Slovenia Spelunking

Our northernmost port was Koper, Slovenia, which is closer to the north pole than to the equator (about 45.30 degrees north). Unlike the other ports where I’ve participated in the geocacher excursion, I’d noticed an excursion to Postojna Cave and chose to do that instead. Don chose to join me which meant 2 of the 42 participants were cachers.

We traveled by bus through the rolling hills of Slovenia to the cave. Moric (pronounced Morris) was a very talkative guide with specific ideas about politics and politicians who managed to (over)fill every second with information. Here’s a wee bit about what we learned: Slovenia Sovereignty Day is October 25 (we were there October 24) though independence was declared June 25, 1991; Slovenia is the first of the former Yugoslavian republics to join the European Union, in 2004; they adopted the Euro in 2007.

As for the cave, it was impressive! Definitely a world class cave. The “tour” started with giving us devices a bit smaller than a typical tv remote with instructions to press the # of an item as we passed the sign with that number and hold the device to an ear to listen. We took an electric train from the entrance into the area where we would walk. As we disembarked we saw many gorgeous and extensive formations made up of stalactites (they hang down from the ceiling like tights), stalagmites (they might grow to reach the ceiling from the ground), columns (where a stalactite and stalagmite meet), flowstone (think of the way hot fudge flows over ice cream), cave bacon (thin strips of rock), soda straws (hollow tubes attached to the ceiling), etc. One part of the narration described an area full of soda straws as being “petrified rain.” 

Most of the formations were generally pure limestone as they were quite white, some were tinged red (contain iron), and some had black areas (contain manganese). Although the cave is rock, it is continually changing – formations grow at the seemingly glacial rate of 1 centimeter per century. We visited several chambers on at least two levels of the cave, saw parts of the underground river. We learned interesting facts such as there are 115 species endemic to the cave and another 35 that have been seen in the cave. And we got to see a “proteus” which is a small, sightless, being that is so sensitive to light that we were not permitted to take even non-flash photos of it. The tour concluded with another ride on the electric train, and we were pleased to be in the very front seat for the return trip. 

Definitely worth the price of the tour! Even if there hadn’t been an earthcache which was my first Solvenian geocache.

After the cave we went to see a castle that’s built into a hill at a cave. We only got to view it from the outside but that was probably the best part. Don and I were happy to find a traditional cache and another earthcache there.

We returned to Koper then walked around town for a bit, met some other cachers along the way, and finally reboarded the ship to have a late lunch.

So far this has been the most enjoyable port for me. Tomorrow will be our excursion to Albania which is the other one I’ve been most looking forward to.

I’ve now seen impressive rock caves in Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia, and the USA (perhaps others) as well as an impressive ice cave in Austria. I need to research what other caves to visit….