Caves, Another Castle, and More in Slovenia

Slovenia is a small country but has a lot of different terrains and natural features. Chrissy has shown you some in the city in Ljubljana and the lake and mountains in Bled, but it also has numerous systems of caves and we visited the most popular one at Postojna.  You can see part of the cave above, but since there is not much light down there and you can't use a flash it can be hard to get a good shot.  Still it's a remarkable place to visit that includes a train ride from the entrance deeper into the cave and a walk around the truly massive place.  There are even salamanders that are native to the cave that are white and can't see but they only have to eat once every seven years because of their metabolism.

Speaking of caves, we also went to Predjama Castle which is built into a cave.

Predjama was built more for defense and protection and never really as a place to live.  The caves inside provide a natural escape route into the mountains. 

Notice the castle walls on one side and the cave walls on the other.  Here's the view to the outside from the top of the castle/cave:

And a look out from part of the castle where you can actually see:

We did row out to the island as Chrissy mentioned was the plan in the last post.  Here she is in action:

In the church on the island there is a rope that you can pull to ring the bell.  They say if you can make it ring three times with one pull your wish will come true or you will have luck in love.  I managed more like one ring with three pulls.  It was really hard. 

Here we are at the steps leading up to the church on the island.  If you get married in Bled the groom is supposed to carry the bride up all of the steps on their wedding day for the marriage to be prosperous.  It's unclear how often this actually happens.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who sent along a birthday message or video.  I really appreciate it.