Slovenia is not Slovakia (Ljublanja, Skocjan Caves and Lake Bled, Slovenia)

By Jed

A common local joke in Slovenia is that tourist often confuse Slovenia with Slovakia, which is probably a pretty accurate joke.  In case you have the same, common confusion that I had as well, Slovenia is just south of Austria and used to be part of Yugoslavia while Slovakia is south of Poland and used to be part of Czechoslovakia.  We first made our way to the hard to spell/pronounce capital city of Slovenia, Ljbuljana.  Ljublanja was a surprisingly quaint and cool city full of cafes, trendy bars and a very funky neighborhood decked out in odd art and graffiti.  They are also obsessed with dragons in the city...dragons are everywhere, including on their local beer bottles.  But the real gem of Slovenia is the UNESCO heritage caves in Skocjan.  

We were looking forward to exploring some caves for a change of scenery,but  we were unaware of just how spectacular they would be.  There are two sections you can explore, one of which requires you to go on a guided tour.  We weren't sure why this was required, but once we got inside we understood.  The caves were dark, wet and absolutely massive.  Although there is a fence, if there were hordes of people wandering aimless around, you could easily see a disaster waiting to happen.  

This is one of those sites that is hard to describe with words, and even pictures can't come close to doing it justice, but we were in awe of these enormous underground caverns.  In sections, it is as big as 400 feet wide and 500 feet tall!  At one point, you have to cross a tiny metal bridge that is suspended hundreds of feet in the air.  Not good for my fear of heights. Although I like to use our own pics, unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside the main cave (which didn't stop one Italian tourist who was yelled at 3 times and was chewed out in front of the whole group). Thus, here are some photos of the main cave stolen from other people on the internet who either got permission or snuck in a few shots (click to enlarge): 

Our last stop in Slovenia was Lake Bled.  Unfortunately, it was either rainy or overcast during our couple of days there.  We still got in a nice hike, up a pretty torrential path full of steep, muddy hills and broken trees.   Despite very dirty clothes and realistic fear of tree limbs landing on our heads, the view at the top was definitely worth it.