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Soongies' Great Adventure
Today we actually had to set the alarm as we had a commitment to get to – we needed to get to the 10:00 tour of the Skocjan caves which was about a 1 hour drive from our apartment. We made it with plenty of time to spare! The Škocjan caves are a UNESCO world heritage site. The caves are one of the largest known underground canyons in the world and have been inhabited since the prehistoric times. The Škocjan caves have an explored length of about 6 kms and have formed a 300 metre thick layer of limestone. We went on a tour, with 3 other people, which lasted about 1.5 hours. The caves were so impressive but we weren't allowed to take photos as the light would damage the limestone so we just had to try and make a strong mental image so we wouldn’t forget. From the Silent Cave where we could see wonderful formations to the still active Murmuring River Cave where the Reka River was still carving through the karst. We went over a bridge in the massive 100 m high chamber where we could see the Reka River flowing through a part of the cave and we could see the paths that the early explorers created – basically semi carved paths or scary looking metal rods screwed into the rock wall with a rope above to hang on. There was a big flood in the caves a couple of years ago and we saw a big branch high up in the cave that had lodged there during the flood. At the end of the tour we took a small funciular back up to the top and then we walked a couple of hundred metres to the viewpoint which overlooked the Reka River. Once we got back to the car we had lunch – leftovers from last night’s dinner. After we ate it leaning on the car, we realised there were great picnic tables just a few metres away! We then drove to Savica Slap waterfall in Triglav National Park (the only national park in Slovenia), and on the way we drove past Lake Bohinj, the largest natural lake in Slovenia (although beautiful, it wasn’t quite as spectacular as Lake Bled). The drive into the National Park was the most beautiful drive ever! So many trees and stunning colours from the grey rocks to the white trees, to the brown leaves on the ground and green moss. We climbed quite a number of steps to reach the lookout but it was worth it – the view of the waterfall and Lake Bohinj was stunning. We stopped in at Bled Castle on our way home but didn’t go inside. We could walk quite a way up and see the nice view though. Even the drive home was beautiful – there were snow capped mountains everywhere. We then walked from our apartment into the Ljubljana centre – we could see why Ljubljana was named Europe’s Green capital in 2016. It is a car free centre (although they have kavalirs which are electric powered vehicles that are free – you just hail a driver and he takes you where you need to go within the city pedestrian zone) and it is so clean. We loved the vibe of the place – everyone is friendly and they all speak really good English. There is a really nice mix of old and new too – it seems quite modern and yet there are lots of old buildings too. We went for dinner to a restaurant called Druga Violina which employs staff with disabilities – some of them are waiters / waitresses but the staff with disabilities also work behind the scenes growing and preparing the vegetables. We loved it! The food was delicious and cheap and the service was great. We both had traditional Slovenian dumplings (cottage cheese wrapped in dough) with vegetables and then we even treated ourself to a yummy dessert – Kate had an apple roll and Calvin had pancakes with chocolate. Passing through a shop on the way home to try and get an Austrian vignette – the lady behind the counter was just counting newspapers as we were clearly standing there waiting – then a nice Slovenian who came to buy cigarettes told us that this cashier was closed and we needed to get another cashier to come and sort it out but they didn’t even have any vignettes for Austria so he showed us another place to get it – don’t know how long the lady would have let us wait! We then walked home but this time through Tivoli Park and on the journey we decided that we want to live here! It’s so peaceful, feels safe, welcoming, has all the fun things like caves, rivers, waterfalls, snow covered alps, close to great countries like Italy, Croatia and Austria, and everyone speaks amazing English. The people are also so helpful and the country has a huge respect for their environment.
- comments
kentishclan OK... now you're just showing off. It is a very good picture