The Postojna caves are a bit of a tourist trap. The tat outside is laid out nicely, lots of restaurants for snacks and shops to buy your souvenirs in, but it is still a bit touristy. And they rip you off for the car park! We had to queue for an age to get the tickets, and were pestered by staff trying to sign us up for the "four-in-one" tickets for all the extra bits you don't really want to see for a "discount". I'd rather some of those extra staff manned the ticket desks so I didn't have to wait so long.... We got tickets for the 2 o'clock kick off, so grabbed a quick bite in the "Self-service restaurant" - nice! Then went and queued again to get into the caves. Nice British queuing.
At the end of the train ride, the three train loads of us separated out into different languages - since our slovene is still pitiful, we joined the english language one. It was an exceedingly large group, and although the guide tried to talk to us it didn't really work with so many people. We were told not to take pictures, so tutted at those around who were doing it. The walk was up and down through a lot of large caves, with lots of pretty rock formations, different colours and shapes. It went on and on and on. Probably the largest caves I've ever been in. Of course, Richard said "seen one cave seen them all".
It was a little cool in the caves, so after the train ride back, I was very pleased to get out into the sunshine and warm up!
Although it was getting on in the afternoon, we decided that since we'd been "persuaded" into a multi-ticket including the Predjama castle we might as well scoot down the road and see it. It was well worth it. Not as touristy as the caves (although we got ripped off for 1 euro for the loo!), it is a fabulous castle built right into a rock face, using the caves behind as extra space and a secret way out for when they were under siege. We spent an enjoyable hour going up and down the stairs investigating all the nooks and crannies, and getting a taste of liquor in the cellar!
After all the stairs, it was getting late so tootled off back towards Bled, although ended up as Richard put on his blog stopping at the cinema in Kranj to see the new Spiderman film. Popcorn was good value too - only 1.50 euros. I think we might have to visit again for the Batman film!
The last couple of days we've been sorting some more chores - we found the health centre yesterday and signed on with the doctor. That was interesting trying to find the right person to talk to, and no forms to fill in - much less red-tape than back home. At least they all speak reasonable English, or we'd have been stuffed. I also bought a slovenian sim card for my phone to reduce the costs, so have a new number now. Today, we've spent a big chunk of time planning and booking our first travels from Bled. We are going to Piran at the seaside next week for a couple of days - I want to be able to have a nice fish dinner with wine and not have to drive home! Then the week after we've planned a trip to Bosnia. We are going by train, as my car insurance doesn't cover for Bosnia. We are going to stay a night in Zagreb on the way there and back as the train trip from Zagreb to Sarajevo is a long one. I don't think Bosnian trains are very modern. So we get to see Zagreb, Sarajevo and Mostar. I'm looking forward to it, although we will be careful and avoid the landmines, I promise!
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