When a border is not a border

In these days of relatively open borders across Europe, it is still possible to get caught out, and find that the border crossing you thought was ideally placed for your itinerary, even though it is there and open, is not actually one you are allowed to use. The Slovene town of Nova Gorica and Italian Gorizia are just a stone's throw apart, and the Slovene railway station seems tantalisingly close to the centre of the Italian half of this cross border community. And with a crossing point on Via San Gabriele just a few hundred metres to the south, there seemed no reason why a two hour connection between two Slovene trains should not be an ideal interlude for a quick Italian lunch. No such luck on a visit this time last year, for it transpired that this checkpoint was exclusively for Italian and Slovene travellers.