The Alpe Adria Trail (AAT) was conceived four years ago by the Kärtner Werbung tourist board from the Austrian province of Carinthia. The idea was then adopted by Slovenia and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. The trail, which consists of 43 sections, is 750 kilometers long and takes hikers from Grossglockner past Kranjska Gora, the Soča River Valley, Frulian Slovenia, the Brda wine country, the Karst plateau, and ends in the town of Muggia on the shores of the Adriatic Sea. Last year, more than 14,000 hikers made this journey – 4,000 of them in Slovenia, where they brought the Slovenian tourism industry an additional million euros.

Each year, the opening ceremony is organized in a different country. This year, hikers set out on a shortened version of the AAT’s Section 24 – a bit more than 13 kilometers from the village of Soča to Bovec. Tha Alpe Adria Trail is based on existing trails – most of the Soča River section, for instance, has existed since 1988. The route takes hikers along the emerald Soča, past gorges to the river’s confluence with Lepenica, often over wooden footbridges. This year, the hiking experience was enlivened by young musicians and a tasting of local delicacies, including potatoes with cottage cheese, lamb with polenta, "jota" cabbage soup, and traditional Bovec desserts.

Mariša Bizjak; Translated by J. B.