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Wednesday, September 11th - Postojna to Koper - 11,112 km
It’s a bit cooler today with broken cloud and a bit of a wind. I have coffee and rolls at the hotel and pick up juice, cheese, meats and bread for today’s lunch on the road. I make my way out of the village, heading east 16 km to see the Skocjan Caves. I had not heard of them until recently, but pictures and reports I have seen insist that they are not to be missed. It takes me a full hour to get there.
I approach the cave entrance from above, unlike Postojna, and there are no trains in this one. It is not as large as the Postojna but it is more spectacular. Instead of following the flat cave floors, the entrance leads into a walkway that clings to the walls of a great cave that is maybe 80 m above the bottom of a chasm with a river running through it. It is breath-taking, a scene out of ‘Voyage to the Centre of the Earth’, a vision so stunning that I am certain it will be part of what flashes before my eyes moments before I die. I am so happy that I detoured out of my way to see it.
I am not the only tourist this time. There are about eight of us, but it is still low-key. I am able to walk more than a kilometre into cave and although it is smaller than Postojna it seems to be grander. The guide told us that the river exists through a rather small opening that is not large enough to handle the flow in the wettest seasons, so sometimes the water level will rise as much as 100 m. For several years in recent history the exit was clogged with debris, much like a bad drain, and people were not able to access the cave. I’m just lucky, I suppose.
My next destination is Predjama, a lesser-known castle built into the mouth of a great cave somewhere north-west of Postojna. There is no clear route and no signage for it so I will head out on unmarked side road, following the base of a limestone escarpment, through the villages of Zagon and then Belsko. From there I turn west three kilometres to Predjama Castle. The road surface turns to dirt as I reach the village. At first, I think I have missed it, but around the last turn it stands before me hanging out of a great hole in a limestone cliff above the village.
The village of Predjama is quiet. I see no one though there is laundry handing on the lines to dry. The castle in an untouched state with no identifying sign or admission office (and hence no admission), as though giant gaping caves entrances with full sized castles hanging out of them are nothing out of the ordinary. It is difficult to get a clear angle to photograph the castle. I have to climb out on retaining wall on someone’s private property to get the shot I want. I make a sandwich for lunch while I am here and read my guide book while I eat.
Predjama was the home of a famous knight named Erazem Lueger in the 15th century, who waged a single-handed war against the Hapsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire. The Hapsburg army held him in siege but he knew ways through the caves to a nearby allied village to get food and to stage raids on Hapsburg properties. He frustrated and taunted them for months. They never found his secret passage through the caves behind the castle, but they finally got him with his pants down by firing a cannon ball at the shitter on the roof of the castle after seeing him go in.
I have to retrace my route a couple kilometres to find a different route leading south back to Hwy 409. I am already running late. It is 2:30 pm and I have 60 more km to cover to get to Koper. It’s a rolling terrain all the way to the sea, with the highway hugging the side of the freeway most of the way. It’s down to business now as I have no more attractions to see, other than Koper itself. By 3 pm I have reached the centre of the old city.
Koper is a small city with a definite Venetian feel. The smell greets of the brine meets my nostrils in a pleasant way. I find the tourist office and a bed and breakfast on one of the charming older streets. I change and set off to find a restaurant with a view of the ocean. I find an Italian one, which is fitting. I am only six kilometres from the Italian border here. The lights on the small bay are so romantic. It’s a fine way spend my last night in Slovenia, though this feels nothing like the rest of the country. It is hard to believe it has only been five days.
PHOTO 1: entrance to Skocjan Caves
PHOTO 2: voyage to the centre of the Earth, the great chasm
PHOTO 3: one of the interesting formations
PHOTO 4: climbing down to the river exit
PHOTO 5: another smaller exit
PHOTO 6: the great exit
PHOTO 7: the rolling Karst Region
PHOTO 8: Predjama Castle
PHOTO 9: laneway in Koper
PHOTO 10: Praetorian Palace in Koper
PHOTO 11: the Loggia, Koper
PHOTO 12: a street in Koper
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