Postojna Cave
After leaving the city of Trieste, next stop was the country of Slovenia and a town called Koper. Before exploring there however, a bus trip to the Postojna Cave, to see one of nature’s most wonderful sights had been planned.
The Postojna Cave is like being in another world, another planet. To my mind it was all the alien landscapes I’ve imagined while reading science fiction over the years, put together and come to life. Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne was a book that captured my imagination when I was a kid, and this visit brought that memory back.
An open-topped train transports you underground at a fair rate of speed, winding its way ever deeper. You imagine any second you will crack your head of the rock, making you duck down on numerous occasions until finally disembarking and beginning what is quite a walk through the caves until arriving at a second rail track to take you back to the surface. It is the world’s first railway in an underground cave, with the track opening in 1872. The journey is 3.7km long. The walking part of the tour is just over a kilometre, so you cover nearly five kilometres in total. There have been many famous visitors to the caves since 1819, for example, Mozart, who viewed the caves in 1820.
It is believed that this cave started to form three million years ago out of seventy million year old limestone. The dripstones grow incredibly slowly over thousands of years, as water dripping from the ceiling deposits calcium carbonate creating stalactites (which hang down) and stalagmites (which grow up). Many of these are huge, with the stalagmite nicknamed the ‘Skyscraper’ standing at 16 metres high. Columns are created when a stalactite and stalagmite meet up. There is a bright-white stalagmite called ‘Brilliant’ five metres tall, alongside an impressive looking column. The water slowly dripping down the stalagmite leaves a thin layer of flowstone, which gives it its white colour. This is one of the highlights of the tour along with ending up in the huge chamber known as the Concert Hall. It covers an area of approximately 3,000 square meters and can hold up to 10,000 people. It is the largest chamber in the cave.
The temperature is typically around 10 degrees celcius so being in the cave for around one and three quarter hours means you need to be wrapped up warmly. My fingers and toes were numb by the time I came out into the sunshine. It contains the World’s only post office housed in a cave, and if postcards are still your thing, you can send one from there.
You would think life wouldn’t be possible in such a harsh environment, but there is. Lizards – baby dragons as locals hundreds of years ago referred to them – have developed here and there was the opportunity to see them. These Olms are eyeless, have pale almost translucent skin, four limbs and ten digits (three on the front limbs and two on their hind feet) and can go without food for up to ten years and have a lifespan of up to 100 years. This area is their main habitat, and the Olms are a fantastic example of how life can thrive in what would appear impossible conditions.
As an example of what nature does over a timescale of unimaginable proportions, it is an astonishing creation to see and one worth visiting if ever in that part of the world.