Grotta Gigante

Is there a word for a revelation that is simultaneously a duh moment and a wow moment? I had one of those this recent half term. We had two consecutive holidays coming up, Reformation Day and All Saints*, and in Slovenia a holiday is actually a holiday, as in everything shuts down. With the children home for the week, lots of rain in the forecast and hubby about to go on a business trip, I knew I had to plan at least one outing or I would go insane. So what do you do when there is nothing to do and you live in a small European country? The duh moment: you hop over the border to one that does not have a holiday. And the wow moment: we can just hop over the border to one that does not have a holiday.

And if you live in a region riddled by caves beneath your feet and the weather is cold and damp... why not go visit a cave, where the weather is cold and damp?

So a little hearsay and research uncovered a nearby cave we had never heard of before: Grotta Gigante in the Trieste region. Our teenager had some vague objection along the lines that we would have to drive through the town where her school is and she should not have to be near her school at half term (or be seen out with her family), but she was made to leave the cave that is her room anyway.

Credit: Grotta Gigante website

The only other visitors for that hour were a father and son from Slovenia who obviously had the same idea that we did. That worked out really well. The guide gave the English presentation first, then sent us on our way to the next station while she repeated it in Slovene, so we got to walk at our own pace, or the pace of middle aged parents descending 500 steps with a child in a back pack carrier. The three year-old was determined to travel in style the whole way. His sister tried bribing him to walk with promises of a Kit Kat from the vending machine if he walked. "I will walk at the end," he announced, and stayed firmly put.

Grotta Gigante gets its name because it is basically a big hole in the ground. This was not a major tourist cave, like Postojna, but I like avoiding crowds, plus you get more personal tours from people really keen to show you what a hidden treasure you are visiting. Its modest claims to fame include having the world´s largest hall of any tourist cave, and playing host to the longest pendulum in the world, which measures earth tremors.The stalactites are far more impressive than the stalagmites, because the drops of water have so far to fall through the cavern that they tend to splash and disperse on the cave floor.

I was so fixated by the five hundred steps down that I did not think about the 500 steps back up. At that point we were really glad we were staggering walking at our own pace. Ten steps from the exit, a little voice piped up at my back. "I will walk now." Three steps outside the cave, he declared, "I don´t have the energy to walk any more." I foresee a career in international negotiations. And yes, he got his Kit Kat. A deal is a deal.

The pendulum

Touristy stuff: The website is in Italian, but easy to figure out. Since it is a pretty small enterprise, the website warns that official tour times may vary depending on other events, number of visitors etc. If the 1000 steps are not enough of a workout, you can book a four-hour tour that includes climbing down ladders instead (some experience required). Or just go ahead and book the wine tasting tour.

*In Slovenia, the Reformation was the impetus to produce the very first books in Slovene, which is why this basically non-Protestant country marks it as a turning point in Slovene culture. All Saints is a holiday in many traditional Catholic countries.

Škocjan Caves

After Saturday´s surfeit of wine and food, Sunday was more penitential. Following an early lunch (no wine), we took off for Škocjan (pronounced roughly shkots-yahn), around thirty minutes from Koper, notable for its cave complex and park. We´d visited a couple of times back in 2008 when we lived here, by ourselves and with family, but thought it was worth a revisit after ten years.

As soon as we arrived, our teen pointed out that her dad had taken her back there in 2015 on a  Slovenia/ Italy trip. Oh well, she likes geological formations. After a drink and ice cream, we gathered to wait for the guide. She turned up in the courtyard promptly at one, called, ˝Tour this way,˝ and set off at a brisk pace before we had time to get the toddler in the backpack, so it was a long, hot and hurried walk carrying him between us to the cave entrance where, thankfully, we got to recoup.

The caves are a a Unesco cultural and world heritage site, both for their geological significance and for the history of their exploration, which began in earnest in the early nineteenth century. The caves are natural, created by the Reka river, which sinks underground to flow for about 34 km before resurfacing in Italy. The whole area is known as the Karst, a vast limestone plateau that is ideal for cave formation- in fact, Slovenia is about 1/3 caves under its surface.

Over millennia, the river has created some of the biggest natural chambers ever discovered in Europe, as well as fascinating stalagmites and rimstone pools. It´s the sort of otherwordly scene you´d expect in a fantasy or sci fi film. A cave tour is pretty much part of a complete visit to Slovenia, and this is a good choice, not totally touristy, and interesting even if caves aren´t usually your thing.

Actually, I´ve had a lifelong phobia of caves. It´s about being stuck in the pitch dark with tonnes of rock over your head (that and being scared by the stone witch in Wookey Hole when I was very small). But we visited so many caves the last time we lived in Slovenia that I pretty much got over it. However, that was a decade ago, so I admit I had to fight a little panic as we entered and began the walk down the narrow passage to the point of no return.

The main tour is about 3 km and includes 700 steps, up and down. The guide stopped about four times to give an overview of the section we were about to tramp through. A little more information and more time to look (read:rest) would have been nice, but I suppose that was for the sake of the caves, not just business.

There´s a long part where you walk along a narrow path overlooking a gorge, with the river rushing far beneath you, and cross the sort of bridge on which Gandalf fought the Balrog. Interesting for my husband, with a toddler on his back and a fear of heights. He trudged along, hand on the rail a firm arm's length from the edge. ˝No wonder I forgot I´d been here three times,˝ he muttered. ˝I was staring at my feet the whole time.˝ The toddler, on the other hand, tried to push his sister over the edge. Apart from that one homicidal episode, he was pretty good, because riding in the backpack carrier is always exciting. After learning about how stalagmites and stalactites are formed from drops of water, he thought it was great fun to monitor the drips falling on our heads. All that proved too much stimulation, though, and he fell asleep before we reached the exit.

After 3 weeks of walking uphill, capped by a hike, this is about how I felt on Sunday.

At the end, the guide announced that there was the quick, easy way up via the lift, or the scenic 30-minute walk up past waterfalls. Since the cashier had confirmed the lift wasn´t working, and my husband had apparently lost some of his reason, he voted for the scenic tour. Honestly, it was more like an endurance course, but would have been lovely in cool weather not carrying a sleeping child. Time for more drinks and ice cream when we made it back - I think we more than walked off the calories. We´ll be returning to hike in the park another, cooler day.

So there you have it: a hike through an underground gorge when between us we are afraid of both heights and caves. Does that make us a) brave; b) foolish; c) cultural snobs; or d) compulsive nerds? I think it´s abcd.

Touristy stuff: The caves are open year-round for regular tours. Current times and prices on their website. It´s not for anyone who has trouble with mobility, and you´d do best to be ready to follow the guide before the appointed tour time (see above). The surrounding park (also hilly terrain) is free to visit and has suggested trails. The visitor centre has modest, but full amenities, including a restaurant and bar.