Slovenia (3)

10 - 19 Sept 2025

A Farewell to Arms

On Wednesday the good weather gave up on us and we had torrential rain. We drove to an aire near the Postojna Caves and rushed off to book tickets for the afternoon. To while away the morning we spent a good hour at the Hotel Jama in the Secret Rooms, which were discovered during the renovation of the hotel and turned out to be hidden rooms used by the Yugoslav military and secret police to listen in to conversations. No photography allowed here because they are .... secret. The visit to the caves was fantastic; it began and ended with a 15 minute train ride, with a 60 minute walk between. The sheer scale of the caverns, stalactites and stalagmites was awesome. 

From there we moved on to Predjama Castle, only a few kilometers up the road. The castle was built into the rock face and is therefore quite different. An interesting audio tour explained how one siege had been endured for more than a year because supplies were brought in via secret passages in the cave behind the castle. There were lots of photo opportunities here.

We then travelled on to a site near Portoroz on the very limited coastline of Slovenia, for the next five nights.

On the coast we were close to the town of Piran, which we visited a couple of times by bus, exploring the lighthouse, churches and city walls. 

We also cycled to the nearby Secovlje saltpans, which is one of the last Mediterranean salt pans where the salt is extracted manually. As the salt harvesting takes place between June and mid September it was not the best time to visit but was interesting regardless. There was a glorious sunset one evening which we viewed from behind our cameras.

Salt pans

The next stop on the journey was the stud farm at Lipica, where the famous Lipizaner horses are bred and trained. We had a very comprehensive tour around the site and an afternoon show where some of the horses displayed their dressage skills. That evening we had an epic thunderstorm lasting a couple of hours, when the lightning flashed and thunder rumbled continuously.

The following three days we were based in Kobarid where there is a museum dedicated to WW1 and the battles fought in the Soca Valley on the Italian Front. There was also a very detailed section about how the Yugoslavian partisans helped downed American airmen to escape the Germans which made fascinating reading.

We explored part of a walking trail, taking us to a waterfall, along some of the Walk of Peace to the Italian Church and Charnel House, where more than 7000 Italian casualties, some named, many unknown, are buried.

Kozjak Falls

Italian Church

On our way back from the waterfall, we passed a most welcome trail marker:

Which led to a young guy in a hut, who was providing beer and soft drinks at no fixed charge; you just gave him "tips". He explained that this is quite legal, and avoids a lot of bureaucracy.