowded city bus for the ride down the hill to the city center, travelling narrow roads that were not designed with buses in mind.
We had a pleasant walk to the B&B I had arranged. No answer to the bell at the B&B after multiple attempts (nor to a text nor to email), so we decided to visit the nearby tourist office to see what to do in the city; tourist office closed for two days. Google says the Fountain of 4 Continents is nice to see. The fountain was turned off and partially covered. We took all these events as a sign, went to the train station and headed north toward our next destination.
The Italian train toward Gorizia was on time and we had nice views of the Northern Adriatic. At Gorizia, there is an Italian Rail Station in the southwest of the city (where we alighted), and a Slovenian rail station at Nova Gorica, just northeast of the city, where the train for Most na Soči departed (2). We had over 2 hours to walk across the town, which turned out to be quite nice. There was a nice park with war memorials, a pedestrian plaza with gelatto shops, and a Castle on the hill with good views of the town and the nearby Julian (Slovenian) Alps.
The Nova Gorica, Slovenia train station was right on the Italian/Slovenian border (3), which had actually been set at the end of WWI to keep the rail line in Slovenia. We hopped on the evening train for the ride up the Soči Valley under threatening clouds and distant rumbles of thunder. The storm broke just as we arrived at Most na Soči, the station master pointed us in the right direction, and we were soon settled into a small hotel. The landlord, Marino, was a natural host and seemed genuinely pleased to have us visit.
(1) No. 1: On top of a hill in Rio de Janeiro, a soldier with a machine gun said: " You're not supposed to be here."
No. 2: One Saturday: "Your flight has been cancelled, we have rescheduled you for Tuesday."
(2) I had never heard of this town until about an hour ago, but the train was scheduled to arrive while still daylight, there was a small hotel with a room available a short walk from the train station, and we could sleep until a reasonable hour the next day and catch the morning train to arrive at Bled (our next destination) by mid- morning. "Most na Soči" means bridge on the Soči river.
(3) With both countries in the Shengen zone, there were no border crossing formailties, just a sign announcing which country you were entering.
No comments:
Post a Comment