Day 7: Bovec to Drežnica Slovenia

Lep pozdrav iz Bovec, Slovenije!

(Greetings from Bovec, Slovenia!)

Today was a recovery day! As I mentioned yesterday, our trail to Drežnica was closed for construction, so we took advantage of the change to sleep in and let our bodies recover.

Our 5th day on the Alpe Adria Trail

This morning, we took a “backpack-less” walk to an open-air World War I museum in Bovec. It’s completely free and self-guided, with a series of trails leading through bunkers, caves, and shacks that once served as officer shelters.

Our guidebook explained that while the region we’re hiking through had little strategic significance during World War I, it became a major battlefront, with over 1 million lives lost.

Although we took a break from hiking today, we still had a place booked at our next stop, Drežnica, Slovenia. So instead of walking, we caught a bus to a small town called Kobarid and then hired a very friendly taxi driver to take us over the mountain to the tiny village of Drežnica.

Kobarid Clock Tower

With a couple of hours to spend in Kobarid, and our interest in local history piqued, we visited the local WWI museum—highly recommended by the couple we had dinner with the night before.

It’s hard to believe this gorgeous area was once a place of such contention just over a century ago. Old photos showed the mountainsides around Bovec and Kobarid completely stripped of trees, with trenches and supply train trails crisscrossing the landscape.

The museum had a photo of the Russian Chapel we saw a couple of days ago on our climb.

Puzzled by our taxi driver’s choice of soda…

Our friendly taxi dropped us at our inn in Drežnica around 4 p.m. This village boasts a beautiful white church, surprisingly young by European standards.

Built in 1912, the church somehow survived the war that overshadowed this area just a few years later.

Such a beautiful place.

After a brief tour of the village—consisting of one restaurant and two inns—we settled on the patio of our inn to enjoy a beer.

Slovenian Black IPAs are a new favorite!

Dinner was fantastic! After a first course of leek and potato soup, we were served a main of polenta and sheep cheese with cured meat crumbles. Dessert was a delicious fruit salad. We are quite content!

Tomorrow, we’ll be back on the trail for a 13-mile trek to Tolmin, Slovenia, along old military routes.

Also: Our last two posts have been updated with photos. Click here to them: Day 5 and Day 6

Adijo from the beautiful village of Drežnicia!