11th June: Postojna Caves

These caves are one of the top attractions in Slovenia. They have been visited since the Middle Ages, and there is reputed to be a cave signature dated 1213. It is now not visible. Others, that you can detect, date from the early 1800’s. But don’t try signing your name these days- it’s long since been banned.

The Gallery of Signatures, as it is called, is at the entrance to the cave system and houses the vivarium displaying creatures that live in the caves. It’s mainly small bugs, but there is also a most unusual animal on show, the Proteus Anguinus, a type of salamander. It’s the largest permanent cave-dwelling vertebrate known to man.

Now you’re expecting something about 10 feet long- but it’s only about a foot. What is so odd about it is that it’s a fish with legs! The photo’s slightly fuzzy because the light levels were very low, but then all the best weird photos are out of focus. Have you ever seen a clear photo of a flying saucer or a ghost?

The cave visits proper starts after an underground train journey of 3 km. The carriage seats resemble garden furniture. You duck, as low rock overhangs and tunnel roofs threaten to hit the top of your head; of course it’s an optical illusion.

A guide walks us through about 1 km of the 20 km cave complex, but it’s the most impressive bit. Low light levels make it difficult to portray the scale of it all, but the tiny images of some of the people in our group are visible in the middle left of the next photo.

There are the usual stalagmites (grow up from floor) and stalactites (grow down from ceiling). Some of the stalagmites especially were huge, twenty or thirty feet tall. Some were in curious sci-fi figures, as in the photo.

All the fantastic shapes can be whatever your eye wants to make of them. This next one seems to suggest a great pile of skulls.

Below, these could be small skins hung out to dry.

 

The final chamber is the Concert Hall, a huge cavern where concerts are held occasionally. There is provision for 10,000 seats, just to give an idea of size.

Parts of this immense underground space were used by the Nazis in the last war to store ammunition. Perfectly safe this far underground, you might think. The black marks are still visible where the munitions dump was blown up by the Yugoslav Partisans after they got wind of it and could carry out the deed.

Postojna Caves, spectacular and memorable. Postojna Town, ordinary and forgettable.