I left Venice and caught an early train to Gorizia where Italy borders Slovenia. I went to the railway station on the other (Slovenian) side of town in Nova Gorica. Immediately I loved the Slovenian people and had a good feeling about Slovenia. There was no actual passport control on entry or exit for a start so no stamp taking up space on my cramped pages.
The people are so friendly and lovely. Very helpful. And it feels so safe. Beautiful countryside with rivers of aquamarine and snow-peaked mountains as I headed up to Bled in the Northwestern part of the country by the first national park in Europe.
I fell in love with fairytale Bled straight away with its clifftop castle and mirrorlike lake home to a small island on which stands a quaint little church. I immediately felt free smelling the country air. I ended out having 6 days in Bled hiking the surrounding hills. With the friendliness of the people, the landscape and in some cases the architecture, Bled reminded me very much of Norway. Walking along, listening to "Narum" on my iPod, I felt like I really was back in Norway (except for 1/4 the living expense!). Several times I nearly spoke Norwegian, one of the few languages the people there actually didn't speak (most people are fluent in Slovenian, English, German and Italian). Except for one day, the weather was perfect while in Bled. When I first got there, the lake was 1/3 covered with ice. The mallard ducks and white swans would walk along the top of the ice and one day I saw a small boy and his grandmother throwing bread onto the ice for them. It was a lovely sight. When I left, most of the ice had melted.
Thinking that leaving Italy I would be free of the presence of pizza, I was wrong. There is Italian influence in the food in all the countries I visited until Albania so my pizza habit continued. I would walk all day around the beautiful countryside of Bled then relax with a pizza and pint at the end of the day. Ah he life!
It was the off season and so I was the for the most part only tourist in Bled. No crowds and I got to spend my time alone on walks in nature. It was so nice to have this time to myself. Although, after 5 days, I did start to feel the pangs of longing for English speaking company with whom I could share my experiences.
So even though I sometimes felt like stopping my whole trip and just staying in Bled for 5 weeks, I did move on. I took the train to Postojna to see the caves there which are a UNESCO site. I was wondering whether I should really bother since I had toured the Princess Margaret Rose caves sooooo many times. But Lonely Planet said they were worth a look so I went along to check them out. And they blew my mind.
Firstly on the tour, there is a little train that takes you at quite a fast speed about 2km into the cave system. Sort of felt like I was in Goonies or something but then the extensiveness of the caves started making me feel more like a Fraggle. 2km in, we got off the train and did a walking tour for over 1km. These caves were cut by the River Pivka and consist of about 4 levels of cave systems. The deepest being the newest and currently being cut by the River Pivka in one of the river's many subterranean excursions. We did not see that one. What we did see were huge galleries of columns, stalactites, stalagmites, straws and curtains. Very active in growth still. Some were white, some red tinged and some black tinged, depending on purity or presence o iron oxide or aluminium oxide. The tallest column stands about 40m and is estimated to have been growing for 350000 years.
These caves are also home to the eyeless salamander which is exclusively from that area of Slovenia. We got to see a of these a well.
I came out of the caves and had nothing else to do and it was a beautiful day so I walked to Predjama Castle 9km further on. A lovely walk and the castle was again fairy tale looking and it was nestled into the cliffside with a cave system underneath it. Very hungry when I arrived, I noticed the closed restaurant even though it was lunchtime. Off season travelling did involve some pitfalls after all! So I caught the free shuttle back to Postojna. The next day I explored the caves at Divaca after a lovely walk and seeing the sinkhole where the River Reka which created these caves sees the sun for a brief moment. The River Reka is mainly underground within caves except for 5 brief stints in the open air in Slovenia before going back underground until finally coming out again near Trieste in Italy. The cave system at Divaca was vastly different. Again some beautiful galleries but many formations looked like cement. I expect because they were ancient but not actively growing anymore. The largest column stood 30m high and had a diameter of about 4m. It was enormous.
The big draw card with this cave though is the huge chasm where the river runs. Walking beside the river and over a tiny footbridge, it really is awe inspiring. The ceiling is so high it is difficult to make out the formations and the river gushes along loudly 40m below.
I was very glad that I did make the trip to check out these caves.
It was afternoon and I luckily was able to catch trains to get me to my next destination, Rijeka in Croatia.
