Deep, deep underground
This morning was different than all our other mornings - it was leisurely because we did not arrive in Koper, Slovenia until 11 am. So, we slep in and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast.
We disembarked and met up with our guide for the day, Miriam. Miriam was a substitute guide for us as our originally booked guide had a family death and couldn't meet us, so Miriam stepped in, and we were very glad. We left the port and were soon driving along the countryside of Slovenia. When Miriam learned that we enjoyed driving through small villages, she quickly changed course and took us off the main highway and drove us through several small towns, which were charming and had beautiful gardens.
After about an hour's drive we arrived at our first stop, Predjama Castle, built in the 12th century. It is the world's largest cave castle built halfway up a 404-ft high cliff into the mouth of a cavern, which made it easy to defend against enemies. It is also the largest castle in the world that is built into a mountain.
We took an audio tour of the castle which was quite large and had an interesting history. Some of the ancient stairways were difficult to manage and there were lots of them as the castle was very tall. In fact, Bill was the only one who went to the very top on a challenging staircase.
Beautiful defensive view from the castle
A short drive away was the main attraction of our visit to Koper - The Postojna Cave. This is a huge cave system that is 15.1-miles long, and only 3.1-miles is open to the public. The visit to the cave is in 3 parts - first a narrow-gauge train ride into the cave which was 2.1-miles long. Then almost another mile on foot. The temperature in the cave was a constraint 50 degrees Fahrenheit and reaches a depth 400 ft.
We rode through many 'rooms' full of stalactites and stalagmites, many which were huge. We were amazed and hopefully you can see a little of what we saw in these pictures.
A quick photo as we came to a stop deep in the cave.
After enjoying the train ride and all the beauty into the cave, we got out of the train and started walking. We had a guide, and the paths were safe and well managed for many people to walk on. We walked uphill for a long way up to the highest point in the cave. We walked through many rooms and felt many drops of mineral water coming down from the ceiling of the cave.
After about a 45-minute walk through the second phase of our visit, we again boarded the train and rode back through many more large rooms and came to the end of our tour. Before leaving the cave, we got to see some very special salamanders who have been living in the cave for hundreds of years. They are blind since they live in total darkness and can live up to 100-years old. They have no pigmentation and only eat about every 10 years. Really amazing creatures and Slovenia has adapted these endangered animals as a national symbol for their country.
We drove about an hour back to our ship and said a fond farewell to Miriam. We had a 6:30 pm reservation at The Red Ginger, a specialty Asian restaurant on board the ship and enjoyed a unique menu of Asian delights.
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