Yesterday we drove up to Hrastovlje, a small village where Jemma found a medieval walled church with a famous Dance of Death frescos. It was closed as we arrived late, so we went to the village inn where we had some delicious food, lots of shots, and Polish/English/Slovenian chats with the locals.
We woke up to the sound of church bells this morning, at 6.30! We made the most of an early start, by sitting in bed and doing some work. The view from the van was pretty amazing – the fortified church surrounded by vineyards and a backdrop of mountains. At 9am we walked up the hill to the church, but found that it was still closed. We waited for abit but it seemed like no-one was coming to open the church. Simon saw that there was a phone number on the door, so called it for someone to let us in.
The church was incredible! It was tiny and covered with frescos inside, the best sections being the dance macabre. It was a really informative visit, as the guy who had let us into the church played an english audiotour detailing each scene in the frecos, whilst he pointed to them with a big stick. After leaving the church, we drove down the road a bit to see a scultpture that over looks the church. It depicts a woman with a basket on her head, roughly carved out of a giant slab of rock and it is pretty great.
We then headed off on our journey to Postojna caves. On the way, I was reading the Lonely Planet book for Southeastern Europe, which Michal had leant to us for the trip. It mentioned another cave, Skocjan, and described these caves as being more captivating than Postojna. And Skocjan was a UNESCO site! As these caves were closer to us, we changed course to visit them first.
The caves are incredible! At Skocjan we walked through the cave in small groups, with a rather angry tourguide telling us to speed up. It reminded me of the mines of Moria – huge caverns with narrow footpaths going up and down the cave walls – although we were using the more modern concrete path, we could clearly see the orginial paths that had been cut into the rock. The rock formations are so beautiful and the river Reka runs through these caves. It was a shame that the tourguide rushed us so much, as there was so much to see. She was pretty funny though, getting really irrate at a guy who lost his phone inth e cave (we weren’t allowed to take photos and she was pretty strict about this). The tour brought us to outside the cave in a region where the cave had collapsed in. From here we could carry on at our own pace, enjoying the rocks as we climb back up to the surface level.
Were we tried of caves after this? No! After a quick lunch break, we jumped back in the van and headed off to Postojna. These caves had a very different vibe – much more touristy attraction, with less strenuous walking. The caves were really brightly lit as well. As these caves are super huge, there is a train that takes visitors deep into them and then there’s a walking route inside. The train was really fun, wisting us through cavarn after cavern with the most glorious drip-stone formations. It’s such a magical place! For these caves, we had an audiotour and could walk more at our own pace, but the path was a bit boring in comparison to Skocjan.
After Postojna, we drove to the Predjama castle. Unfortunately we couldn’t visit this as well, as it closes at 5pm and then reopens at 11am tomorrow (too late for us) – however, we have a hunch that the most interesting thing about it is seeing it on the outside. It is a stunning to see this rennaissance castle nestled into the rocks, and we enjoyed the view with a cake and cup of cocoa.
We’re now driving to Triglav national park and will visit Lake Bled tomorrow.
no speed cameras
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