Skocjan Karst Caves

The Skocjan caves are a UNESCO monument and are …. Huge. The tour took us over 3 hours: the first 1.5 hours in a guided group and deep underground; the last optional 1.5 hours was on our own. It was mind boggling that this latter part was an « option ».

All our photos are of the optional extras as no photos are allowed on the main tour. I copied a photo of the underground bridge over the 45m deep underground canyon for you.

We walked the whole tour, which was beautifully designed and subtly lit. As we passed through and down, one huge chamber after another, our awe grew. Yes, there were some wonderful stalagmites and stalactites and drip stones (en Français: 'des méduses'). But the sheer size of it, more than 100m high, with the river way way below, was like nothing we have ever seen.

The caverns were so huge and so long that the Austrians were originally working on using the caves to route an underground railway line joining Vienna to Trieste. Luckily a huge flood made them see sense sooner rather than later.

That was the morning! The afternoon saw us avoiding the heat along windy wooded mountain roads with roadside flowers and apples.Læs mere