Cave and Castle day in Slovenia

We started with a 2-3 hour walking tour of Škocjan Caves, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the world's largest known underground river canyons. Like Croatia, Slovenia has over 11,000 caves due to so much of the geology being composed of limestone and other soluble rocks that create sinkholes and caves.

Škocjan was different from some of the other caves we've visited (and you know we've seen many with our family), because of its very large "rooms"--up to 140 meters in height and maybe 50 meters across. We got to cross a bridge that was 45 meters above the underground river running through the cave. Some years the river floods the cave to as high as 100 meters!

Photos weren't allowed in the cave because any artificial light causes algae to grow (they did have plenty of light for our walk, but they turn off when not occupied). We took a photo of the bridge we walked on from their sign outside. After about 3 km, we went on our own in a very open part of the cave along the river where we could take photos.

On the recommendation of one of the guests we met at breakfast (we weren't the only overnighters after all), we drove from the cave to the farm where they breed the Lipizzaner horses. These are pure white dressage horses whose lineage dates to the time of the Habsburgs in the 1500s. They are born brown or black, but gradually turn white beginning around age six.

Also in the area is Predjama castle, built into a cave. It was built in stages and used by various groups for protection as early as the 13th century. It was an interesting tour because of the ingenious ways they used the cave features to their advantage (cooking chimneys, fresh water collection, and a secret escape route). It was last used by an Austrian family for a hunting lodge until the end of World War II, when it was nationalized by the Yugoslavian government and turned into a museum.Read more