WAR AND PEACE
THUNDER CRASHED and echoed around a huge limestone amphitheatre. The sultry weather had been closing in since lunchtime, and splashes of rain now peppered the pools below an unusual wire footbridge. A rusty lever eased the cage – with room for just one person at a time – across the gorge and the obligatory family photo was taken once everyone was safely on the far bank. Dank mist drifted along the cliffs but, despite the torrential downpour, bright smiles beamed into the camera.
An hour later, we sought shelter under the leaking canopy of a shepherd’s hut. The deluge wouldn’t stop – but compared to Slovenia’s great military thunderstorms during World War One, these rocky reverberations were nothing more than tinkles from a child’s xylophone. Around 300,000 soldiers lost their lives here when, between 1915 and 1917, Italy waged war on the Austro-Hungarian empire - a conflict with still-visible remnants. But what prevails today is the extraordinary natural beauty of these mountains, where serrated limestone peaks tower above verdant meadows and aquamarine rivers tumble through forested canyons.
Blizzards and battalions
Sparkling sunshine eventually
