Skocjan Caves: Best Ever. Period.

With all the limestone around, there are indeed some caves in this part of the world. (Seems like our whole summer has been about limestone). Anyhow, from among the choices in Slovenia, we chose the Skocjan Caves. At Skocjan, you walk through with a guide (and in English too), it's mildly strenuous but well-lit and carefully paved. In Postojna, the main alterative, you mostly ride a train through the cave. But the big difference is in what you see. Postojna has more and more varied stalagmites and stalactites and friends, but Skocjan has the giant cavern--actually an underground canyon still being formed by the river Reka, which travels, underground, more than 30k from Skocjan to Italy and the Adriatic. We've seen some caves...Mammouth, Carlsbad, Wind, New Zealand, the Three River Gorge caves in China...but Skocjan is hands-down and far-away the best. Pix can only begin to convey the immensity, the sublimity...all with the raging Reka a couple hundred feet below. Best ever. Period.

Complicating the narrative a bit: the tour enters the cave from the back, upper side, the so-called "quiet" cave, and proceeds up-river into the "noisy" cave and its natural entrance. This saves the drama of the underground canyon for the last. Further, no fotos are permitted, and the lighting--huge darkness illuminated by spotlights--argues against all but the best photographers and cameras, among which, alas, I and my back-up camera do not figure. So I have merely snagged a few off the web.

Yes, another World Heritage Site

Our tour guide, very knowledgeable, very patient; the large group is divided
into one Slovenian and two English language groups: not that there are so many
Brits, Canucks, Kiwis, Ozzies, or Yanks; rather, no matter what your first language
is, your second language is English....in today's world

Perhaps the best of the interpretive stuff

And off we go...this is the only pic I took that came out...so we'll cut to the
snagged pix...

A wide-angle showing the abundance of stalactites, stalagmites, etc.

Thus

Enormous pans, the likes of which we last saw, with water in them, at Pamukkale,
Phrygia, Turkey

And now, into the canyon, the river roaring below; the pix can give just a hint...

The bridge at Khazad Dum, as Vicki says...

Lighted path through...

One of the more incredible sights we have beheld

Leaving the cave now, by its original "entrance"

We wandered about outside the cave for a bit; here, some
of the earlier touristic steps

Below, where the river disappears underground,
into the cave, for 34k

Other enormous caves

Disappearing river

The constant 12 degrees Celsius at the cave mouth means Mediterranean plants
like  this fern can survive through the winter

Funicular back to the top of the mountain

Looking across the gorge to the town of Skocjan

And now in the museum, mostly about the early explorations

Helpful model #356,946; interestingly, Skocjan is a World Heritage Site not
merely because it is so stupendous but because much of the international scientific
terminology of karst regions, and caves, originated here; anyhow, best ever. Period.

Random Camping Interlude

Mostly we're savage-campeurs, as the French would say, seldom staying in organized campgrounds. For our Balkan campaign, however, it's been a little different. Croatia forbids "wild" or "free" camping, and we never felt comfortable pulling off the road in a country and language so completely unknown to us. So we have mostly stayed in campgrounds, some of them RV resorts, some simple mom and pop campgrounds, one or two associated with a farm or a restaurant. Two of the more memorable instances were in Slovenia. One was at an apparent riding school, not far from Lipica. We pulled onto the property, I parked at what seemed like the appropriate place...as described in the guidebook...and Vicki went to knock on the door. No answer. Three more hours, no answer. Finally a young man appeared who explained yes, sure, we could spend the night there, by the barn. His parents own the place, but they are in Portugal, in their RV, and he was just there checking on the horses. Turns out, years ago, his parents invited some RV acquaintances to over-night on the property, and they told some friends, and the friends told some other friends, and, just like that, they are listed in the camping guidebook, and so are never much surprised to see total strangers parking by the barn and asking where the dump is.

