Beauty in a Nutshell - Kobarid Area, Julian Alps - Slovenia

We cannot always say at which point one culture ends,

and another begins, especially in the kitchen

Charmaine Wilkerson

Bridge over the Soča River
Flowers are everywhere in Slovenia

I biked all over Slovenia for a couple of weeks.  Serene, beautiful, energizing place.  I won't go into its history too much, only give you glimpses via pictures.  Enjoy...

The first couple of days were spent in and around Kobarid in the Julian Alps where some peaks are still covered with snow and the pilot who flew us here made a few extra loops before landing so we could appreciate the splendor of these majestic mountains, soon to be experienced by bicycle. 

Hotel Hvala where I stayed for a couple of nights
Easy to find my way back, being near a church with a very tall steeple
'Hvala' means Thank You

Had a 19 course dinner at Hiša Franko, *** Michelin Restaurant
Theme of the dinner: Fifty Shades of Life, a Celebration of Life
Sunset view from the patio while having pre-dinner fig-leaf kombucha cocktail

It's all about presentation, freshness, and serving local foods
Seed taco, black sunchoke purée, pears, bladder campion (silene vulgaris)
Served on sunflower

Resembling a dinosaur egg - Crack it open to reveal:
Potato in summer hay crust, served with cultured cream and caviar

‘In a lot of interviews, I’m asked what I believe makes my kitchen so different from others.  In my eyes, the kitchen is a symbiosis of three elements: the territory, the season and the personality of the chef.  And that personality is not only something you inherit; rather, it’s a collage, a patchwork of all our life experiences.  Traveling, childhood memories, parents, grandparents, birth, death, love, religion, teachers, friends, schoolmates… they are all part of it.’  

Ana Roš, Chef at Hiša Franko, from her personal chef monograph Sun and Rain, 2020
Recipient of the World's Best Female Chef Award in 2007

Same steeple can be seen from just about anywhere around Kobarid

St Mary of Assumption (1824-1832) still sports the bell tower that is mentioned in 

Hemingway’s, A Farewell to Arms (1929)

Soča Valley

Soča Valley

So many flower-filled fields with mountainous backdrops

The city of Kobarid lies on a high terrace on the right bank of the Soča River.  The Soča Valley’s other claims to fame came together in a famous line from Frederic Henry, the protagonist of Ernest Hemingway’s novel 'A Farewell to Arms': 'I was blown up while we were eating cheese.'  I am here on a gourmet bike tour and indeed the food in Slovenia is unquestionably amazing.  

Stations of the Cross line the road to the Italian Charnel House

Here, Jesus falls a third time

Italian Charnel House (Sacrario militare di Caporetto) or Kobarid Military Memorial

Photo from www.soca-river.com

Kobarid Military Memorial aka Italian Charnel House

The Kobarid Military Memorial, also known as the Shrine of St. Anthony of Padua, sits on the battlefield of Caporetto and is octagonal in shape. This ossuary is constructed with three concentric ‘octagons’ that narrow as you go up. The Church of Anton (1696) sits at the very top. Remains of 7,014 known and unknown Italian soldiers on the Isonzo Front (1915-1918) killed in WWI were carried to the Charnel House from nearby army cemeteries.

Inaugurated in 1938 by Benito Mussolini, it is a poignant monument built in a spirit of respect for soldiers of different nationalities who made the ultimate sacrifice for their countries. Of these remains are those of 1,748 (25% of them) unknown soldiers.

The names of the known soldiers are engraved alphabetically under the Italian word ‘PRESENTE’ (as in ‘still on duty’) outside in greenish serpentine marble under stone arches. Saint Anthony of Padua (Anton) stands as a profound memorial honoring the courage and sacrifice of those who fought for freedom.

Part of Italian Trench Warfare WWI

Today, the Italian Charnel House is the only war memorial maintained by Italy which does not stand on its own soil. The remains of all other Italian war dead who fell on Slovenian soil were moved to the ossuaries of Redipuglia and Oslavia in Italy. Caporetto belonged to the Kingdom of Italy from 1920 to 1947, before being annexed to the former Yugoslavia and later to Slovenia.

The memorialization of Caporetto was problematic for Mussolini or Italy in general. The defeat was regarded as a stain on the national character, and an acceptable national interpretive framework was needed in order to account for it, preserving both the dignity of the commanders and the admirable qualities of the ordinary troops. Eventually the defeat of Caporetto was seen as a critical moment in the foundation of the New Italy. The Fascist party referred to Caporetto as the moment of its birth, and all aspects of commemorating the war were incorporated into a new fascist narrative.

Many remnants across the countryside

The fascist styles of architecture took design cues from Ancient Rome in that buildings of the styles were generally very large and symmetric with sharp non-rounded edges. The buildings purposefully conveyed a sense of awe and intimidation through their size, and were made of limestone and other durable stones in order to last the entirety of the fascist era and create impressive ruins. The buildings were also very plain, with little or no decoration, and lacked much complexity in design. These generalities of fascist architecture contributed to the simple aesthetics the edifices display. All these aspects helped the fascist dictatorships exhibit absolute and total rule of the population. Hitler and Mussolini used fascist architecture as another source of propaganda to display to the world the strength, pride and power their regimes had. (Thank you, Wikipedia.)

Mussolini disliked melancholy or mourning sentiments, so the grand war memorials he commissioned were intended to be assertive statements of dignity of Italy’s fighting men. Called ‘sentinelle della patria’, sentinels of the homeland.

