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.