When getting
to the area of Skocjan Caves Regional
Park there are couple of alternatives when it comes to visiting the site.
We had a pretty good idea of which one we wanted to go for and sort of kept
trying to find the exact one, but I wish we knew then that we should’ve just
gotten to the first one we passed by. And here is why: although following the
given roadside signs and navigator, we ended up making a huge loop on the
surrounding hills and never made it in
time. Long story short, as we arrived to the right entry to the underground
caves, the last tour of the day had left about 15 minutes ago! You can probably
imagine our disappointment as we were advised to come back another time.
So what exactly did we miss out on? In a nutshell: the
Skocjan Caves are a rare subterranean cave complex, that’s not only listed
and recognized by UNESCO, but also noted as one of the world’s wonders amongst places like Grand Canyons or Australian Coral Reef. In effect, they represent one
of the largest underground canyons in the world and offer various geological
elements including the gorge of Reka
river. Obviously, not to be able to make it
here on time was slightly upsetting. But again, that’s all part of
travelling and you just need to move on to the next good thing. Besides, there is always another time (although when
you have travelled across Europe to be in front of the entrance gates, you’re
more likely to be temporarily pissed off than reasonable)!
On
the bright side, we accidently wound up driving along one of the famous wine routes of the Karst region- and
quite honestly it wasn’t too bad either! Unexpected things are sometimes just
as good.
We
approached the Adriatic coast around 7pm and got stuck to what seemed to be a
long traffic jam, and we could just spot the sea on the horizon. Luckily, the
majority of people were heading over to the Croatian border and we got to cruise
down to the seaside on an empty road (thank
you Croatia!). I must say we were thrilled to be back at the very same
coast as we had been the month before, and we were so excited to assimilate the
challenger of Croatia– Slovenian Istria
(also known as Slovenian Riviera)! The country that possesses only a good 40 km of the
coastline. We were going to explore one of the main three towns, Piran, located just at the tip of the Piran peninsula.
Again,
traveling in August proved to be a bit of a pain in regards to free space and
vacancy, as all the places were packed (and most of the time for campgrounds there
is no possibility for booking in advance). The first place we tried to get in
was full, and so we ended up driving along the beach strip for a couple of
kilometers (via Portoroz). At the end of it we came across to a
huge camping site with bunch of free spots. The location was good, as we could walk to the town the next day (there was also a shuttle between Piran and Lucija). That
night, we strolled around the beach boulevard Obala that was filled with hotels, shops, restaurants, bars and
vacationers. If I’d compare this place with Croatian counterpart, my first observation
would be the demographics- lots of
domestic people spending holidays here (which makes sense as their coastline
isn’t all that long), and perhaps bit less
foreign tourists. The second would be the price level, which to our surprise
was pretty similar to that in Croatian side. Surely, we felt that Slovenia was slightly cheaper than Croatia, but in the end of
the day the gap’s not that significant anymore.
The next day the
walk along the beach strip through Portoroz was pretty long, and the hot sun
didn’t ease that at all. We weren’t quite sure how we felt about this place so
far; it was super crowded, touristy and pretty concrete. For
staying at the beach, it probably wouldn't really correspond to our ideal spot.
But as we started to see the first glance of Piran, we were totally on board-
the red and green 'lighthouses' framing the cutest little port and the medieval
town with terracotta rooftops! The town is actually located at the tip of a
peninsula and has a Franciscan monastery on a hill just behind the city center. What a gorgeous setting!
The absolute highlights of Piran
include the picturesque Tartini square
with its colorful buildings, the Venetian
style architecture, the tiny little alleys filled with authentic vibe, the beach boulevard with its restaurants
(and swimming right along it), and the walk up to the old city walls
to get the views down. We really enjoyed this place, and along with Ljubljana, our
hearts really melted for these pretty Slovenian towns!
No doubt, that all these vivid towns in addition to the small rural villages and nature we had seen on the way, had left us with the urge to go back one day to explore more-
perhaps to discover the mountainside?
This
road trip though, was taking a new direction to Bella
Italia and to one of the most fascinating places in Europe – The Cinque Terre.
TIPS & LINKS
Find more info here.
Piran (Pirano in Italian)
Find more info here.
Note: Italian is widely spoken in the region, especially in Piran.
Find more info here.
Find more info here.
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