"Italians"

Che ti prende?

It had been a long week, but it was time to go home.

Being in the north of Istria, getting back to home meant crossing two international boundaries to go from Croatia, to Slovenia, and onwards to Italy where the cool confines of Vueling’s budget seating awaited at Marco Polo Airport.

The rump of Slovenia that reaches the Adriatic Sea forms what is only a 47km coast. If that seems sad, look on the bright side, at least they’re not Bosnia Herzegovina with a scant 20km.

While one could drive that entire length, there are various points along the Italy/Croatia sandwich where one can pass with a good deal less Slovenia if so desired. The leader of the group I was with, was headed straight for one.

Despite the fact that the Schengen Zone did away with borders, there are still borders, especially when going from east to west. The reason being the great concern about “imigants” who, as we all know, use standard border crossings to enter countries without adequate paperwork. Thus, these old border points are now active, but the reality is that it’s just for show. Whatever the reason, it’s irrevelant however as the checkpoints back up, especially in the summertime as it only takes one car that requires further questions (aka, it’s not full of white people) to gum everything up. This is exactly what the leader of the group wanted to avoid so that people would make their flights.

The plan was to exit Croatia near the village of Jelovice and enter Italy just before Crociata which sees the Slovenia bit reduced to but a mere 21km of woodsy backroads. More important than the scenery and less Slovenia is that these are less frequented roads with far less traffic.

We bumped and jostled our way along the curvy road north out of the Istrian hinterlands to arrive at the crossing into Slovenia. At the Croatian checkpoint there was no one as they don’t give a damn that you’re leaving. At the Slovenian checkpoint there were guards however and the driver of the bus slowed down.