Slovenia: Skocjan Caves and Koper

In late September, I went to Skocjan caves and Koper in Slovenia.

First, we visited Predjama castle.

The Skocjan caves were first mentioned in writing in 1689 and were first explored in 1890. As I walked through the caves, I was shocked to see the 'trails' the explorers made - they would pound steel rods into the rock and scale up the cliffs. They must have been fearless because some 'trails' looked deadly.

The Timava river runs through the caves. In the middle of the cave is a giant canyon with the river running through it. In some places, the caves are as high as 140 meters. ![IMG_9933.jpg]

On the day my friends and I visited the caves, it was pouring rain. I have never seen that much rain in my life. We hiked to a look-out point when the rain was light but quickly got caught in a rain storm that left us all soaked. We had to tour the caves wet. Additionally, when it rains outside, it rains in the caves too (only in a few places). However, we were actually very lucky because there are natural rock formations that look like little pools (pictured below) and once every one or two years they will fill-up. On that rainy day, they did. It was so beautiful and blue.

 
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After we left the hidden jungle of Slovenia, we went to the coast and visited the small port town of Koper.