Today we visit Slovenia. The country almost everyone confuses with Slovakia. Or is it the other way round? Unlike landlocked Slovakia, Slovenia has Europe’s third shortest coastline. This consists of a tiny stretch of coast between Italy and Croatia of around 47 km dubbed as the “Slovene Riviera”.

Joe and I visited Slovenia back in 2013 and getting there was certainly an adventure.

We were staying in Venice and wanted to cross into Slovenia and explore Lake Bled and Ljubljana. The plan was to take the train from Venice to Slovenia, except there were absolutely no trains going from Italy to Slovenia. This is despite the fact there is clearly a rail line crossing the border, and I’d already crossed the border the other way on a night train back in 2008.

It just turns out that Slovenia and Italy don’t want to be connected by train. What followed was taking a train to the Italian border town of Gorizia and sprinting across the border to the Slovenian town of Nova Goricia. Is this the only land border I’ve ever crossed by foot before, other than perhaps the Vatican City?

It was worth it though, the train journey on the other side of the border was spectacular. The all-but-abandoned Bohinj railway heads north over Europe’s second-largest stone bridge into the mountains. We were practically the only people on the ancient rattling train for the entire journey. For lunch we snacked on Italian cheeses and salami we picked up from a deli before crossing the border. The scenery became increasingly wintery and snowy until we were up in the mountains in deep snow cover. The Bohinj Railway is probably one of the most scenic rail journeys I’ve ever taken.

After an afternoon exploring the snowy Lake Bled, we took the train to Ljubljana, a tiny, but wonderful capital city crowned with a picture perfect castle. 

I’d certainly love to return to Slovenia one day.