We have just done another cave... perhaps Joye was wanting to test her claustrophobia... to make sure there was no permanent damage from the blackouts at the Postojna Cave. Today's cave had recommendations from UNESCO and Sue... and that was good enough for us. As it turns out, the two caves were very different... delivering delight in entirely different ways. If you trace the water through its underground travels, its the same river that creates Postojna (upstream) and Skocjanske. Skocjanske doesn't have stalactites and stalagmites to rival Postojna... Skocjanske has been formed by a raging river... the caves are younger and subjected to more vigorous treatment. Where Skocjanske gets its excitement comes from the gigantic halls/cathedrals that have been carved from the limestone.
Have you seen the film 'The Hobbit'? Harry has. Those lucky enough to catch a viewing will recall a number of battle scenes occurring in caves. The goodies (the Hobbits) found themselves running around cliff walkways high in the walls of cave cathedrals... being chased by the baddies (those guys that used to ride wolves... I forget their name). Well, that's where we found ourselves today... 90 metres up the side of a cave cathedral with a raging torrent racing through the bottom of the cave. Just like in the film, we walked over a bridge way up in the cathedral... but for us, the rope holding the bridge didn't break with us on it. The cave lighting dramatised the setting... not that extra dramatisation was needed. We were not being chased by baddies... in fact we were moving very slowly... making sure each step was placed on the path. Our guide said that a section not yet opened to tourists had a cathedral with a height of 190 metres.. high enough to house St Peter's basilica. I wish all the grandchildren could have been with us today... the experience would have made film makers out of each of them.
Our walk covered 2.5 klms... but the river goes underground for some 35 klms. The river runs through Slovenia and provides good tourist income for the country. The river enters the sea in Italy... and they have no quarrel with the river's use. Its underground journey takes it through Croatia and a lot of the water comes from Croatian streams. Croatia gets relatively little benefit from the river... which makes the Croatians somewhat unhappy.
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