Postojna – Caves and Rain

On Thursday we arrived in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, having stayed in Postojna for the previous two days. Postojna is in the middle of the limestone Karst region of Slovenia, which is famous for its caves. On the first day we visited the largest system in the country, which is only about 500m outside the town. It’s a massive complex of caverns, which is about 5km long, and you take an underground train to get to the start of the walking tour. Although photography is officially not allowed, everyone just carries on anyway and the guides don’t stop anyone. However, it’s pretty dark in there, so my shots weren’t amazing despite ISO3200 and f4.0!!

The rain started when we got out of the caves, and it hasn’t stopped since! However, it’s nice and warm so it hasn’t been a problem so far. On our second day in Postojna we went a bit further afield, to the caves at Skocjan. Overall they’re technically smaller than the ones at Postojna, and are therefore less popular. However, that means that the tour group sizes are much nicer (30 at Skocjan vs. about 300 at Postojna!).

The entrance caves are fairly small, but pretty impresseive, but when you get to the middle you enter the largest underground gorge in the world. Although the guides tell you that the main cavern is 146m tall, etc. etc., words really aren’t sufficient to describe how huge it is. The Reka River has cut a path down into the base of the cave, and the size and power of the place is just incredible. Alas, they’re more strict on the ‘no photography’ rule, so I’ve pinched a photo from the official website to use here.

The photo doesn’t really do it justice either, but that’s looking down into the gorge. The top row of lights is the path you walk along, hewn out of the side of the cliff, and at the right-hand side you can just see the Reka River at the base of the gorge. It’s absolutely incredible, and you should totally go there.