Dad came to wake us up at 6:30am, but I didn’t roll out of bed til almost 7am. We had a quick breakfast, then Davin, Baerbel, and I headed out. We were going to go see the amazing caves that exist in Slovenia's karst landscape. We saw the caves last summer, but they were so amazing I wanted to see them again! Dad stayed behind with Jona who refused to drive 2 hours to get to caves we'd already seen. The drive went by quick for me because I was working on a poem for Scott that I started yesterday just for fun.
First we visited Postojnska Jama. It cost 45E for us to tour the cave and to visit the Vivarium. Baerbel waited outside for us while we went on the tour. It was almost as impressive the second time. The size of the caverns is just amazing! There was one difference from last year. At the end of the tour, I noticed that the large statue of the Proteus salamander had been replaced with a large Terrarium containing living Proteus!! A nice improvement. The Proteus live only in caves and can live up to 90 years because their bodies are extremely efficient. They can survive up to 10 years without food! Naturally, they don't move very much.
Next we drove to Predjama Castle so that Davin could see for himself how this castle is built right into the cliff. We just looked at it from the outside, and then had lunch at the restaurant nearby. Davin got a spaghetti Bolognese which he rated as a 5 out of 10. Better than the one Jona ate in Werfen.
After lunch, we drove to Skojanske Jama. I like this cave better than Postojnska Jama, and it is also better priced. Baerbel treated us to the entry, though we offered to pay for ourselves. We arrived just after a tour had left, so we had some time to kill. We walked to the nearby lookout point. From there you could see the waterfall that is located at the exit of the cave tour, and an impressive view of the Karst landscape. It’s very beautiful.
At 3pm, our tour began. First we had to walk to the cave entrance, then the group was split between two tour guides. We were in the second group this time. It was annoying to have to hear our guide say everything two times, first in English, then again in Italian. Though it was pretty funny when she made a speech in English, and then immediately started over in English AGAIN!! She didn’t realize her mistake until an Italian person said something.
Skojanske Jama is simply more impressive than Postojnska because of its sheer size. Postojnska has the better cave formations, but Skojanske has the awesome underground canyon. It’s so mind blowing that you can hardly believe it exists even when you are walking through it! It is like something out of a fantasy movie! I love that cave so much! So I was obviously thrilled to see it again. Davin was totally blown away by it too.
It was 5:30pm when we finished our tour and started our long drive back home. I finished my poem. We got home around 7:30pm, showered and ate dinner. Then Davin, Jona, and I played poker together until 11pm. Jona kicked our butts at 5 card draw, but then I wiped the floor with them at Texas Hold ‘Em. We drank coke and ApfelSchorle out of shot glasses just for fun. Good times.
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