Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Continuing down, you'll see abandoned checkpoints from when this was the border
between Italy andtheAustro-Hungarian Empire. At#48isastatue of Julius Kugy, anItali-
an botanist who wrote books about alpine flora.
At #49, the road to the right (marked Izvir So č e ) leads to the source of the So č a River.
Ifyoufeellikestretchingyourlegsafterallthatshifting,driveaboutfiveminutesdownthis
roadtoarestaurantparkinglot.Fromhere,youcantakeachallenging20-minuteuphillhike
(which includes some stretches where you'll cling to guide wires) to the So č a source. This
is also the starting point for the well-explained, 12-mile So č a Trail (Soška Pot), which leads
all the way to the town of Bovec, mostly following the road we're driving on today.
Hemingway in the Julian Alps
It was against the scenic backdrop of the Slovenian Alps that a young man from Oak
Park, Illinois, first came to Europe—the continent with which he would forever be
identified. After graduating from high school in 1917 and working briefly as a news-
paperreporter,youngErnestHemingwaywantedtojointhewareffortinEurope.Bad
vision kept him out of the army, but he craved combat experience—so he joined the
Red Cross Ambulance Corps instead.
After a short detour through Paris, Hemingway was sent to the Italian Front. On
his first day, he was given the job of retrieving human remains—gruesomely dis-
figured body parts—after the explosion of a munitions factory. Later he came to the
Lower Piave Valley, not far from the So č a Front. In July of 1918, his ambulance was
hit by a mortar shell. Despite his injuries, he saved an Italian soldier who was also
wounded. According to legend, Hemingway packed his own wound with cigarette
butts to stop the flow of blood.
SenttoMilantorecuperate,Hemingwayfellinlovewithanurse,butshelaterleft
him for an Italian military officer. A decade later, Hemingway wrote about Kobarid
(using its Italian name, Caporetto), the war,and his case ofyouthful heartbreak in the
novel A Farewell to Arms.
Nearingtheendoftheswitchbacks,followsignsfor Bovec. CrossingtheSo č aRiver,you
begin the second half of this trip.
Part 2: Soča River Valley
(See “The Julian Alps & Northwest Slovenia” map, here .)
Part 2: Soča River Valley
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