Interesting thing about Trieste is that it's only been a part of Italy since 1954. There is a lot of German influence here as it was part of the Ausro-Hungarian Empire for centuries. During WW2 a concentration camp was located nearby, many of whose inmates ended up in Auschwitz. The city did a stint as the Free Territory of Trieste for nine years following WW2 before its annexation.
While we waited for the bus this morning I got this photo at the dock with a ferry alongside and one of Karl who was the official sign holder for Bus Two.
As you can see the city sits on the edge of Italy's border right next to Slovenia.
It only took us about 15-20 minutes to get out of town and cross the border here at the northeast edge of the Adriatic Sea. Slovenia is a country of only two million people with lands about the same size of New Jersey or Wales.
It took a little over an hour to reach the Postojna Cave or Postajna Jama.
I had no idea what a treat we were in for when we headed in the opening.
Postojna is one of 14,000 caves in the area. The entire cave system here is about 15 miles long.
Once inside you travel two miles into the cavern by train.
We were off to start our adventure.
Into the largest tourist cave system in Europe we went!
Amazing stalactites and stalagmites greeted us on every turn of the tracks.
Karst are areas formed when the bedrock, made of limestone, dolomite, or gypsum dissolves, creating open spaces, which are then made larger with the help of water continuing to pass through them
Once we got off the train we spent about an hour walking up and down the damp pathways inside the cave, to traverse about a mile of scenery on foot.
Slovenia has done an amazing job with lighting inside.
At various points we would have our cave guide share info with us.
I don't have a lot to tell you about the photos,
just wanted to share them with you, even though they can't begin to show you haw awe inspriting this place is.
The bridge in the photo here is called the Russian Bridge. It takes about 30 minutes to walk from the high point where this photo was taken from to make our way down to the bridge.
Every once in a while a chill drop of water would fall on my head or back.
The temperature in the cave was about 50 degrees. Some on the tour got quite chilled, Karl and I didn't take jackets and we stayed pretty comfortable.
More otherworldly formations,
are you getting tired of them yet?
We would go from a narrow passage into a huge open space like this one.
A few places the ground was more smooth, which came as a surprise.
Just enjoy these next few photos.
Water off of this stalactite would drip continuously.
Hope you've enjoyed these photos as much as I enjoyed the cave.
Surprisingly, there are many types of life within the care, although most of them are found in places inaccessible to people, they need the dark and cold to survive. This little guy above is a cave salamander, but here they call them baby dragons and have created a cave logo out of them.
A different kind of look in the cave.
And here's what helped create the cave, the waters of the Pivka River, which still flows through it, as well as appearing running through other parts of Slovenia. It appears and then disappears underground or into a mountain before appearing somewhere else again.
Our guide, Maia, was from Slovenia and justifiably proud of her country. She wanted us to know that Slovenia is the only country with word "love" in its name. When talking about the beauties of the country she shared a story that when all the different countries were asking God to give them this or that amazing thing, to enhance the beauty of their lands, the unassuming representative from Slovenia hung back, then just said Slovenia would take whatever God gave them. God was so impressed with their patience and humility that He told the representatives that He would give Slovenia all the beauties He had wanted to keep for Himself. It is still a very gorgeous country.
The flags were hanging fairly limply as there wasn't much of a breeze today but it was definitely hot and humid.
Not far from the cave is the beautiful Predjama Castle.
The word "predijama" means in front of cave, which is exactly what this castle is, the largest cave castle in the world, begun in the 13th century.
The placement of the castle and its thick walls made it highly defensible.
Inside are arrow holes for the bowmen, as well as slots where they could drop down large stones, or pour boiling oil on the heads of their enemies.
One of the stories of Predjama revolves around the legend of Erazem of Predjama who was part of the castle’s story during its first version of construction. Depending on which story you read he was either a “passionate, handsome and noble knight”, or a bandit and robber baron, sort of the Slovenian Robin Hood. He was supposed to have lived in Predjama through a year long siege while being resupplied through a secret tunnel in the cavern until he was betrayed and killed.
The story goes that he was betrayed when he was at his most vulnerable, in this least defended building in the castle,
the bathroom. His betrayer knew his bathroom habits well and since these toilets were just an open hole to the ground it ws easy enough to make a sneak attack through it. Thus Erazem met his demise when he least expected it.
Predjama is currently a museum of 16th century living with displays of how things might have looked. The room with the bed in it would have been the only one with a fireplace, other than the kitchen, so it would have been the only cozy place in the damp castle during the winter.
There were pretty geraniums like these in many of the windows.
Must have been one of the newer additions to the castle to have engraved tiles.
The view towards the valley from the caves. It would have looked much different in ancient days, no trees to hide any enemies. The hill on the left would have created a natural defense.
You can see here that the castle hardly needs a roof as the cave opening overhangs it.
A look behind us from up as high as we could go.
Besides a torture chamber inside the castle there was also an armory holding all sorts of weapons.
Going down the slippery stone steps. The water still drips in this case so holding to the railing was mandatory.
A priest would have had his own room next to the chapel and would hold private religious services here for the castle's family.
This photo shows some of the construction of the double brick walls.
Another view of the tower.
What used to be a warning bell is now a wishing bell. You make a heartfelt wish and then ring the bell for it to come true. And yes, of course I gave it a try... and I'm not telling you what I wished!
Such a lovely pastoral scene outside with the cows resting inn the pasture.
Don't you think this is the type of area you could peacefully spend a few days?
Behind the castle is the massive cave,
another spot you climbed up to. I had 21 flights of stairs logged on my watch today.
While the opening behind the castle looks huge, and it was, there were actual rooms divided off inside, as well as a large cistern for holding water. It was drippy and wet inside here so I can't imagine how unpleasant those rooms must have been, despite the safety the cave provided..
One last photo of this incredibly beautiful and interesting castle.
It was time to say goodbye to Predjama Castle and head for the bus.
Maia had told us about a Slovenian cake called Gibanica that we needed to try, a concoction of cake, apple chunks, poppy seeds and cottage cheese. Supposedly it is best warmed up so despite the fact we were running late Maia took Karl and Bob to a restaurant to go get a couple of slices. We wolfed it down and it was delicious! I hope to find some more in Koper tomorrow.
Back in Trieste we wandered for a bit trying to find an Italian restaurant to eat in, problem was that most of them are closed during the afternoon hours. We did walk through the Piazza Unità d’Italia which is the largest square in Italy that is on a seafront. Sitting between the water and castle hill, the piazza is where you’ll find some of the best architecture in the city, including the Town Hall and several palazzos.
This building had some lovely
mosaics on the facade.
A quick pic to prove we were here.
After caprese salad, pasta, and pizza for lunch we went in search of Gelato Marco, which my research said had the best gelato in Trieste.
It did not disappoint! Marco's gelato was definitely the best we've had thus far on the trip. I had an orange dark chocolate and the unusual flavor of pineapple ginger. That last one was some of the best ice cream I've ever had and boy did I want more! Karl even tried it and liked it, and he doesn't like ginger. If you look closely in the collage you may find a bonus I had on my cone. Apparently I ate a fly that got stuck in mine without even knowing it was there.
A group of cute kids who were having gelato as well. It was fun to listen to them laugh and joke with one another, even though it was in Italian and i had no idea what they were saying. I asked the boy about his shirt but he just had it because he liked the color.
One last view of Trieste as we sailed away that evening after having thoroughly enjoyed our day.
Loved the caves and the castle! That gelato looked sooooooo good!
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