“You can have a beer while standing in Slovenia and Croatia at the same time”
It seems that the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia has attracted foreign media’s attention, too – Condé Nast Traveler brings an article about the Kalin Restaurant, located right on the border between the two countries.
After the new borders were determined after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, it was decided that the new border would follow a tiny stream, but there was a restaurant that stood directly on the border.
The owner is, conveniently, Slovenian on his father’s side and Croatian on his mother’s. There’s a bright green line in the restaurant showing the guests where the border between the Slovenian town of Obrežje and Croatian town of Bregana is located.
The owner has two separate phone numbers, if you want to play pool or go to the bathroom, you have to go over to the Croatian side. The refrigerator stands on Slovenian territory, while empty bottles are on the Croatian side, rtvslo.si reported in 2015.
The situation was much more complicated before Croatia joined the EU in 2013 – there was an armed guard in front of the restaurant 24/7. However, interesting situations still continued to occur: when smoking was banned in Slovenia, it was still permitted in Croatia, for example.
The two countries’ ministers even met in the restaurant in 2010, but we never found out who sat on which side of the table.
Read the full article here.
The restaurant is only 40 km away from Zagreb, so, when you’re travelling from Zagreb to Slovenia or Austria next time, stop by Kalin and have your main course in Slovenia and the dessert in Croatia.
