Postojna Cave: best cave system we have ever visited

Although Phillip and I have been in Ljubljana, Slovenia, for over 48 hours now, my first post from here has to describe the Postojna Cave tour we took yesterday. Postojna Cave is Europe's largest cave adapted for tourism and the Cave system was hands down the best caves we have visited, ever. We've been in caves in Texas; karst caves in Halong Bay, Vietnam; salt mine caves in Poland; underground river caves in the Philippines; and others. Postojna Cave was the most spectacular for its diversity of formations, cavern after cavern after cavern of formations, and layout of the tour experience. 

Postojna Cave began with the gradual dissolution of limestone rocks by acidic water, giving birth to vast underground chambers and intricate passages.  The cave was first described in the 17th century by a geologist, although graffiti inside dated to 1213 indicates a much longer history of use. During the 19th century, Postojna Cave gained international recognition and became a popular tourist attraction. With the construction of walkways, Postojna Cave officially opened its doors to the public in 1819. In 1872, cave rails were laid along with first cave train for tourists. At first, these trains were pushed along by the guides themselves. Later at the beginning of the 20th century, a gas locomotive was introduced and after 1945, the gas locomotive was replaced by an electric one. We rode the train over a km into the cave system and then back out after walking 1.5 km (over a mile) on twisting paths thru the cave.

on the train at the loading area

The cave comprises several chambers adorned with breathtaking stalactites, stalagmites, and other unique formations.  The cave system is 24 km long, with only 5 km open to the public. We traversed, on the train and on foot, the 5 km of the public cave system. 

We saw stalactites, stalagmites, spaghetti and curtain formations and the largest dripstone formations in the world (50 feet). We had an audioguide, but after the first two audio stops, we didn't use it consistently as we were just awed by the formations we were seeing and couldn't hold the audioguide and take pictures.  Here are some of the pictures I took, but they really don't do the caves justice, 2 x 3 inch images of the immense caverns that filled our entire field of view during the experience. 

This was the "spaghetti" chamber. Notice the spaghetti-like stalactites coming from the ceiling. 

pool of water with limestone building up along the edge

Although our tour group only included fifteen people, we went into the caves with about 50-60 other people as a larger group led by a park employee. Phillip and I worked our way close to the rear of the group, where it was less crowded as we took pictures. At one point, however, we tallied too long and got too far behind the big group. The lights are on a timer, set off by the first motion of the group and the last motion does not turn the lights back on if they have timed out. Yes, we had to scurry along the trail in the dark at one point to catch up. That only happened once. A moment of panic ensued for me that kicked my feet in gear to stay closer to the group, even though we could see the lighted area in the distance.

We've seen other Slovenian sights, but Postojna Cave was so much our favorite that I made a post solely on it. More of Slovenia to come.