Most na Soči
I've never owed a travel destination to a Wikipedia entry. However, as I scanned through the train schedule leaving Nova Gorica toward Jesenice, I thought Most na Soči sounded perfect. The train ride was about an hour, and we could walk from the train station to the town. In addition to the gorgeous Soča River and the mountains, the wikipedia entry mentioned "restored and protected remains of a Roman house."
Romans? Sold!
So after breakfast we were off to cross the border to the Nova Gorica train station.
It will never cease to give me pause--at one time this was one of the most important new train stations in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now it is just another station in a small country.
More after the jump
We bought our tickets for Most na Soči and had a few minutes to spare. Myles and Brigid wanted to see the old engine parked on a siding.
"We always climb this when we are here."
We boarded the train, and for the next hour (or so) watched out the window, wondering about what towns we were passing. Maybe we might want to see them on another trip, I thought.
When we arrived at the Most na Soči train station (which is actually in Postaja), we still had a bit of a walk to the village. There was a dirt road that led away from the station, along the Idrijca River. Google Maps indicated that the walk would be about twenty minutes, but, again, that app assumed a much brisker pace than we managed.
I wasn't exactly sure we were going the right way to Most na Soči, but right about noon we heard Angelus Bells, from two or three different churches. If we weren't headed to Most na Soči, we were at least going toward somewhere, I thought.
Along the river bank, we saw this long structure. We weren't sure what it was, and the hill was too steep for us to risk going down to check it out.
When I showed Randy the above picture later, he thought it looked like something he had seen the previous day when we was being driven to Bovec the previous day and was told that it was a bunker from World War I. I had read, too, that many bunkers still existed from the Isonzo Campaign along the valley. It was just another jarring reminder of how, a century ago, this quiet and beautiful valley was anything but.
Then we saw it, Most na Soči. I was so happy I wasn't lost!
We quickly found lunch at the local pizzerija. And then started up the hills to find the churches and archaeological finds in the town.
Our first stop was the church of St. Lucy (Sveta Lucija). An older name for Most na Soči was "Sveta Lucija na Mostu" meaning the "Bridge at St. Lucy." The Austrians just called this town "Sankt Luzia." However, under the communist governement of Yugoslavia, many place names were reworked to take the religious connotations, so this town became "Bridge over the Soča."
To our surprise and delight, the church was open on a weekday afternoon!
The church was originally built in the 1500s and then consecrated in 1612, but then destroyed in World War I.
Reconstruction took several years with final completion in 1940. What makes this new church noteworthy is that the interior fresco were painted by Tone Kralj. Many churches in the Soča valley hold paintings by Kralj.
I am not sure I had ever seen mid-century Realism in a sacred setting. I usually associate this style with socialism.
After that we continued up the hill to find the Roman House. While there had been evidence of settlements in this region dating back to the Bronze and Iron ages (including Celtic currency!), it was the Romans that left the more lasting proof of their presence. The arrived sometime around the third or fourth century AD and built their homes over the Iron Age foundations. It was not a large Roman outpost, but it existed.
Despite all the Roman artifacts and buildings that have been excavated here, (get this!) there appears to be no record of the name of the Roman village. Later in our trip, we would visit the Roman museum in Köln, and see an exhibit of a Roman map that had the precision of an urban metro map, so it is not a complete surprise that no one has ever determined the name of this place.
Sometimes Roman ruins are giant monuments to the Empire, like Arena, and sometimes these are just a collection of rocks. Myles and Brigid enjoy the smaller, bite-sized ruins as much as the grander structures. They seem to like to consider what normal life might have been like. This house appeared to have had a steam room!
Near the Roman house there was a small, gated (but unlocked) playground. Brigid couldn't resist it.
Inside the gate was a sign detailing another Roman archaeological find, that of a graveyard. At first I mis-read it, believing for a few gruesome moments that the playhouse and slide were built over what was once a cemetery. On a second read, I realized that we were several meters from the funerary remains. Still, though, the Roman village existed late enough that Roman citizens could receive Christian burial rites and WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS CALLED.
We continued even further up the hill, to the Church of St. Mauro and the current cemetery. This is actually the older of the two churches in Most na Soči. The earliest recorded name of this town was in Latin, referring to it as "In Ponte Sancti Mauri." The church originally dates at least to 1192.
The cemetery gates were open, so I walked around the churchyard. The church itself, not being the primary parish, was locked.
I think that since we were there after All Saints' Day, which in Slovenia functions like Tomb Sweeping Day, all of the graves bore fresh flowers and candles. The candle vending machine, too, was empty.
While I was wandering around the cemetery, Myles and Brigid were resting on a bench that overlooked the Soča Valley. I joined them and it was just simply wow.
I mean, wow. Even in the small reservoir here, the bottle-green of the Soča shows.
Ok, one more look. Because wow.
We had to go back down the hill and walk back along the dirt road to the train station.
We had returned to the train station with some time to spare, so I walked across the bridge on the Idrijca to get a better look at something.
It wasn't the green building, but something beyond it. It looked like it was in German?
"Hier kämpfte daz XV Korpus" It was a memorial built during the war by the Austro-Hungarian Army. It was already there when the Italians took control of the area in October, 1918. All the time, in the Soča valley, are the reminders of the many bloody battles of World War I, the twelve battles that crossed this region. And for what? The green river? The pretty cliffs? The grape vines?
