This year I had a companion for my annual bike tour: my colleague Nina
We chose a tour from the "Adriabike" booklet from the Austrian-Italian boarder in Tarvisio through the Slovenian Alps and the Soca valley across the Slovenian Karst/Kras/Carso region to Trieste.
Therefore we took an early morning train on a rainy day from Vienna to Tarvisio Boscoverde
From there we drove along a very nice bike track (on a former railroad track) parallel to the Austrian boarder towards Slovenia.
We made a short uphill detour to the Lagi di Fusine...
before we crossed the boarder to Slovenia. Unfortunately the weather was quite cool and unstable this afternoon.
We passed by the ski resort Kranska Gora and headed towards Jesenice. But this town was so depressingly uggly - we didn't even find a cafe or bar for an afternoon break!
Therefore we continued our tour along a busy steep uphill road to a plateau with the nice village Kocna. There we had a reservation in a cosy private accomodation. With a warm welcome (with beer and Schnaps) and the local pizza service we found peace again with the province of Jesenice ;-)
On the next day we hit the road again after a wonderful breakfast! The tour lead us uphill from the beautiful green plateau towards BLED
We drove around the lake and even made a short swim stop (before the rain started again)
We left Jezero Bled on its southern end and drove along quite local roads through nice villages, like Bohinjska Bela and Nomenj towards BOHINJSKA BISTRICA
We had a reservation for a room in the nice, big "Eco-Hotel". Finally the weather was nicer and warmer again! After a short rest we biked the 6km along a nice bike track to BOHINJSKO JEZERO and spent a nice afternoon there.
On the next day we had to take the local train from Bohinjska Bistrica to Podbrdo to cross a mountain range. The 8min on this old train were quite stressful (far too narrow for about 20 bikes and tourists).
But the local road from Podbrdo to Most na Soci was very nice and quiet. We had planned to make a swimming break in Most na Soci...but the Soca river was not so nice there.
We continued as shown and described on the map...and ended up on a steep offroad hiking path overlooking the Soca river!!! On some parts we had to push the bikes and even that was challenging!
In KANAL OB SOCI, 20 challenging kilometers later, we needed a break! We jumped into the chilly cold Soca river and enjoyed some snacks from a local backery.
KANAL OB SOCI
Then we continued along different bike tracks along the Soca river towards Solkan and the Italian part of NOVA GORIZA: GORIZIA
well prepared bike track along the Soca river near Solkan
We had a reservation for a nice hotel in the old town centre of GORIZIA.
After a rest, a shower and some cloths-washing we strolled through the centro storico, had a nice dinner and found a busy local wine tasting festival.
On the next day we left Italy again and crossed over the boarder to the Slovenian part of the city: Nova Goriza. From there we headed south along a bike track towards the Slovenian Kras (limestone/Karst) plateau, which buildes itself up behind the village MIREN...
We decided to take the alternative offroad path through the forest to avoid the busy winding uphill road...but the forest was destroyed after heavy bush fires in June :-(
A depressing view to the monestary and castle of Miren...through the burnt forest
We continued along nice, small and quite local roads through small villages across the Karst plateau (still crossing though many burnt forests).
After a long, hot and challenging day with constantly up- and downhill passages we finally reached SEZANA (near the boarder to Italy, above Triest) - a typical boarder town with lots of shopping centres and casinos - our tour stop for that day.
On the next day we started our last stage:
First we biked along a nice road through a shady forest towards LIPICA...and were so lucky, as we reached the famous horse stud exactly in the moment, when they lead the horses out on the paddock!
Behind Lipica we continued along nice local roads through the villages of Lokev and Skocjan (famous cave), Rodik and Kozina.
From Kozina we wanted to take the famous offroad bike track "Giordano Cottur" along a former railroad track through the beautiful "Val Rosandra" down to Triest...but due to road works and weird road signs it was not so easy to find the track!
The offroad bike track was very beautiful and offered stunning views...but was quite challenging for Nina and her city bike.
The bike track continued downhill through the suburbs of Triest - and suddenly stopped near a busy city road. We tried to navigate trough another suburb towards the harbour and historical city centre of TRIEST...
...and finally - after 270km in total - made it!
On the next day we used our bikes again for a short sightseeing trip to Castello Miramare and a nice afternoon on the beach in Barcola
Another nice evening in Triest with Aperol Spritz and a wonderful dinner and then it was time to organise the trip home.
Early on the next morning, we took the ÖBB bus to Villach and then the train back to Vienna.
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