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Published: July 23rd 2020
Entrance, Škocjan Caves
Walk into imagination!Fully equipped with warm clothes, boots and poles, we ventured into our first cave system, the
Skocjan Cave.
Quite apprehensive at first, we were glad for the cement paths as big as sidewalks, wide stairs and sturdy pipe railings filled-in with strong wire mesh. Thin puddles stained the walkway, but the footing wasn’t slippery. Still visible from early explorations, the original treacherous paths had ropes for railings, if any, and narrow stairs. Near our exit, which used to be the entrance, the old steps were the size of a splayed hand.
We walked high above the enormous “dripping stones”, as they call all the formations, made from literally endless drips of water and calcium carbonate. As I gained confidence, I looked over the railings down to the forest of stalagmites and up to the pointy stalactites. The formations resembled the mouths of dragons, from tiny to gigantic. The smallest formations were no bigger than the first knuckle of my little finger. Others were large and rounded, like hippos. One formation was named “The Bear”, although I thought it looked more like a fox with a comically full, furry face. The whole cave was the size of a small covered stadium.
Škocjan Caves
Tiny people in an immense cave! In places the “ceiling” had collapsed, spreading stony rubble that was now smoothed under the constant dripping. “Don’t worry,” said the guide, “it won’t collapse today.”, as if he knew.
During one terrifying moment, a guide turned off all the lights, except for one in the distance, to let us experience an approximation of what “cave men” would have felt. Our emotional selves forgot the cement path and the metal railing, fearing that any mis-step would cause death. This moment seemed far too long, which is probably why they let it go on so long. We sighed at the return of light.
We entered the “Murmuring Cave” where the Reka river roared in the hollowness of the gigantic cave. Way below we could see white-water rapids that would tempt any rafter. The farther we walked, the more water poured over boulders and boiled through narrows. In the Organ cave, water pooled underneath “curtains”. Under the effect of slight air currents pushing the drips, the minerals create stone walls that appear to be the soft folds of drapes. From ahead of me, came the rich voice of Bill singing "Let Us Rejoice and Be Glad", resonating and giving shivers
to all the visitors in the great chamber.
I was almost sad to see daylight straying into the cave. One last climb up stairs revealed the beauty of green trees framed by the dark oval mouth of the rock.
Many more stairs awaited us before we could reach the cable car to ascend the rock to where we had entered. The accompanying park official urged us to take our time, so more photos were taken down the twisting river valley. The
karst geology is rugged, porous rock, both constructed and hollowed out by the natural actions of water.
Lunch at the attached restaurant was a raucous affair, as we raced each other to describe our feelings, our impressions and our photos. My menu choice was a juicy Bavarian-style sausage with zero-beer.
In the afternoon we visited the unusual
Sneznik castle that at first seemed to have no medieval defensive purpose, until we learned that originally it had to be entered via a ladder – sure safety for owners and villagers. Also, the castle changed owners many times, never staying in the same family for more than a few generations. The last family lost it when the Tito partisans
Snežnik Castle
Helpful stone bridge, a breach of defenses confiscated it from the owners because they were German (losing side in WWII). Now the Slovenian state has made it a museum. We crossed the bridge over the picturesque moat and entered the small hall. Most interesting was the hand drawn accurate map of several surrounding countries from about the fourteenth century; a scholar spent ten years riding all over the land making small maps and transferring them into one marvel of persistence and craftsmanship.
The upper rooms were restored with historic artifacts, mainly from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The last owner hosted his brother’s family and his sister, each having a set of rooms, thus having several sitting rooms and bedrooms. Together they shared a room with a billiard table, a chess table and other games, providing entertainment during the long dark evenings. No castle is bright inside, and this one was very cold. A nineteenth century form of central heating had been installed: a central oven was connected in important rooms to large box-like heaters in covered in ceramic tile, which distributed and held the heat from the one fire. Now the largest drawing room is used for weddings on weekends, when heat is supplied if
Dormouse skins
Patience required for tanning needed.
An odd little museum right by the castle was dedicated to the
Dormouse. The little rodent was hunted as food and is still considered a delicacy by some. In the museum the devices for catching them were displayed, as well as garments made from the fur. I tried to be objective about utility - and failed!
Fascinated with caves, we all agreed to an optional visit to
Krizna Cave, which was more rugged than our cave adventure in the morning. Still equipped with warm clothes, we changed into Wellington rubber boots at the entrance building, and we each were given a portable battery light, which was strapped on to prevent loss. Carefully we walked onto the slightly muddy stone path and down stairs into the dark, almost undeveloped cave. The path was safe, but muddy in places from dripping and seeping water. Occasionally a wooden railing gave comfort.
Exactly where the light from the entrance faded away, historic graffiti indicated how far people had penetrated in search of protection. The environment inside was too cold and humid for humans to live and thrive, even during pre-historic times. Absolute darkness prevented people from finding any refuge.
With
Underground pond
In reality, no light at all our lights turned on to watch our footing, our cheerful guide Boris led us further, talking about pre-historic cave bears that were as tall as a man. Excavations have proved that they lived deep into the blackness, moving by their sense of smell. In two places he showed us where the bears had polished the stone by their sniffing and rubbing; they had also scored the stone through sharpening their claws just as bears in the Rockies do on trees. Near this stone was a display comparing the skull of the cave bear with the local brown bear, one twice as big as the other. At the other end of the scale, Boris showed us tiny bats clinging to the wet rock walls; he took care to shine his light only for a moment and cautioned us to do the same. Shining an artificial light too long confuses the bats, because they misinterpret the fractionally increased warmth on their bodies. Singing was fine, though, and Gary’s rich voice serenaded us with "Edelweiss".
A one-kilometre walk led to a deep pool. Boris helped us into a rubber dinghy and gently paddled around the completely clear pool. After we got used
to the motion, he asked us to turn off our lights. Profound darkness. No difference between eyes open and shut. Because we were seated, the odd disorientation was not as unpleasant as in the Skocjan Cave.
Quietly, Boris talked to us about the first humans who must have entered the cave, perhaps with the light of a candle. Lights on again, I marveled at the fine ripples above the blue-green stones, textured by the weak but continuous action of water on dripping stones.
Subdued by awe, we drove to the farm where half our group was staying for a reciprocal dinner. First, we were greeted with slivovka, a strong plum brandy. Thus cheered up, we went into a very small barn to visit six cows, a pony, and a white horse with a colt. Chickens scratched outside in the small yard. Inside the stone house, the husband and wife owners were preparing our meal of thick soup with many varieties of mushrooms, followed by mixed-greens salad, roasted pieces of venison with roasted vegetables, and a local dessert of sweetened cottage cheese in pastry (kolaches). The fruity red wine was home-made.
View map of trip to date.
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Isabel Gibson
non-member comment
Caves
I suspect your Cave Comfort Index is about the same as mine. I'm would not consider wriggling through small openings on my belly but am OK to visit high-ceilinged commercial caves in groups. They're quite lovely to see for short periods. And the bats were an excellent addition. I always thought of caves as refuges and I guess they might be if you had controllable fire and if you could persuade any cave bears to depart.