Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Soon after the Lepena Valley turn-off, watch on the left for the large
barn
(marked
Ži
č
nica Golobar
). Pull over here if you'd like a close look at one of the stations for a prim-
itive, industrial telpher cable-car line, which was used mostly for logging.
Roughly five miles after the town of So
č
a, you exit the national park, pass a WWI
graveyard (on the left), and come to a fork in the road. The main route leads to the left,
through Bovec. But first, take a two-mile detour to the right (marked
Trbiž/Tarvisio
and
Predel/Kluže
), where the WWI
Kluže Fort
keeps a close watch over the narrowest part of
a valley leading to Italy (€3; July-Aug daily 9:00-20:00; June and Sept Sun-Fri 9:00-17:00,
Sat 9:00-18:00; May and Oct Sat-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed Mon-Fri; closed Nov-April;
www.kluze.net
). In the 15th century, the Italians had a fort here to defend against the Otto-
mans.Halfamillennium later,duringWorldWarI,itwasusedbyAustrianstokeepItalians
out of their territory. Notice the ladder rungs fixed to the cliff face across the road from the
fort—allowing soldiers to quickly get up to the mountaintop.
Back on the main road, immediately after the Kluže turnoff, watch for the gravel pullout
on the left with the little wooden hut (look for the green sign with old photos). If you'd like
to see some original
WWI-era fortifications,
pull over here and hike on the gravel path
10 minutes through the woods to reach the Ravelnik Outdoor Museum. Here you can see
trenches dug into the dirt and rocks, abandoned pillboxes, rusty sheds, and other features
