20 years ago today - Day 191

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Tuesday, September 10th - Ljubljana to Postojna - 11,021 km

I have breakfast with Paul at a local bakery this morning. I slept well on his couch last night and I am in the finest of moods. There are no tourists here and it is a lovely town. It is sunny again too, as this is the edge of the Mediterranean and it’s still summer until the end of September. I keep a lookout for Ales but I don’t see him again.

I am on the road by 9:30, rolling south-west in the direction of the sea. This region is called Karst, after which Karst topography was named. The term refers to a limestone environment with all its unique geographical features, such as underground cave systems, sinkholes and rivers that appear and disappear underground again. Until recent years, the Sava River, which disappears underground in a couple places, had three different names as no one was sure if it was the same river. I have known about the region since I was 15 and the top geography student in my grade. (You couldn’t tell?)

As I have always been attracted to caves – ask Freud about that. Naturally I have long wanted to see what was once the most my famous and extensive cave system known, the Postojna Caves. Now the largest known cave system is the Mammoth Caves of Kentucky, but I still want to see Postojna. That is my destination for today.

The road I am using is called Trzaska Cesta or Hwy 409. It leads out of the city past the suburb of Brezovica and through the towns of Dragomer and Vrhnica. It parallels the north side of the expressway that leads to Postojna. This first part, which takes over an hour and a half, is quite flat, a small plain with low hills 150 to 200 m high just to the north. The plain is not limestone but the hills and outcroppings are. At Vrhnica, the Ljubljanica River emerges from the underground at the base of a limestone rock face.

I stop for a brief rest here. I’m not really tired but I have lots of time. It’s only 11:30 and I have only another 35 km to Postojna. From Vrhnica, the 409 veers away from the freeway and climbs into the hills gently, probably a climb of only 100 m or so. This is real Karst terrain, with no rivers in the valley (they’re underground), rolling land and unexplained depressions that will one day open into sinkholes when the roofs of massive caves collapse. One should not go exploring the bottoms of these depressions just in case if he doesn’t want to risk disappearing forever.

I pass through the village of Logatec and from here the road follows a valley, meandering south to reach the freeway again near Postojna. I find a small hotel, the Hotel Postojna, drop off my bike and bags and change into my street clothes. It’s only a few hundred metres from here to the cave entrance so I walk. There isn’t much to the town. I suppose its main industry is tourism related to the caves.

The caves have a grand, wide staircase leading up to the entrance. From here a series of small trains, that look like they belong in an amusement park ride, lead hordes of tourists 5.3 kilometres into the heart of the caves. I buy my ticket and stand alone in the cavernous entrance reading my brochure and waiting for my tour to begin. The tours are given in six languages, it says, and the cave system, once thought to be the largest in the world, is now eighth largest of the known systems. The cave system is over 20 km long, but most of it is not open to the public.

My guide appears. He’s a younger man about 30 with a solid build. I am the only tourist here though the trains are usually full, my guide says. Each train holds sixty people. This is perfect. I could sit at the very back of the train while he drives it and speaks into the microphone – that would be surreal – but I sit beside him. He still reaches for the mic reflexively then changes his mind. He seems a bit awkward talking only to me, sitting right beside him. He adjusts his toastmaster’s speech style to something more casual and begins his spiel about the history and size of the caves and their unique features. It is impressive, especially without the constant flash cameras of other tourists going off.


‘Do you have any questions?’ he asks me. ‘Yes, what is your name?’ ‘Janez’ He is not sure if he likes the personal touch but I persist. The train has stopped and we are walking deeper, following constructed walkways with railings built to contain the hordes. He is telling me about stalactites and stalagmites, telling me how they are formed, but I already know. ‘Have you done any spelunking yourself? I ask. Yes, he has explored a few caves. Where? I continue, and so forth until he is only talking about his personal experience exploring caves and I tell him about mine, though mine are quite limited. Soon enough we are having a merry old time shouting in the empty caverns and touching and climbing things tourists are normally never allowed to go near. There is much to be said about visiting attractions during wartimes.

It is growing dark when the tour is over and I am out of the caves. Janez doesn’t live in town and his work shift isn’t quite over, so I wander off looking for a restaurant on my own. I find a Hungarian one on the main strip and eat a hearty meal there. It has been an easy, pleasant day. I spend the evening reading and writing and looking over my route for tomorrow. There are no other tourists staying in the hotel.

I crossed the 11,000 km mark of my trip today.


PHOTO 1: Vrhnica
PHOTO 2: old Vrhnica train station
PHOTO 3: Logatec
PHOTO 4: entrance to Postojna Jama caves
PHOTO 5: train into the caves
PHOTO 6: columns, stalactites and stalagmites
PHOTO 7: Postojna "curtains"
PHOTO 8: underground lake
PHOTO 9: dusk near Postojna, Slovene church