Most ns Soča was a wonderful, unexpected side-trip. I think we would like to have a bit more Slovenia on our agenda if we go to Europe again.
Romans? Sold!
So after breakfast we were off to cross the border to the Nova Gorica train station.
It will never cease to give me pause--at one time this was one of the most important new train stations in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and now it is just another station in a small country.
More after the jump
We bought our tickets for Most na Soči and had a few minutes to spare. Myles and Brigid wanted to see the old engine parked on a siding.
"We always climb this when we are here."
We boarded the train, and for the next hour (or so) watched out the window, wondering about what towns we were passing. Maybe we might want to see them on another trip, I thought.
When we arrived at the Most na Soči train station (which is actually in Postaja), we still had a bit of a walk to the village. There was a dirt road that led away from the station, along the Idrijca River. Google Maps indicated that the walk would be about twenty minutes, but, again, that app assumed a much brisker pace than we managed.
I wasn't exactly sure we were going the right way to Most na Soči, but right about noon we heard Angelus Bells, from two or three different churches. If we weren't headed to Most na Soči, we were at least going toward somewhere, I thought.
Along the river bank, we saw this long structure. We weren't sure what it was, and the hill was too steep for us to risk going down to check it out.
When I showed Randy the above picture later, he thought it looked like something he had seen the previous day when we was being driven to Bovec the previous day and was told that it was a bunker from World War I. I had read, too, that many bunkers still existed from the Isonzo Campaign along the valley. It was just another jarring reminder of how, a century ago, this quiet and beautiful valley was anything but.
Then we saw it, Most na Soči. I was so happy I wasn't lost!
We quickly found lunch at the local pizzerija. And then started up the hills to find the churches and archaeological finds in the town.
Our first stop was the church of St. Lucy (Sveta Lucija). An older name for Most na Soči was "Sveta Lucija na Mostu" meaning the "Bridge at St. Lucy." The Austrians just called this town "Sankt Luzia." However, under the communist governement of Yugoslavia, many place names were reworked to take the religious connotations, so this town became "Bridge over the Soča."
To our surprise and delight, the church was open on a weekday afternoon!
The church was originally built in the 1500s and then consecrated in 1612, but then destroyed in World War I.
Reconstruction took several years with final completion in 1940. What makes this new church noteworthy is that the interior fresco were painted by Tone Kralj. Many churches in the Soča valley hold paintings by Kralj.
I am not sure I had ever seen mid-century Realism in a sacred setting. I usually associate this style with socialism.
After that we continued up the hill to find the Roman House. While there had been evidence of settlements in this region dating back to the Bronze and Iron ages (including Celtic currency!), it was the Romans that left the more lasting proof of their presence. The arrived sometime around the third or fourth century AD and built their homes over the Iron Age foundations. It was not a large Roman outpost, but it existed.
Despite all the Roman artifacts and buildings that have been excavated here, (get this!) there appears to be no record of the name of the Roman village. Later in our trip, we would visit the Roman museum in Köln, and see an exhibit of a Roman map that had the precision of an urban metro map, so it is not a complete surprise that no one has ever determined the name of this place.
Sometimes Roman ruins are giant monuments to the Empire, like Arena, and sometimes these are just a collection of rocks. Myles and Brigid enjoy the smaller, bite-sized ruins as much as the grander structures. They seem to like to consider what normal life might have been like. This house appeared to have had a steam room!
Near the Roman house there was a small, gated (but unlocked) playground. Brigid couldn't resist it.
Inside the gate was a sign detailing another Roman archaeological find, that of a graveyard. At first I mis-read it, believing for a few gruesome moments that the playhouse and slide were built over what was once a cemetery. On a second read, I realized that we were several meters from the funerary remains. Still, though, the Roman village existed late enough that Roman citizens could receive Christian burial rites and WE STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS CALLED.
We continued even further up the hill, to the Church of St. Mauro and the current cemetery. This is actually the older of the two churches in Most na Soči. The earliest recorded name of this town was in Latin, referring to it as "In Ponte Sancti Mauri." The church originally dates at least to 1192.
The cemetery gates were open, so I walked around the churchyard. The church itself, not being the primary parish, was locked.
I think that since we were there after All Saints' Day, which in Slovenia functions like Tomb Sweeping Day, all of the graves bore fresh flowers and candles. The candle vending machine, too, was empty.
While I was wandering around the cemetery, Myles and Brigid were resting on a bench that overlooked the Soča Valley. I joined them and it was just simply wow.
I mean, wow. Even in the small reservoir here, the bottle-green of the Soča shows.
Ok, one more look. Because wow.
We had to go back down the hill and walk back along the dirt road to the train station.
We had returned to the train station with some time to spare, so I walked across the bridge on the Idrijca to get a better look at something.
It wasn't the green building, but something beyond it. It looked like it was in German?
"Hier kämpfte daz XV Korpus" It was a memorial built during the war by the Austro-Hungarian Army. It was already there when the Italians took control of the area in October, 1918. All the time, in the Soča valley, are the reminders of the many bloody battles of World War I, the twelve battles that crossed this region. And for what? The green river? The pretty cliffs? The grape vines?
Most ns Soča was a wonderful, unexpected side-trip. I think we would like to have a bit more Slovenia on our agenda if we go to Europe again.
Comments