Things to do while in Slovenia.

1. Last night I saw a couple of films at the 9th International Documentary Festival, namely The 10th District Court: Moments of Trials and Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis.

2. Keeping up with my homework. Well, that's not exactly a "thing to do" for some visitors.

3. On Friday we joined a group traveling to Park Škocjanske jame, to visit the Škocjan Caves. With over 7,000 caves in Slovenia, Škocjan is likely the most impressive. The cave system is made up of enormous "rooms" that rival even the largest of cathredals. Massive stone curtains polished smooth from thousands of years of erosion graced the walls and innumerable stalagmites adorned the cavern floor, clustered together like little stone forests.

The Reka-Velka river runs through the caves, forming deep gorges all throughout the system. As we followed our guide, we entered a long cavern tunnel, hundreds of metres above the raging river below, and followed a trail spiraling down the gorge to a bridge spanning the unearthly depths, ending at a spectacular waterfall. The trail skirts along a massive wall following the river, leading to the cave's mouth.

I've been in caves before, but never in one this size. The colours are remarkable: shades of red, brown, and green are everywhere. Knowing that mineral deposits induce these colours is a fine enough explanation, but that doesn't render the caves any less wonderous.

We scrambled back to the train station, which takes about half an hour, and just as we arrived our train just pulled into the station. During the walk back we were worried we would miss the train.

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take any pictures while inside the cave, but I'm sure you can find some decent pictures online. Lisa did manage to take some shots of the surrounding area: