I was glad, I had checked the weather forecast for Friday… a cold front was to come through and temperatures were supposed to drop significantly. Along with the temperature drop, rain was expected. However, I was not exactly prepared what then happened!

Looking out the window in the morning showed thick clouds in the sky. Not too bad, since my plan was to go inside for the day (inside a mountain that is). I decided to take the train from Ljubljana to Postojna to visit one of the most famous Karst caves in Slovenia. Knowing that it was supposed to be 8°C inside, I dressed accordingly.
When I left the hostel in Ljubljana, I was surprised about the temperature, I expected a little more… It will warm up during the day is what I thought. The train was well heated. Once I got off the train in Postojna, cold wind blew rain in my face. Since the walk to the cave was going to be 2km, I was not exactly looking forward to the short hike. Fortunately the rain stopped and I even could check out the bus station for connections to the coast and to Ljubljana on the way.

Queuing for the cave

The postojnska jama, as the cave is called in Slovenian, is one of the most famous caves with an enormous amount of stalagmites and stalactites. This is why tour busses from all neighboring countries can be seen there and they have a throughput of up to 12000 people per day. Knowing these numbers the queue to go on the 12 o’clock tour was nothing out of the ordinary.

A railway brings visitors the first 2 kilometers into the mountain

On the tour, one gets to see 5km of an enormous cave system of over 20km, of which the first 2km are done on railway. The railway ends at the end of the old part of the cave, which was discovered in 1818. The walking tour then enter further into the mountain in a loop of 3km of perfectly set up pathways. The explanations are few, the more stunning is the inside of the cave. I have seen one or the other cave, but this one was definitely the most amazing. Just too bad, I was not allowed to take any pictures.

Inside the spaghetti hall

For the walking tours and the few explanations, the group was split in four sub-groups according to the most common languages, which are Slovenian, Italian, English and German. I would have preferred not to understand all the complaining around me…
When we left the cave, there was no more rain… it was pouring for all it was worth! This made me change my mind about visiting the coast, and instead, I looked for a restaurant, where I could enjoy some Slovenian food, before catching a bus back to Ljubljana.
The thermometer in Postojna had showed 4.2°C, so it was about 10°C colder than what I had expected. On the way back to Ljubljana I saw my first snow flakes on this trip. Something I did not want to see until at least Nothern Iran.
The one thing left to do for the night, was to decide, when to leave for Zagreb. The options were little appealing: either take the 8:15am train or wait until 2:45pm and only arrive at 5pm in Zagreb. I finally let my body decide… I would see when I wake up.

Note: the pictures on this page, the exception of the first one, are shamelessly stole from Postojnska jama