Anna and Rebecca were very excited to put on new, clean clothes today, despite the fact that the luggage fairies seem to be non-existent. At least Jen is making a good effort to not rub in the fact that she has a selection of clothes from which to choose. We may have slept later than expected due to the overindulgence of spirits the night before, but that may have made our pastries from the local bakery taste that much sweeter. Our first stop of the day was the Postojnska Jama, a cave right here in Postojna. It’s the Disney World of cave visits, complete with a train ride into the heart of the cave! It’s the biggest cave system in Slovenia and we saw a wide variety of stalagmites and stalactites, a few “spaghetti halls” with spindly stalactites hanging from the ceiling, and several curtains of rock. Plus we got to see the elusive “human fish,” which is a blind salamander-like creature that dwells in caves in pretty much only this part of the world. It’s kinda creepy looking.
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| We're in a cave! |
After we finished at the cave, we headed up the road a bit to see Predjama Castle. It’s built into a cliff wall and has a series of caves underneath. It was once the home of Slovenia’s version of Robin Hood, only he stole from the rich and kept for himself. He met his untimely death thanks to a well timed cannon ball shot to the outhouse. We trusted Rick Steves that the inside of the castle wasn’t worth seeing, so we continued down the road.
Our next stop was Idrija, home of the 2nd largest mercury mine in the world. At one point, it provided 13% of the world’s mercury supply. Unfortunately, we did not do our research very well and arrived at the museum an hour after the last mine tour left. We found the mine from the outside, but had missed our second underground opportunity for the day. But luckily, the city museum did an excellent job of providing an overview of the mine and its effect on the town, and the city museum was in a castle that served as the mine administration for about 500 years and currently has a music school. So we looked at displays about the Idrijan resistance movement during WWII while listening to accordion lessons happening down the hall. Plus, we were able to view some of the famous Idrijan lace (Jen and Anna even purchased some). The town museum also had an artistic display of quicksilver, so it’s practically like we went into the mine itself. We’re thinking our next vacation should be to Spain where the world’s largest mercury mine resides, also a UNESCO heritage site like the Idrijan mine…
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| Artsy floating mercury/quicksilver. |
We drove back to our lodgings in Postojna to discover that Anna and Rebecca’s luggage had still not made an appearance. After tonight, we have only one more day in Slovenia for our luggage to catch up with us before we leave the country for Croatia. We drowned our lack-of-luggage sorrows in pizza, 2 liters of wine, and a dessert calzone filled with Nutella and topped with whipped cream. Small consolation, but it will have to do for now!
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| We hoped the gold at the end of this rainbow over Idrija would be our luggage, but sadly, no. |
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