The other was at a restaurant in the very small town of Mirjam. Sort of a pub stop, going by the name of Camp Wellness. The pub was the usual, inside and outside seating, but it also had a number of rooms (Sobe), a swimming pool, and a small campground. The one employee, a young woman, did everything from tending the bar, waiting tables, cooking, and checking in guests and campers. The campground had everything we needed, and then some, 12E including electricity. The drinks were cheap, and I got to while away the evening watching the Croats eliminate the home-team Ruskies from the World Cup, along with a couple dozen jubilant Slovenians. The most memorable part, however, was the pig farm next door (and down wind). See illustrations.

More Stallions, Mares, Colts, And Buggies At The Lipica Stud Farm; Oh My!

More of a beautiful day with the horses and horse-persons...

The grounds are beautifully landscaped, trees labeled, etc.

Stud farm chapel; used mostly for weddings these days;
they said

Highly unusual Mom's night out pic, Baby J with "Dad"

Inner sanctum of Lipica, oldest barn, museum, gift shoppe

Late 18th painting of the place

Now in the hall of champions barn; one can only imagine what they might have
been champions of...

Watching buggy practice en route to the "show" at the hippodrome

The Three Horses: Harriet, Hermione, and Heather

So,disappointingly, no fotos are allowed in the show; probably with good reason,
since the flashing of morons' cameras would conceivably scare the horses

Whatever; the show was more about what they do at Lipica,
apart from the stud thing, that is, training the horses,
dressage and such; so we only got these few shots, plus
whatever I will post on YouTube; some day

So after the show and a modest lunch we drifted over to the buggy competition

The broadcast booth; and in English too

Unbeknownst to us, the buggy competition also includes water sports; not to
mention cruelty to animals

Stud farm size supply of hay

Vets' ambulances for the horses were rather less conspicuous

We tired of this within a few eternally-long minutes, downed some strudel, then
ambled back to the gift shoppe

Interesting display

In the museum: 21st century branding

"Yippie-oh-ky..." I mean, "Ach! Mein Strudels!"

And a fond farewell, from those out to pasture...

Studs, Mares, and Colts, Oh My! At The Lipica Stud Farm

A horse is a horse, of course, of course, unless, of course...it's one of the famous prancing and dancing Lippizaners, graduates of the horsey haute ecole, associated with the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The Lipica Stud Farm is where it all began, in 1580, and continues, except for occasional World Wars. The Archduke Charles wanted to create a new breed, stronger and smarter, to help his armies fight off the invading Turks. He figured that his Andalusian stallions and the local Karst mares would do the trick, so to speak; and the rest is history. All the Lippizaners come from the same six Spanish stallions, plus hundreds of Karst mares, and their progeny.

It is a very big place, many, many hectares for the horses, well, the stallions,
to roam in 

The maternity barn, where the mares spend virtually their entire lives, getting
impregnated, gestating, giving birth, nursing their foals, rinsing and repeating...

Among the interesting things...all the Lippis are born brown or black; the
light gray to white associated with the breed is actually premature graying;
seriously; only the horse-stylists know for sure

Big place: we did the tour, the show, then the museums and
gift shoppe, and also watched a bit of the buggy competition
going on that afternoon

Street scene

Stallion/stud barn

Extensive identifying info on the green and blue cards

Essential barn implements; not pictured: shovels

Feed

Ditto

Until recently and the use of micro-chips, the horses were lightly branded with an
"L" on their left cheeks

Rider wearing Olympics shirt

Breeding experiment with African zebras

Back at the nursery: bottle-feeding a colt whose mom died; apparently, among
horses, it does not take a village

The clearing on the hill above is the Italian border; Lipica is just 10 miles from
Trieste

Ponies, not Lippis, for the kiddie rides

Super interpretive signage throughout; above, a newborn

They don't do it the old-fashioned way anymore at Lipica;
here's a stud, in bondage and leather, going at it with the
semen collection machine

Thus; "Lipica used to be such a happy place," I heard one
of the stallions say...