We spent a rain day and an administrative day in Ljubliana, the capital of Slovenia, before preceding on to Skocjan Cave and the end of our brief Balkan re-adventure. We visited Skocjan on July 8, 2018, and pronounced it the best cave ever (
http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2018/07/skocjan-caves-best-ever-period.html); and thus our return. The cave was a bit mistier than in July, due to warmer river temperatures within, but the tour was pretty much the same as in July, a two hour subterranean hike, across excellent ground, half of which was the usual stalagmites and stalactites, and such, and even a couple very big rooms, and half of which was in the underground canyon carved by the torrential river Reka as it wends its way, entirely underground, to Italy and a spring near the Adriatic. We even had the same guide, Gregor, who seemed not to notice that I hung back from the crowd. What was different about this visit was that, after turning off the sound, the flash, and the screen of my iPhone, I took a number of pix, a number of which turned out pretty well, considering. See below and next post.
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Preliminaries |
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Helpful model #14,509 |
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At Skocjan, you can see all the stalactites and stalagmites you'd ever need to see; unless you're a geologist or spelunker |
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But then you round a bend and climb some steps and begin to hear the roar of the Reka; and then you begin to make out the contours of the canyon ahead; canyon, in a cave |
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And are told the canyon and cave, despite their immense size, have nearly flooded on two recent occasions; one just last February |
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Be that as it may, your eyes follow the lighted trail, which hangs out over the left bank, as it were, a couple hundred feet below |
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The Bridge of Khazad-Dum, as Vicki calls it |
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The river below |
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One of the older swing bridges, still hanging in there |
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Torrent, again |
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Now much further along, looking back at the trail |
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Vicki |