Date: Thursday 29th May
Staying: Camping Pivka Jama – Postojna, Slovenia
Distance Travelled: 82.9 Miles
Song of the day: Deeper Underground – Jamiroquai
To cure our “Post-Fusina Hangover” (that feeling when you’ve had so much fun in one place, that the next seems rather dreary), we decided to cut and run on Croatia. I’m sure it’s lovely (actually, I’ve been to Zagreb and it is), but it clearly didn’t strike us in the right mood. Next on the list was Slovenia.
We’d both heard vaguely of the Skocjan caves, and on consulting the (much-thumbed) Lonely Planet Europe guide, we decided to visit the Postojna Caves just up the road. The caves are not the largest in Europe (those are in the Ukraine), but they are the largest open to the public, comprising 21km of cave networks. The caves are a steady 8-10 degrees all year round, so we donned our jerseys, despite the near 30 degree heat outside.
Entry to the caves is controlled. During peak season a train leaves on the hour, and takes you through 4km of the caves. The “train” is open on all sides, and seats two across, and resembles nothing so much as a fun park ride as it whips you into the cool depths. As you are ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the sights, you must remember not to point or let any part of your body get outside the train, and on more than one occasion we were so close to the rock formations that we physically had to duck. The woman in front of us nearly lost her head when she tried to stand up to see if her friends had gotten on the same train. Alighting from the train, you then wait by the sign that says “English” (or German, Italian or Slovenian) for your friendly guide to accompany you through the caves. Although taking photos is apparently forbidden, nobody seemed too bothered and Cam roared through 250 or so in the low lighting.
Inside, the caves comprise massive caverns of stalactites, stalagmites and columns in various formations and colours. Each millimetre of stalactite takes about 20 years to grow, and some formations only grow one millimetre every 80 years. Water seeping through the cave dissolves the limestone from above, depositing it into the formations before eventually ending up in the huge underground waterway beneath. The overall effect is mind-blowing. Different caverns take on different colours from the minerals, leaving whole rooms of white, red or grey. The largest column (where the stalactites and stalagmites join) is 60m high, and estimates on the age of the caves are between 4 and 5 million years old.
Having really enjoyed the caves, we headed off to our nearby campsite. It actually has its own caves, but unfortunately they don’t open until 1 June, so we missed it by a matter of days. The caves are very wet in the Spring (or even completely underwater) from all the rain which makes some of them quite dangerous to visit, so we assumed they were waiting for it to become a bit drier. Undeterred, we made good use of the extra time to do some laundry. Now, normally a mundane task like this wouldn’t make it onto the blog, but as I was putting up the washing line, I saw something move a few feet from me. We’d seen several lizards during the day so, keen not to disturb one, I walked around the other side of the tree to take a good look. At this point I realised that it wasn’t a lizard tail I was looking at, but the end of a snake. I dashed back to the van to grab the camera, and in the 10 seconds I was away, he escaped. Cam jumped out, and we hunted around (from a distance of course) for about 20 minutes before spotting him again under a few weeds. We’re not from a land of snakes, so we were both perfectly fascinated, and at about 70 cm long and an inch wide at his widest point, he certainly seemed big enough to me. After much consulting, Cam put on his big boots and moved the washing line for me, both of us being somewhat reluctant to get into the foliage barefoot after that experience.
Staying: Camping Pivka Jama – Postojna, Slovenia
Distance Travelled: 82.9 Miles
Song of the day: Deeper Underground – Jamiroquai
To cure our “Post-Fusina Hangover” (that feeling when you’ve had so much fun in one place, that the next seems rather dreary), we decided to cut and run on Croatia. I’m sure it’s lovely (actually, I’ve been to Zagreb and it is), but it clearly didn’t strike us in the right mood. Next on the list was Slovenia.
We’d both heard vaguely of the Skocjan caves, and on consulting the (much-thumbed) Lonely Planet Europe guide, we decided to visit the Postojna Caves just up the road. The caves are not the largest in Europe (those are in the Ukraine), but they are the largest open to the public, comprising 21km of cave networks. The caves are a steady 8-10 degrees all year round, so we donned our jerseys, despite the near 30 degree heat outside.
Entry to the caves is controlled. During peak season a train leaves on the hour, and takes you through 4km of the caves. The “train” is open on all sides, and seats two across, and resembles nothing so much as a fun park ride as it whips you into the cool depths. As you are ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the sights, you must remember not to point or let any part of your body get outside the train, and on more than one occasion we were so close to the rock formations that we physically had to duck. The woman in front of us nearly lost her head when she tried to stand up to see if her friends had gotten on the same train. Alighting from the train, you then wait by the sign that says “English” (or German, Italian or Slovenian) for your friendly guide to accompany you through the caves. Although taking photos is apparently forbidden, nobody seemed too bothered and Cam roared through 250 or so in the low lighting.
Inside, the caves comprise massive caverns of stalactites, stalagmites and columns in various formations and colours. Each millimetre of stalactite takes about 20 years to grow, and some formations only grow one millimetre every 80 years. Water seeping through the cave dissolves the limestone from above, depositing it into the formations before eventually ending up in the huge underground waterway beneath. The overall effect is mind-blowing. Different caverns take on different colours from the minerals, leaving whole rooms of white, red or grey. The largest column (where the stalactites and stalagmites join) is 60m high, and estimates on the age of the caves are between 4 and 5 million years old.
Having really enjoyed the caves, we headed off to our nearby campsite. It actually has its own caves, but unfortunately they don’t open until 1 June, so we missed it by a matter of days. The caves are very wet in the Spring (or even completely underwater) from all the rain which makes some of them quite dangerous to visit, so we assumed they were waiting for it to become a bit drier. Undeterred, we made good use of the extra time to do some laundry. Now, normally a mundane task like this wouldn’t make it onto the blog, but as I was putting up the washing line, I saw something move a few feet from me. We’d seen several lizards during the day so, keen not to disturb one, I walked around the other side of the tree to take a good look. At this point I realised that it wasn’t a lizard tail I was looking at, but the end of a snake. I dashed back to the van to grab the camera, and in the 10 seconds I was away, he escaped. Cam jumped out, and we hunted around (from a distance of course) for about 20 minutes before spotting him again under a few weeds. We’re not from a land of snakes, so we were both perfectly fascinated, and at about 70 cm long and an inch wide at his widest point, he certainly seemed big enough to me. After much consulting, Cam put on his big boots and moved the washing line for me, both of us being somewhat reluctant to get into the foliage barefoot after that experience.
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