Summer-Ends.de

CAVE DE PREDIL, ITALY: On our last day in Slovenia we drove over the pass back to Italy and to Cave de Predil. Surprisingly there was a mine to visit which was also open that day. Until the nineties lead and zinc was mined there, but today the mine is closed and can be visited. On the way back we passed some fortress buildings. Some of them were visibly over 100 -200 years old and were hardly accessible.

BOVEC, SLOVENIA: During our stay in Slovenia, once again a rest day of hiking was planned and filled with excursions. This time we went to an open-air museum which we had seen from the car and which was near Bovec. The museum is free of charge and shows some remains of the trenches of the Isonzo front of the First World War.

Afterwards we drove the few minutes towards Italy to Kluze Fortress where we wanted to visit the Hermanns Fortress. The fortress is about 200 m above the Kluze Fortress and has a direct view into the Bovec valley. To get there you have to go through an impressive tunnel and an old military road up the mountain next to the Kluze Fortress.

The Hermann Fortress was already outdated at the beginning of the First World War and therefore it looked rather shot down. However, there is still quite a lot left and testifies to its former mightiness, on top of a mountain in a strategically important position.

Vršič Pass, SLOVENIA: After we have been in the area of the Vršič pass a few days ago, this time we want to go up the mountain on the opposite side. But this time we had no real information where to go. I had the information on my openstreet map that it could go to a mountain called Nad Sitom Glava without any problems.

So like the other hikers we first walked the main track to the left and then turned up to the right in time. From then on we were on our own. As we later found out, we had turned too early, but still a path went through bushes and over scree. It was a bit difficult to find the right way from below but we finally found it.

The path was quite steep and should really be taken by experienced hikers. At the top there is a ridge after which it goes steeply down. If you want to go down you have to be careful not to slip on the way so steep it is.

POSTOJNA, SLOVENIA: During this recreation day we went to the UNESCO World Heritage Caves of Postojna in the south of Slovenia. The Postojna Caves are huge and have large rooms with an infinite number of stalactites. There are also many animals that live in the caves. These include the largest underground living animal, the olm, but many more.

We started in the morning and reached Postojna after about 150 km at noon. Interestingly, there was not so much going on and we each got a ticket for the next tour. The tour goes in the cave first by train for about 10 minutes and then by foot for some kilometers.

There you can visit the numerous stalactites and different rooms. We additionally booked the entrance to the animal exhibition and could see the Grottenolm and many other animals like spiders, fishes and snails that only exist in caves. This animal does not get to see anywhere else. The entrance fee was with approximately 25€ per person quite high, but also worthwhile for such a big and important cave. After that we stopped at some places on the way back.