Predel Pass

Sunday May 7, 2017
We crossed the Italian border at the top of Predel Pass. While driving up into the alps from Bovec in the valley, the sun began to break through, glistening the snow capped peaks. During WWI, these mountains and the valley below, the Isonzo or Soča Front, was the scene of horrific battles between Slovenia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, who at first neutral, later saw an opportunity to seize territory from the Empire. Italian forces pushed into the Soča valley, and then were driven back by Austria-Hungary with their German allies - nothing gained for a million casulties. At the pass, we drove through an abandoned border station (Italy and Slovenia now both in the EU), to a ruined WWI fort. Now 100 years later, it was haunting. Heading down, we stopped at opposing Austro-Hungarian fortifications. This pass has been contested throughout history. Such fighting juxtaposed in such beauty....