Wonderful arches of the memorial overlooking the surrounding mountains

Ora Pro Nobis (Pray for us)

Church of Anton (1696) at the top of the Italian Charnel House

Two layers of arches with greenish serpentine marble 

with engraved names of the departed sentinels of the homeland

Kobarid Museum, Crosses from military cemeteries 

Street view - pink theme

There are nice water fountains everywhere

Street view - blue theme

Street View - stacked wood, plants

Another water fountain

Street View - Hiša means house

Tonovcov Grad Hill Ruins

Tonovcov Grad (Tonovcov Castle)

Already settled in the Stone Age and Iron Age, it experienced its greatest prosperity between the 4^th and 6^th century.  It is considered a Copper Age until Middle Ages (4^th to 6^th century) settlement, one of the most important Late Antiquity Mountain settlement in the Eastern Alps. 

At that time the settlement functioned as a military post at the rear of the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum, the defense zone that protected Italy.  

Most people with an interest in ancient history have heard of Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain or the Rhineland and Danubian Limes in central and southeastern Europe. Travelers from all parts of the world come to visit these sizeable fortified barriers on the outer reaches of what once was the greatest empire on earth: the Roman Empire.  Many have never heard of another, slightly different system of fortified barriers erected within the Roman Empire on the furthermost northeastern strategic border of Roman Italy. Sections of these barriers stretch from Rijeka in Croatia northwards along the western territory of present-day Slovenia all the way to Slovenia’s Posočje region. In some places there are even several lines of defenses. The remnants of these Late Roman fortifications are without a doubt part of Slovenia’s most important cultural heritage, known as the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum.

Hidden moss-covered rock wall meandering through the forest

The Late Roman Claustra Alpium Iuliarum linear defense system was most likely the most extensive ancient Roman architectural undertaking in the territory of modern Slovenia, and as such, ranks among the greatest cultural monuments of antiquity in Europe. Today, individual sections of the remains of these barriers stretch over two countries, traversing eleven Slovenian and five Croatian municipalities. Of the likely 130km total of systematically erected fortified walls, more than 30 kilometers of its remains are known today, with over 100 archaeologically established towers, and with at least half as many more presumed to exist. This linear defense system also includes four forts (one with a documented military command post) and four fortlets.  

The settlement flourished most intensely in the 6^th century when it was the administrative, religious, and military center for the broader area along the Soča and the Nadiža rivers. At that time, it had about thirty buildings which were enclosed by thick protective walls. The ground plans of the buildings can still be seen. Investigations have discovered three dwelling houses, a group of three churches with narthexes (rooms for teaching non-christened believers) with an open space in between, and a double-walled water reservoir.

View from Tonovcov Grad Hill Ruins
Kobarid is only at 772' of elevation
Krn Mountain reaches 7,362' of elevation

Interesting wooden gutter, part of roof covering the water cistern

Napoleon Bridge over the Soča River - amazing colors

Napoleon Bridge

The old bridge at this location was constructed in 1750 and received its name when Napoleon’s troops marched across it.

I haven’t been able to get the actual date of this current construction, but read that during WWI, it was blown up by retreating Austrian soldiers in May 1915, and later the Italian government built a wooden followed by an iron bridge.  It was built with recesses for placement of explosive charges if ever necessary.  The bridge’s location actually dates back to the Roman period of antiquity (1200’s), when it served as an important transportation point.

During WWII, the Partisans defended the liberated territory of the Kobarid Republic near this bridge. The view of the Soča River is stunning from this place.

Soča River with Krasji Vrh mountain in the background

The Šoca River runs through a deep gorge with numerous pools, rapids (class I-V), and huge boulders.  The bedrock in Slovenia is mostly Early Triassic limestone. When sunlight hits a river carrying white limestone crystals in suspension, the water turns dazzling and iridescent, its spectrum ranging from limpid green to deep, cerulean blue.

With almost five beekeepers per 1,000 population,
Slovenia is at the top of the EU .  There are hives everywhere

Kozjak Waterfall further upriver from Napoleon Bridge

Wonderful first few days around Kobarid, waiting for my biking tour to show up while also adjusting to the time difference.  I had wanted to enjoy a Michelin *** dinner (not offered on the tour) and hike around the area before traveling with an unknown group.  As it turns out, one of the chefs working at Hiša Franko was from where I was born.  Small world.  It was worth every step, every bite, every flower, and every beehive.  Beautiful country to discover.  

Dusky landscape.  See you tomorrow on our first day biking

Additional note from further reading after publishing this post:

It has been long maintained that the system of barrier walls and fortlets in the Julian Alps dates to the early 4^th century and that it was a fortification line used to defend Italy during times of civil war. Reviewing both the historical, archaeological and topographic evidence, it is here argued that its military importance has been much exaggerated; one role may well have been to regulate traffic and perhaps to exact taxes from the civilians using the imperial road system, or crossing from Illyricum into Italy. Its date cannot be yet established for certain but the most likely context is the very end of the 4^th century CE, not long before it was abandoned at some point during the first decade of the 5^th century. Contrary to received wisdom, it was incapable of repulsing any major threat from the East, whether Goths or Romans. Regulation and taxation, however, do not require the erection of barrier walls. There must have been additional reasons for its construction even though the walls were unable to deal with anything more than a low intensity threat. What the perceived danger was, it is impossible to say, except that there were a series of problems facing the Western Empire ca. 390 – 400 which could warrant the system’s creation in the Julian Alps; an influx of refugees from Illyricum, Gothic war bands from Thrace, raiding parties from across the Danube and the endemic danger posed by local bandits. Any one of these, or more likely a combination of several factors, precipitated the decision to regulate, but not seriously to defend the routes which led west from Illyricum and into the Italian peninsular.

From Andrew Poulter, An indefensible frontier: the Claustra Alpium Iuliarum