Our Time in the Soča Valley

We really like to spend some time hiking when we‘re on vacation and after reading about this area, I scheduled some time for us to hike around here.

Our home base while in the Soča Valley was the tiny village of Koseč, which is high on the mountain, about ten miles from Kobarid and up a twisty narrow road. There’s nothing to do in this village but hike. No restaurants, no school, no bank, no gas station. We ate all our dinners in the B&B and when we asked where we could buy lunch, we were told that we have to go “down”.

This fall Bob is going to make our wood pile look like this! Right, Bob?

We were told that this church MIGHT BE the oldest church in Europe. While they were doing some repairs on it they found some very old frescoes and were able to determine the dates.

While we were walking around the village this neighbor asked us if we wanted a taste of his homemade schnapps. It was pretty good schnapps and we stayed to chat a bit. He proudly showed us his collection of WW I treasures that he found while hiking in the mountains.

We knew that there were a lot of fierce battles fought in these mountains, but we never considered what those armies left behind. He had guns, canteens, helmets, mess kits, bayonets, and even a small part of a wing from an American airplane. There’s a museum down in Kobarid and it’s nicely done, but they don’t have as many artifacts as this guy.

Rain. It rained the day we set aside for a hike in the Julian Alps. We have rain covers for our daypacks and decided to give it a try anyway. The trails are marked fairly well, and Bob is trying to figure out which trail we should take.

Our hike led us to a waterfall and an overlook above the town.

We leave tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll see the mountains on our drive back to Bled because the rain and fog hid the mountains today.

This is the view from our room in the B&B. It’s not much of a sheep farm, but look at those mountains!

Today is a much nicer day for driving and we’re so glad because the Vršič Pass is open again!

This drive was truly one of the most stunning ones we’ve ever taken. The Vršič Pass takes you over the highest mountain pass in Slovenia. We drove into Triglav National Park and came to the first of the pass’s 50 hairpin turns - each one numbered and labeled with the altitude in meters.

This picture was taken at the Park’s Headquarters and we were so impressed. Just wait until you see what’s ahead!

I love mountains and feel happiest when I can see even a low mountain every day, so this was definitely a good day for me. Plus, Bob did all the driving and I didn‘t have to worry about shifting gears on those hairpin turns!

Most of the turns were cobbled for better traction and there were sheep and cattle grazing on some of them too.

I think this looks like a car ad, but I love the way the mountains look in this photo.

We’re heading into turn 20. Only 30 more to go!

We’re almost finished with this drive and it was as beautiful as I hoped it would be.

After taking the car back to Bled we took the bus to Ljubljana. The next post will be the day I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. We’ll try to find my Grammy and Pappy’s hometowns and, hopefully, some of our Slovenian cousins.