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The Brothers Do the Balkans

Castle and Cave

Southwest of Ljubljana is Predjama Castle, a stunning 16th century fortress stuck right in the mountainside. None of us had ever seen anything like it - really unique.

A family photo on the drawbridge entering the castle.

Dad and the kids on another drawbridge - this one inside the castle leading to a cave that goes through the mountains to the valley on the other side. Any enemy trying to attack would need to breech both drawbridges and tackle the cave before getting anyone worth ransoming. I'm deterred just thinking about it:)

After visiting Predjama Castle, we drove a few kilometers to the UNESCO Skocjan caves. These were, without a doubt, one of the highlights of our visit. This entire area of Slovenia is called the Karst region, named such for the highly porous calcite rocks in the area which has allowed an extensive development of caves over the past 100,000 years.

We waited for our 3:00 tour by driving around the area. We didn't know this at the time, but we were driving around what is known as dolines: water drains through the rock from the surface, creating the caves underneath. After awhile (OK, millenia) the weight of the surface caves in, creating a doline. Ooooh....		Wind-formed gours by the entrance of the cave.
Stalactites in the cave are as tall as 15 meters!	The cave was well lit and the kids were never once afraid. Our guide did cut the lights once to give us a feel for BLACK as only nature can provide.	The Reka gushes underground through the cave. We crossed a suspension bridge and were absolutely breathless as we watched the power and magnitude of nature at work.
	The river Reka emerges from the mouth of the cave and tumbles onward another few kilometers before going underground again, only to reemerge 40 kilometers away in Italy! But the best part was the funicular ride we got out of all that!!

Serbia

Belgrade Welcome and Kalemegdan
Kalemegdan Fiesta
Two Churches and a Princess's Mansion
Serbian Dinner
Hiking the back roads
Manasija Monastery
Walking to the Waterfall

Slovenia

Lunch and a wreck
Ljubljana

Castle and Cave
Piran

Croatia

Porec
Rovinj and Pula
Rabin and Opatija

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