Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
John: to Ljubljana, what a contrast to Maribor! As we walk from the railway and enter into a stunning non-vehicular piazza surrounded by stunning buildings with four ancient bridges crossing a stunning canal with a castle hovering over the whole vista, I immediately fall in love with Slovenia's capital city,another University city. At night, with lighting the Europeans excel. Beautiful long ancient cobble-stoned streets branch out to more left and right and smaller alluring lanes: which way to go? Shades of Venice (though only a single canal) but so much purer and for moi, more romantic. A bonus, our accommodation sits right on the edge of the sublime canal.
The next day, the weather is miserably wet but we venture up the funicular to the castle, which despite the great view from the tower, is disappointing. They have rendered most of the ancient walls and made it so clinical and touristy that it pales significantly in comparison to our castle benchmark: Carcassonne. As we lament this, something happens, Loretta and I simultaneously hit the wall. We both comment that our minds and bodies are absolutely shattered . We realise that after 8 weeks of morning to night extended walking and exploring, we are completely washed out, devoid of energy. It's like we have both spontaneously derived Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. We decide to head back to our room to relax and sleep and end up sleeping until the evening, both feeling a little stronger afterwards. We had earlier worked out that we had already aggregated around 600 km of walking to date- little wonder our bodies are shutting down.
Loretta: Today we set off by local train for the Postojna Caves located 57km from Ljubljana. We arrived at the caves too late for the 12o'clock tour so we toured the Proteus Cave, known as the Passage of Signatures where signatures by visitors from the 1800s are still clearly visible on a section of stalagmites. Fortunately this is now banned. The experience was quite special as we were the only people in this cave. We were able to see some of the fauna that live within the caves. We saw a very unique animal called the Proteus, which has no pigment or eyes and can live up til 100years.
W commenced our tour with a train ride that takes you 3km into the cave. The Potojna Cave is more than 20km long and we only get to see 5km. It was fantastic riding a train through a cave- what fun! The Postojna cave is still deemed active due to a river which flows at the base of the cave system which continues to carve out caverns and chambers. We walked 1.5km with a guide who paused to point out various aspects if the cave. At one point we crossed a bridge which is called the Russian Bridge because it was built by Russian soldiers during W.W.1. This was such a unique and wonderful experience and we left feeling quite invigorated.
John: well I was actually blown away, despite the heavy touristy element. Two experiential highlights of my youth: 1)my first visit to Jenolan Caves 2) the movie of Jules Vernes' 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth'. Think of the largest Jenolan chamber, the 'Jubilee?' from distant memory, multiply that chamber by 5 and you have what you visualise continuously as you travel at around 40km on a rollicking open miniature train( a la Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) with the chambers connected by long dark tunnels that seem to have the potential to skim your head: getting a rush? Well I AM, just recalling it!!!! If only, like 'Temple of Doom' , the train had dropped into a rollercoaster dive. You might be horrified by this recount, which sounds like an environmental disaster, but keep in mind that the train is electric and only carries you to where the walk starts. It actually keeps people prevents people from making physical contact with the stalactites and stalagmites. This experience took Ljubljana and surrounds to perhaps No 1 for me on this holiday....and the people have been the loveliest so far.
Loretta (cont):
We arrived at the Postojna station to find we had a 35minute wait for the next train. We called in to what looked like a cafe on the train platform to find this bizarre live music venue and cafe bar that also sold the most amazing hot chocolate. The walls were painted red and had murals of American 50s-80s musical artists. We spoke to the owner who told us he had done all the work himself and that he had created a venue for live music on the railway platform because he wouldn't have to worry about noise complaints. I had never tried coconut hot chocolate before and this was a real treat! We spoke with the owner and commented how amazing the chocolate and venue were. We both would have like to have stayed in this town and in Ljubljana for another week at least.
- comments
Narissa Hi John and Loretta, Thinking of you both and glad the trip goes well. These last few weeks are closing in before the Christmas break so I shall take this opportunity to wish you the most amazing Christmas ever!! Travel safely, be happy and take care. Happy 2013. Love Narissa