Ljubljana to Rijeka by the slow train
There is a direct bus from Ljubljana to Rijeka that takes about two and a half hours. I took the train instead, which took four, involved two changes and was the better trip by some distance.
The route
From Ljubljana the line runs south-west through the karst to Pivka, where I changed to a small regional train towards Ilirska Bistrica. After the border the scenery gets wilder: limestone, scrub oak, the occasional abandoned station building with its name still painted on the wall. The last stretch drops down towards the sea, and for about ten minutes the whole Kvarner bay opens up on the right side of the carriage.
Sit on the right. I didn't, the first time.
Shooting from a moving train
Windows on regional trains are rarely clean, and they reflect everything inside the carriage. I used a rubber lens hood pressed flat against the glass, which kills most of the reflections, and kept the shutter at 1/500 or faster. Anything slower and the foreground smears, which can look good but is impossible to plan.
At Ilirska Bistrica the conductor asked about the camera, then told me about his own, a Zenit his uncle had given him, which he still uses at weddings. We talked for most of the stop. I have a frame of him leaning out of the door, and it is the only picture from the day I would call a portrait.
Practical notes
- Check the timetable a day ahead; Sunday connections are thin and the regional train may be replaced by a bus
- Buy the cross-border ticket at the counter in Ljubljana, not on the train
- Bring food. There is nothing to buy at the change stations in winter
I would do it again in spring, when the karst is green and the light comes in lower over the hills in the late afternoon.