We decided to take the first of the two trains we could use out of Venice, because we’d had such a good evening last night.
We still had time for a little wander, breakfast, and drawing before we took the train, and Gideon started to warm to the place a little more with that.
This is an interesting trip: the train goes from Nova Gorica, a new town which sprung up around the Austrio-Hungarian era railway station which was divided from Gorizia, the rest of the town which became part of Italy after the Second World War. The station remained in Yugoslavia with the rest of the railway line, and the new town planned from there.
We took the train, then walked through the pretty town to find lunch.
Piazza Transalpina used to have a heavily guarded border wall, which was only removed in 2004 when Slovenia joined the EU.
The banner on the station is part of a European capital of culture bid for 2025, under the tagline Go! Borderless. It must have been a big shift over eighteen years, and the Heras fencing which was put up through the square during Covid lockdowns in 2020 must have been a very unwelcome reminder of past times…
The journey on the Transalpina line was beautiful, and it’s very much a tourist line. Not quite like the Bernina express, as it doesn’t climb so high, but a very impressive journey regardless.
Angus found it perfect for napping through 😂
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