Today’s featured photo shows an old customs post at Lazaret in Slovenia across the border from the Italian city of Trieste. Ever since Slovenia joined the EU in 2005 and the Schengen free travel zone in 2009, this border checkpoint has lain virtually abandoned. But in the past, this was no ordinary border checkpoint as it was here the Iron Curtain finished in Winston Churchill’s famous speech. In 1946, he had proclaimed that from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. It is one of the most famous speeches in history but having cycled from Stettin (now called Szczecin) to Trieste, I can confirm that the iron curtain has vanished from across the continent. There is hardly any trace of the iron curtain to be seen anywhere and the few remnants that are still standing, such as this border post in Lazaret, are a bit underwhelming. To be fair, during the Cold War, Slovenia was part of Yugoslavia and restrictions here were not as stringent as elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Indeed, a Yugoslav passport was apparently the most desired passport in the world as you could use it to travel freely in both the East and the West. Perhaps that is why the old border post here in Lazaret in Slovenia looks more like a cafe than a border checkpoint.
Day 42 Sunday June 17th – Total distance cycled from Ljubljana to Trieste – 140 km (1800m of climbing). Total distance cycled so far on 2018 Tour de Travoy – 3330 km.
This campsite was the most expensive campsite I stayed at on this year’s tour. In parts Slovenia looks like Switzerland and in places, the prices were the same as Switzerland. I don’t mind paying extra if the facilities are top notch but here at the Camping Ljubljana, they were very basic. But as it is the only campsite in Ljubljana , they have a monopoly and can charge practically any amount.
The pink colored building in Preseren Square is the Franciscan Church of the Annunciation, which dates back to the 18th Century. Preseren Square is named after France Preseren, a 19th Century Slovenian poet and there is a statue of the poet in front of the Franciscan church.
It was cool this morning setting off from Ljubljana but by the time I got to Trieste, the temperature was around 35 degrees.
Look closely and this is actually a four story house with three stories built into the roof. Notice also the bird shaped hedge in it’s garden.
As it was late on Sunday afternoon, most of the traffic was heading north back towards Ljubljana. Had I made it here early on Sunday morning, I would guess most of the traffic would have been heading south towards the Adriatic coast.
Had I been going to Trieste city centre, I would have had to climb the road next to this motorway viaduct. But as I was following the Slovenian – Italian border, my route from here was all downhill to the Slovenian port of Koper.
3 weeks earlier, I had stood at the Baltic Sea port of Szczecin in Poland and here I was at the Adriatic Sea port of Koper. It is only 10 km from here to the more famous port of Trieste but first I had to cross the border into Italy.
The Italian city of Trieste stretches from here for about 20 km around a bay in the Adriatic Sea. The main aim of the second part of the Tour de Travoy was to cycle to Trieste from Szczecin in Poland and by crossing the border here I had achieved that aim.
From here to Szczecin along the shortest route via Dresden and Vienna is roughly 1300 km. Along the official Iron Curtain Trail, the distance between Szczecin and Trieste is roughly 3000 km as that route follows the Czech Republic border and the old East German border to Travemunde before turning east to Szczecin. But to get to Trieste, I had already cycled 3,300 km as I had set out from London and also took a big de-tour to Munich to meet up with family. So by the time I got to Trieste, I had already covered more or less the same distance as the official Iron Curtain Trail route from Szczecin to Trieste.
In hindsight, I am glad I went the way I did and not the official route as there is so little of the Iron Curtain left to see anywhere. My route took me through Berlin, Wittenberg, Dresden, Nuremburg, and Munich, places much more interesting than anywhere on the official Iron Curtain Trail. My route from Szczecin to Trieste also took me to the Berlin Wall, Glieniecke bridge in Potsdam, Modlareuth in Bavaria and the Pan European Picnic site in Hungary, 4 locations that are synonymous with the Iron Curtain and the Cold War, yet only 2 are on the official route. Up until now, every other long distance cycle route I have attempted whether it is the Camino del Norte in Spain or the Route des Grandes Alpes in France, I would thoroughly recommend. But I cannot say the same about the official Eurovelo 13 Iron Curtain Trail. Much of the official trail is on rough gravel tracks which are not suitable for a loaded down touring bike. Large parts of the official route are also through forests where there is nothing to see. Apart from one small part in Austria, the route is not signposted and it is very easy to get lost. For all these reasons, I cannot recommend Eurovelo 13 and rather than following the official Iron Curtain Trail, I would advise anyone reading this who is thinking of cycling from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic to instead follow the Fleetwood Mac Iron Curtain Trail and “Go Your Own Way”.
Tour de Travoy 