Postojnska Jama is even more fun to visit than it is to say! This 20 plus kilometer series of caves is among Slovenia's most visited attractions. While Slovenia's karstic land means there are plenty of other caves in the country, the caves at Postojna are the biggest and most explored to date. These caves were formed about 3 million years ago by the Pivka River, which flows below the caves today. Because the entrances to the cave are so far apart, the temperature is a chilly 8 Celsius/46 Fahrenheit year round.
Visitors are able to see about 5 kilometers of the cave at Postojna. The first 2 kilometers are experienced on a train ride. If you are over 6 feet tall, you're going to want to duck from time to time! The train takes you under a few low ceilings and through multiple massive caverns. At one point, the ceiling is oddly and suddenly black. During WWII, Germans and Italians occupied the area. Russian POWs built bridges inside the caves. Some Slovenians discovered that the Germans were storing fuel in the caves and so they sabotaged the fuel supply. The resulting smoke charred the ceiling.
After the train, tourists assemble by their preferred language and a guide leads them for a walk in the cave. There's a good and steep incline for the first several minutes leading to the top of Great Mountain and then it's pretty much downhill or flat from there.
There are three main galleries: spaghetti, white, and red. The spaghetti gallery is a cave with so many little stalactites, it looks like a million strands of raw spaghetti hanging from the ceiling. The white gallery (pictured below) is made of pure limestone, hence the brilliant white. And the red gallery is that rusty orange-red due to the presence of iron oxide.
Among the approximately 90 species living in the caves is the proteus, commonly called the human fish. So nicknamed for their pale white color, the human fish has perfectly adapted to cave life. They live for about 100 years, can go 5 years without eating, and have no eyes. They're kind of creepy looking, like some invading species out of a cheap sci-fi movie! It's hard to get a photo of them since a camera's flash is apparently damaging to their light sensitive skin. They're only 20-30 centimeters long when fully grown and are amphibious. In fact, they are not fish at all but salamanders, though Slovenians like to say the human fish are actually baby dragons (more on Slovenia and dragons in an upcoming post!).
The final stop is called the concert hall. It's 3,000 square meters and has a capacity of 10,000. In the 1800s, concerts were often held here because the acoustics are so favorable. The problem was that because the air is so saturated with water, wooden instruments like the violin would expand after absorbing so much water, altering the sound, making instruments nearly impossible to keep in tune, and strings would often spontaneously break. Concerts were revived in the 20th century once electricity was brought to the caves. This time the problem was that because water drips from just about everywhere, electric speakers would often short and, on a few occasions, people were electrocuted (though no one ever died, the guide assured me). Today events are held here from time to time including acrobats and basketball tournaments.
At this point, everyone reboards the train for a short ride to the exit. The train passes some familiar spots before taking a different route. The train comes to a stop where the Pivka River emerges. Seeing how fast and strong the river is, it's not hard to imagine it carving out this extended network of caves over time.
My ticket included entrance to the Vivarium which, also inside the caves, has some great exhibits on the cave dwelling wildlife.
Don't believe the gift shop: you don't want to cuddle with a real human fish.
