Day 31. Friday 1 May.

Fantastic doonas, albeit singles, meant a cosy night’s sleep… and the serenity! What to do today? Well, first thing check out the railway station for whenever we look to do the Bohinj Rail scenic journey between Jesenice & Nova Gorica, through the Julian Alps that we’ve heard about/read about). Apple Maps took us to the closest station: deserted, no doubt due to the three-day long weekend. Hmm. T asked a couple of (slightly suspicious of us) women pushing a pram, and one told us we were at the wrong station, pointing generally in the direction of the main town. Back to Apple Maps which took us, probably giggling – got you again – to the main Jesenice station, again deserted, but with information in English about train schedules. There was a train going in about twenty minutes to Nova Gorica, it was a highly recommended journey, we had a car park, we could buy tickets on the train: ‘why not?’ said T.  D was compliant. Duly boarded, and D had enough time to buy online the SZ Turist weekend option, which included the return trip, in First Class! We were away.

Terrific photo opportunities – except that either the train was going too fast, there was vegetation in the way, or we weren’t quick enough. We passed picturesque, perfectly manicured villages; rivers and streams; canyons; fisherfolk in the river; cyclists; hikers; villagers tilling the soil or telling tales; rail officials in red hats…..

Nova Gorica was a bit of a surprise. Lonely Planet describes it as ‘the best thing about Nova Gorica is leaving it’ amongst other similar put downs. Nova Gorica is right on the border with Italy – it’s adjacent town is Gorizia.

We had a couple of spare hours after coffee, so just strolled from Slovenia into Italy. Suddenly, we understood most of the signs! There had been a serious event in 2025: constant signage for Go 2025 (the prestigious European Capital of Culture (ECoC) title. Although much was closed, being May 1, we got a positive feel for this border town – or rather, for the Italian side which had plenty of charm & style. We could have easily spent a few hours wandering but there was a train to catch.

As we headed back to catch the return train we agreed that the Lonely Planet assessment was very harsh and didn’t reflect our admittedly very quick visit on a public holiday. But perhaps we’re not the main LP audience?

Return journey a repeat of the outward one, except for a long delay at Bohinjksta  Bistrica  waiting for the train coming from the other direction.

A lovely day out!