It was only a 2 hour train trip to Lljubljana in Slovenia, but I
was still pretty tired when I arrived. Zeppelin hostel is another great, brand
new hostel with massive dorm rooms and another good kitchen. I’ve been happily
surprised by the Eastern European countries and how modern they are – I guess
as tourism increases there are more opportunities for hostels and you end up
with nice new facilities, unlike places like France and Rome where you pay
heaps for old hostels with crap facilities.
One of the hostel guys described Ljubljana as “Amsterdam
without the weed or the hookers” and, as I walked through the town and along
the riverfront, I could see what he meant. It’s a lovely laid-back city with
people relaxing in outdoor cafes on the riverfront while boats chug sedately
past the overhanging willows and people try to run you over with bicycles. I walked along the pedestrian streets eating
my daily gelato and checked out the castle on the hill, as well as the famous
“Dragon Bridge”. There was a massive rally going on with old soldiers dressed
in their uniforms but, as I don’t speak Slovakian, I had no idea what was going
on. But there were beer stalls and bratwurst barbeques so I wasn’t complaining!
Back at the hostel I met an American girl who worked in
several Middle Eastern countries as well as Russia
as a nanny, as well as doing a stint in Indonesia for Intrepid travels as a
tour guide – she had some pretty good stories. I also learnt that you can become an
Intrepid guide by applying over the net, doing a few weeks coursework in a
classroom & a couple of trips as an assistant guide. Sounds great, though
apparently it’s so stressful & tiring that no-one seems to last more than 6
months!
The following morning we waited in vain for our “included
breakfast” as the staff member in charge had overslept. I gave up and headed
out to climb the castle tower to take in the view of the city before the heat
haze set in. Apparently you can see a third of the country on a good day! I
then wandered through the Sunday morning flea market, which was pretty much
just another flea market…but with gelatos. I took my ice-cream to Tivoli park, a beautiful
green sanctuary of peace in an already peaceful city. Rome
& Naples
could take a “leaf” out of this place’s book (pun totally intended).
I decided to spend an extra night in Ljubljana
in order to visit Skocjan Caves Park
in the extreme NE part of the classical karst area of Slovenia. The Reka
River created caves are UNESCO
protected and are the third largest caverns IN THE WORLD (the other two are in
the US).
I caught the train to Divaca where I changed to a bus for the last leg and was
glad to see the free shuttlebus to the caves waiting in the deserted station. I
arrived just in time to join the 11am “New Tour” (only an extra E5 on top of
the “Classic Tour” price) which had only been running for a month since the area
had flooded in 1965 and taken so long to repair & reopen. It was almost
like a private tour as there were only 3 of us on it. We walked through the
village and into a beautiful forested area to the mouth of the cave, where we
followed the illuminated river and learnt all about the origins of the river
and formation of the caves. We were also allowed to take photos which was
great, as on the main tour it is forbidden: a) to avoid blinding both animals
and guides, and b) to keep the big groups of people together without people
faffing about taking crap photos. So nothing to do with selling postcards then?
I had time for lunch before the main tour left, this time a
MUCH bigger group of people. Despite the crowd it was still AMAZING, and
definitely something out of 'Lord of the Rings'. The old steps from the original tourist path
that was now too close to the river looked like something out of the Mines of
Moria – all that it needed were a few dwarves and an old guy with a long grey
beard who you could call Gandalf.
I arrived back to the formerly half-empty hostel to find it
filled with guys from the Estonian Cricket team – the ironic thing was that
half of them were Australian! Luckily they were very well behaved and it wasn't that bad being the only female in the hostel that night!
