Wet, wet, wet

Tuesday 17 September

It's bucketing down rain and there has been some lightning. Been going all night. Looks pretty widespread too looking at the weather maps. A PERFECT day to "sleep-in" or at least sit up in bed and pay the credit cards :):):) It is certainly a day to be grateful for the car - we have just spoken with 2 cyclists from the US who are going to the station to catch a train ...

Late breakfast which was quite a pleasant one; even had cooked eggs. Had a nice chat with Davo on Face-time.

Done the washing (by hand); bathroom looks like a Chinese laundry. And My Friend has organised a late check-out. Hopefully the weather will improve ...

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Great day!

We both went to the Technical Museum of Slovenia back at Bistra and found it fascinating! Spent over 2 hours here - and by no means saw everything. The displays went on and on - everything from advances in medical equipment, medieval milling and wheel-making, an exhibition that showed the development of computers, power generation, the development of the chain-saw, an extensive display of fauna (stuffed), the evolution of forestry, electrical engineering exhibits, etc. In fact, we were "over it" by the time we called it quits and STILL hadn't even seen Tito's cars. But we DID see them.

Now, for the technically-minded (which I'm not! but this should appeal to Knud!): this 1937 armoured car was given to former Yugoslav President Tito in 1945 by Stalin and Tito used it until 1959 to travel through Yugoslavia (and even India & Burma).

The gardens are also lovely.

This used to be a Carthusian monastery.

And the rain had stopped and  the sun was starting to come out so I jumped on the bike and ‘raced’ the 4 kms or so back into Vrhnica and then toiled the 7 kms uphill to Logatec where I thought the climbing was finished only to find that my off-piste choice = narrow, quiet, hilly roads, sometimes with tractors, etc. (still, a better choice than the main road with the traffic).

The road was also chopped up with potholes at times, but eventually I got a couple of nice downhills and even reached 40 kms/hr into Laze where I joined My Friend for a coffee. And then had more UPhill (!) into Unec.

Here, about 10 kms from our destination at Postojna, I chucked the bike into the car and we drove on in together. The weather was amazing given how wet it had been this morning! It had been such a nice ride after Logatec - the hills weren't that bad! - through forests. Probably only about 30 kms but it was nice to get out and having the car made all the difference as the weather earlier would have made things very difficult for today otherwise; the car allowed the option to spend the morning at Tito's museum and wait out the rain.

We split the effort required to check-in, park the car AND get to the Postojna Caves - all in half an hour so as to make the 4 p.m. entry to the caves (there was only the 5 p.m. entry left for today). We made it with 5 minutes to spare and had an amazing tour - probably the best caves tour I have seen anywhere (and I have seen a few!).

It is a Karst cave system over 20 kms long. A train took us 5 kms underground to the main cave system. I reckon there were 2 or 3 hundred people on this tour - and tours ran every hour. My Friend's photo:

No wonder it is said to be THE most popular attraction in Slovenia.

We got out about 5.30 p.m. and returned to our accommodation (a very nice apartment) to get the car to drive to Predjama Castle about 10 kms away just before the light faded. Predjama Castle is a Renaissance castle built within a cave mouth and perched high up on a vertical cliff. Quite amazing!

So, a BIG day.All in all, an excellent day: much achieved despite the very wet start.

 And the evening was so beautiful (although cold!). This is My Friend's photo (it is better than mine!).

We have just had dinner at the restaurant attached to our apartment. Excellent service, wine and food. I had to have a Gibanica for dessert again (but the one at Julija in Ljubljana is still the winner). The wine was a 2009 cab sauvignon - Monvi. Very good.

I am starting to feel FAT!