Slovenia
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Visas, Embassies & Border Crossings
It's true that at Piazza Transalpina (in Gorizia-Nova Gorica) there are usually no guards and you can freely cross the non-existent border. However, as the signs in Italian, Slovenian, and English say it's illegal to cross the border there, so be cautious when you either enter the Nova Gorica train station or head towards the Italian #1 bus shelter after crossing the border. As a matter of fact, both Italian and Slovenian police are sometimes slowly and stealthily patrolling the area and may not be happy with your misdemeanour. I have crossed the virtual border there twice last November to get into Nova Gorica train station without having to go through the Casa Rossa/Rozna Dolina border crossing. Nothing happened, but I have always seen in the distance police of either country patrolling the area and the adjoining streets at a snail's pace.
Ferdinando Giammichele & Fiorella Polo, Italy (Aug 05)
In April 2004, the mayors of the divided Italian/Slovenian town of Gorizia-Nova Gorica removed the border fence that had separated the two halves for so long and instead created a joint square in the town centre. People are now allowed to enter the square from both sides but may not, at least in theory, continue beyond the limits of the square. In practice, however, there is nothing that stops them from doing so. Gorizia-Nova Gorica is located about 25 km north of Trieste.
Rolf Palmberg, Finland (May 05)
Travel Tips
You will generally be given and charged for bread, whether you request it, eat it or not. That said, the price is usually so trifling, and the bread often so good that it seems churlish to complain, but just so as you know
Many Slovenes do not seem to know the difference between an espresso and a cappuccino - and you will sometimes get the latter when asking for the former. Those serving who are particularly clued-up will ask to make sure (so maybe the problem is that many customers don't know the difference between an espresso and a cappuccino!) although when I asked for an "espresso in bela kava" at Sneznik Castle and got a cappuccino with my white coffee. When I protested, and once we had got over the language difficulty, it was no bother, the lady behind the bar did give a slightly incredulous look that I actually wanted something so small as an espresso.
David Wright, UK (Dec 04)
The local people are very friendly and helpful, and readily assist tourists when are asked to do so. However, we found that in the costal area (Koper and Piran) English is less well understood than German or Italian.
Oran Erster, Israel (Oct 04)
Moving About
A word of advice to bus travellers between Bled and the Bohinj Valley. The bus service between Bled and the Bohinj Valley is quite frequent, I think about hourly, but the route is served by three different bus companies. These companies do not accept tickets issued by one another. Thus, if you buy a return ticket from Bled from Alpetour at a 10% discount, you may have a long wait, as we did when returning from the base station of the Vogel cable car on Lake Bohinj, for a return bus of this company. After twice being refused entry by bus drivers we ended up buying single tickets on the next bus which came along.
Ian Juniper, Australia (Sep 05)
A highlight of our recent trip to Eastern Europe was a ride on the car train in Slovenia. After driving from Bled through the Vrsic Pass down to the WWI Museum in Kobarid, a pleasant way to return to Bled is by car train. The station is about 2 km outside of Most Na Soci and the ride to Bohinjska Bistrica takes less than an hour. The tracks run through many picturesque villages.
Barbara Olsen, USA (Jun 05)
Many country roads are not tarmacked throughout their length. This came as a major surprise to this British traveller who is used to virtually every last inch of his home roads network being surfaced. Whilst there is some correlation between the "importance" of the road and the likelihood of it being tarmacked, secondary roads may not always be hard surfaced, whilst some may be. It seems that wherever the gradient is steeper than 15 - 20% the road will have a tarmac surface, even if there is none on the rest of its length.
David Wright, UK (Dec 04)
Skocjan Caves: There is no transportation from Divaca bus/train station to Skocjan Caves apart from by foot. There are no taxi companies in Divaca - the closest taxi companies are about 30 mins away in Koper and it is highly unlikely that they will come out as far as Divaca. Therefore be prepared to walk from the station to the caves which takes about 30 mins.
Anna MacArthur, UK (Oct 04)
Gems, Highlights & Attractions
Bohinj: With 2 children I was wondering what we'd let ourselves in for, with no car, for 2 whole weeks, but we found lots to do. We had an apartment in Stara Furzina, enjoyed the restaurants there, also all the bars & restaurants in Ribcev Laz, an easy walk away.
The local people are very friendly and will offer you borovnica (blueberry schnapps) at any time of the day (even 9am!).
There's an unmissable walk up the river from the Devil's Bridge in Stara Furzina - limestone rocks & turqoise water making a giant water-feature that was almost too perfect to be true. It was worth the climb up to the paragliding jump-off point at Voger.
Judie McCourt, UK (Sep 02)
I found a very interesting attraction in Slovenia. It's called the Holy Trinity Church and is situated on a small hill near the Slovenian town of Lendava, which is very close to the Hungarian border. You can reach this place from Ljubljana, if you take a train as far a Murska Sobota (usually you have to change train in Pragersko), and then from Murska Sobota take a bus a far as Lendava (about 20 min). A fifteen minute walk up the hill and you can enjoy a lovely view of the Prekmurje region, and taste wine from the local wine cellars.
Rok Jark (May 01)
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