JUNE 2014 : EASTERN EUROPE : Slovenian walk : Day 7 : Tomaj ( sightseeing walk )

                               

Day 7 : From our farmstay in Tomaj we caught a taxi to the Lipica Stud Farm and Academy and then walked 3 and a half hours to Skocjan Caves for an hour and a half tour.

Weather : sunny, mid 20s

       

        The entrance to our farmstay, Skerlj.

 Breakfast : fresh peach and apricot juice, fruit, fresh ricotta, French toast smeared with honey and flaked pumpkin seeds seved with their own prosciutto, warm bread with homemade cherry jam and coffee.

We arrived at Lipica Stud Farm for a 10 am tour and demonstration of trianing regime and dressage. It was founded in 1580 and prides itself on the breeding of the Lipizzaner White horses. Their academy is respected with the likes of those in Spain and Vienna.

The complex is large with stables, many paddocks with pristine white fences and for the international tourists - hotels, casino and golf course. Big business.

We then took our instructions and started to walk to Skocjan Caves. It wasn't long that we realised that we were on the wrong forest track but with our trusty compass we headed in the right direction, finding a minor road to the next town and then meeting up with the proper track, reaching our destination 20 minutes before the 2pm tour. This creature distracted us for a time. We are not sure what it is. The family here say that it steals eggs and grabs hens by the throat, but they don't know the English name.. Possibly a European Pine marten. Thank you Google.

This donkey greeted us along the way.

                                         

We visited the Postojna limestone caves on Sunday. 21kms of beautiful stalactites, stalagmites.

The Skocjan Caves are a whole new ball game. It is not the huge commercial operation of the other. 

This poster demonstrates the huge limestone river network under this region. At one stage we were 60m below the car park, shown on this diagram.

The Reka River flows through this region to Trieste but it is only visible for short sections. It heads down the limestone caverns and is 240 m underground in some parts of its journey.

After 3+ hours walking I was looking forward to a train ride through the caves but it was obvious from the outset that this was an extraordinary area.

                                

It is composed of numerous caves and passages, collapsed sinkholes and natural bridges. There are some limestone formations but the remarkable features are the vast caverns. This one, which felt like something out of Lord of the Rings, was 100m underground. It was discovered by cavers in the 1850s and opened in 1933. Caving and canyoning are very popular as much of the system remains unexplored.

                                        

The River Reka flows from the surface into the limestone or karst underground until it reaches the Adriatic Sea.

                                        

This is the Mala dolina or sinkhole. Originally it was a massive cave (note some of us to the right) but through earthquake activity the roof collapsed to create a huge void.

                                       

Walking around the interior of the sinkhole you can see many caves and areas to explore.

We had pre-arranged for a taxi collect us from the caves and headed for the pool after quite a tiring day. We were delighted that we could fit in both activities today, and happy with our pace to ensure that we were on time.

A welcome drink of the farm's produce. Rose and Teran.

The Skerlj family after a busy day working on the farm.

M&M

20/6/2014