Day 6

Day 6

Despite the late end to the previous day my internal alarm had by this point been irreparably changed and I was up at seven. After an underwhelming, and somewhat surreal, breakfast, surrounded by young women all over six feet tall who had arrived in the night to take part in an European wide under 21 women’s basketball tournament, I wondered off, feeling a little like that year at school when all the girls had suddenly shot up past us boys, to book another night and explore Postojnska Cave, home of the Man Fish, newt which had brought me here.

The remarkable cave system in which this troglodytic creature has evolved is huge and has become a major source of tourist income for the town of Postojnska. Resulting in it becoming something of an amusement park.

The cave park

I was told to park in the staff parking are on arriving and avoided having to pay for parking.

The pretty park entrance 

It became apparent that I had arrived just as the park was opening so I had a coffee, weighed my options, and decided to visit the vivarium only, rather than take the underground train ride or visit the castle in a cave which were also part of the entertainments available. In my notes for the day I find, “paid 8 euros for the vivarium, rip off!”

I descended into the cave to find that flash photography was not allowed so the following is the best shot I got of the wondrous little beast I had come to see.

The grey squiggle in the centre is the Proteus newt

A surprising bonus to the visit was the inclusion in the admission of the butterfly collection. I had been quite unaware of the hub of lepidoptery Slovenia is and was pleasantly amazed to find such a large collection of quite extraordinary butterflies.

Slovenia, not just lots of butterflies but bloody big ones!

By 10 am the long day before had caught up with me and I returned to my hotel room for a nap. I woke late in the afternoon and wandered out to have a quick look around the rather industrial rest of the town.

Downtown Postojnska

A rather unexpected line up 

I was surprised to find the South African band Die Antwoord touring the town, and then found a very familiar sight. The Cafe, with the bikers.

The scene could have been anywhere I had been, bikes pulling in and out, coming from and head to rides. Just as I had found all along my journey, people chatting bikes and trips. I made the obligatory round to see what was parked up and just to be amongst the familiar, even if they weren’t speaking my language, then headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day’s adventure.