Nova Gorica in Izola

Written on 2026-04-09 in 1140 words ✍️.
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Context

I spent the previous weekend in Nova Gorica. With friends, we also got to Izola.

Nova Gorica is interesting. Just to cite some random facts:

  1. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire reached to Nova Gorica which you identify by looking at the architecture.

  2. Nova Gorica borders Italy. In 1947, Gorizia was assigned to Italy and the Slovenian population started building Nova Gorica on the Yugoslavian side of the border. The border essentially follows along the train tracks.

  3. A friend from central Slovenia claimed that Slovenian people consider it as one of the most remote regions because it is so much in the West.

  4. The Slovenian border awkwardly does not reach the sea if you travel to the south, because Trieste is assigned to Italy. The Slovenian harbors with the Adriatic Sea can be found in cities like Piran, Izola, and Koper. We also went to Izola for one day in Southern Slovenia.

  5. I accept the wording “Balkan” only in a geographical context at this point. Nova Gorica is north of Triest and thus not considered to be part of the “Balkan” peninsula.

Pictures

Nova Gorica

A street is shown with parking lots and a border sign with Italia and Gorizia is shown in the center
Figure 1. EU border sign towards Gorizia/Italy (on purpose with exaggerated contrast)
A photo towards the horizon down from a hill shows many red-colored roofs between plenty of plants
Figure 2. Another look towards Gorizia from the ground of the monastery
A Christian monastery on top of a hill is shown with a white facade and brown-blue windows
Figure 3. Monastery Frančiškanski samostan Kostanjevica
A random scene in a supermarket where elderly search for items and the picture shows the aisles to left and right
Figure 4. Supermarket ‘Merkator’
A river is shown in the lower center of the picture and a large bridge in the center connects elevated parts of the surrounding mountains
Figure 5. Solkan (Northern Nova Gorica) with the river Soča
a metallic bridge is similar with few people passing over
Figure 6. A bridge crossing river Soča for bicycles and pedestrians in Solkan
An abandoned villa is shown which combines arabic egyptian and european architectural elements but the facade is mostly lost and only bricks are shown
Figure 7. Vila Rafut
the center tower of villa Rafut is shown and it is made of stone
Figure 8. Tower
wooden balcony of the villa
Figure 9. Balcony
many bamboo branches reach into the image center creating a purely green image
Figure 10. Bamboo in the forest next to Vila Rafut
In the middle of the sandy pedestrian area someone placed branches and rocks in a circle to create a mystical symbol
Figure 11. Artwork created by visitors

Izola

From an elevated point a picture shows the brick- or red-colored roofs of Izola
Figure 12. Izola city
Another photo from an elevated point which follows along the roof of the building where the picture is taken and the horizon now shows sea but a peninsula enters from the right
Figure 13. Photo from Izola towards Koper
A harbor is shown with a large amount of sailing boats and one motorboat is passing by in front of the camera
Figure 14. Izola harbor

Funny or artistic

A tiny garden between the pavement is shown with many flowers of different kind and colors
Figure 15. Spring made some flowers flourish
A picture straight up into the sky is shown and tops of five trees point towards the center
Figure 16. Tree tops
Two wooden bee hives are shown with many bees passing through a slid to enter their bee hive
Figure 17. Bees and their behaviour is so interesting
an unmaintained pathway is shown which is still recognizable because individual stones are placed as flat surface and stones are elevated on the side to create a path boundary
Figure 18. Pathway
The picture shows bamboo tied together to create a wall that pedestrians have to follow
Figure 19. A maze is creating by tying bamboo together
some meat paste presented in the supermarket is shaped into the head of a pig
Figure 20. Amuzingly presented meat product in the shape of a pig
A sign in the field indicates that dogs must not defecate here but the dog has long neck appearing like a lama
Figure 21. Exceptionally bad drawn dog on a sign appearing like a lama

Summary

So the title of the blog post is Slovenian, because we stayed majorily in Slovenia. “in” is Slovenian for “and”. In general, there are not many sightseeing points, but the people are so relaxed and friendly. It is very reachable from Austria by train and perfect to relax and stroll around. Unlike common cities in Austria, the pedestrian areas are not completely sealed, but many trees provide shade and contribute a greener city image.