Divača (Škocjan Caves)

I went back up the karst today. This was intentional. After studying the accommodation situation near Škocjan Caves and the transport timetables, I had decided that the best way to see the caves would be as a day trip from Koper, despite the expense of a train ticket to backtrack.

While waiting for the train, I studied the bus timetable for the crossing to Italy. I would be coming back here after seeing the rest of the coast. It seemed that they went every two hours on Italian Working Days. I hoped that the following Tuesday was a IWD and not some holiday I didn't know about.

Slovenian trains are modern and comfortable. I found it interesting that the authorities seem to have sanctioned spray paint artists to decorate some carriages.

One drawback of backpacking in Slovenia is that unless you have your own transport, some attractions are hard to get to because they are kilometres away from the nearest transport stop. And being a small country, services can be infrequent. So anything under 5km I was willing to walk.

At Divača I couldn't find the walking trail claimed by the guide book to be signposted from the station. So I walked alongside the country road to the caves complex. There was no shade but I was more worried about careless drivers sideswiping pedestrians. Anyway I got there in 45 minutes, so it would have been about 3km away. I was in time to join the 12 noon session.

The Škocjan Caves are much more spacious than the Postojna ones, and much less well lit as a result so I only got one picture of the inside. You will find better pictures at the Wikipedia article.

The guide explained the fascinating history of the cave's discovery and its geology. The Reka River disappears into this cave and flows underground for 34km before emerging as one of the sources of the Timavo, a very short 2 km river north of Trieste, in Italian territory, that empties into the Adriatic. Of course, the river had been there long before the nations of Italy and Yugoslavia came into being.

It certainly deserves its inscription in the UNESCO World Heritage list.

This is the cave opening where we emerged, many metres below the entry level. We took a small funicular up to the entry hall.

I took lunch in the cafeteria. I had a schnitzel, but no contorno accompanied. But at least there was bread. It was enough for a warm day. After that I visited a couple of open-air museums in the nearby village of Škocjan. There were displays about farming life in this region in the past and the discovery of the cave.

I asked the staff about the walking path back to Divača and they showed me the way. It was a stony path, but at least there was some shade and it was a welcome change from walking along an uninteresting country road. I emerged at a village near Divača and realised where I had missed the turn going out. I was indignant at my guide book and was mentally composing a complaint letter about false information, when I noticed at the station platform a small plaque bearing a map that I had missed. Sigh.

Back at Koper, between the train station and the hostel, there were not one, but two discount supermarkets side by side, both German in origin. One was a Hofer, the Slovenian brand for Aldi and their competitor was a Lidl. Same concept as the Aldis at home, similar layouts, and even similar Chinese-made knick-knacks. I tried one of the 70% dark chocolate bars and it was quite good.

There was a Harvey Norman in the shopping centre. It looked just like the ones at home, with sections for whitegoods, bedding, electronics, etc. I later learnt that HN is in Slovenia due to the owner's marriage connections.

I had spotted an Interspar self-service cafeteria in the centre and decided to dine there, inspite of having to eat earlier because of the opening hours. With the help of the Slovenian glossary in the guide book, I managed to make sense of the bill of fare posted at the entrance. So now I could read the tags on the dishes in the bain marie. I'm such a genius, I am, heh heh heh.

Well, you can guess that I was headed for a pratfall. When I got to the serving counter, all the dishes were different. Either the bill of fare was out of date or I had been translating the lunch menu. Fortunately the person ahead of me had just received what looked like crumbed chicken and potato puree. So I indicated (in Italian I seem to recall) that I wanted the same. I then got some salad from the self-serve bar and a bottle of beer. It was quite a good dinner for 4€43 so that was the bright spot.

Koper

Breakfast cost 5€ extra, but I didn't mind because it was plentiful and filling, with frankfurters and eggs available. Since the train wasn't due until 1023, I watched a bit of TV and checked my email in the lounge. Even so, I had time to kill at the station. As the line approaches the coast it has to lose a lot of altitude in a short distance. So there is an impressive zigzag section where you can see where the train was a few minutes ago higher up.

The area around Koper's combined train and bus station is flat, boring and treeless industrial land outside the old city. It was several hundred metres walk to the Motel Port and I was glad I had my floppy hat against the midday sun. I eventually found it in the upper floors of a port facility building that housed shipping companies, retailers and such. Nearby, container trucks were noisily arriving at and departing from the docks. That explained the name of the motel/hostel. There was a bar in the next block so it could get noisy at night. But the dorms were airy, bright and clean. I had a whole dorm to myself while I was there.

Even by 1830, it was still too warm for my taste. I was back on the Adriatic coast so skies were clear and the sunshine brilliant. It was close to the peak of summer after all. I found the way into the old city more or less by luck and explored all the squares and narrow streets mentioned in the guide. This is the Praetorian Palace in the principal square.

Koper's other name is Capodistria which reveals its Italian origin when teased apart as Capo d'Istria (Head of Istria). It once had a sizable Italian community but most left when the area was given to Yugoslavia in the aftermath of WWII. I daresay many moved across the border to Trieste which was given to Italy. However the Italian influence lingers in the region in the street language, bilingual signs, and fortunately for me, the cuisine. In 2007 Koper celebrated a 50th anniversary.

I found the La Storia restaurant, where I had the eponymous gnocchi with chicken, rugola and only half a cherry tomato! And tomatoes are a mainstay of Italian cuisine. Were they very expensive in Slovenia? But the dish was good. Like being back in Italy. Service was slow because the place was understaffed but I didn't mind because I had a good view of the marina area.

I got a gelato (what else?) for desert on the Leather Maker's street. It was much cooler on the walk back. There wasn't any truck traffic at that hour but lots of merrymakers at the drinking establishment downstairs.

The RAI3 channel was showing Il Commissario Rex. It was an episode I had seen before. Rex got kidnapped (or should we say, dognapped) by the baddie.