When getting to the area of Skocjan Caves Regional Park there are couple of alternatives when it comes to visiting the site. We had a pretty good idea of which one we wanted to go for and sort of kept trying to find the exact one, but I wish we knew then that we should’ve just gotten to the first one we passed by. And here is why: although following the given roadside signs and navigator, we ended up making a huge loop on the surrounding hills and never made it in time. Long story short, as we arrived to the right entry to the underground caves, the last tour of the day had left about 15 minutes ago! You can probably imagine our disappointment as we were advised to come back another time.

So what exactly did we miss out on? In a nutshell: the Skocjan Caves are a rare subterranean cave complex, that’s not only listed and recognized by UNESCO, but also noted as one of the world’s wonders amongst places like Grand Canyons or Australian Coral Reef. In effect, they represent one of the largest underground canyons in the world and offer various geological elements including the gorge of Reka river. Obviously, not to be able to make it here on time was slightly upsetting. But again, that’s all part of travelling and you just need to move on to the next good thing. Besides, there is always another time (although when you have travelled across Europe to be in front of the entrance gates, you’re more likely to be temporarily pissed off than reasonable)!

On the bright side, we accidently wound up driving along one of the famous wine routes of the Karst region- and quite honestly it wasn’t too bad either! Unexpected things are sometimes just as good.

We approached the Adriatic coast around 7pm and got stuck to what seemed to be a long traffic jam, and we could just spot the sea on the horizon. Luckily, the majority of people were heading over to the Croatian border and we got to cruise down to the seaside on an empty road (thank you Croatia!). I must say we were thrilled to be back at the very same coast as we had been the month before, and we were so excited to assimilate the challenger of Croatia– Slovenian Istria(also known as Slovenian Riviera)! The country that possesses only a good 40 km of the coastline. We were going to explore one of the main three towns, Piran, located just at the tip of the Piran peninsula.

Ljubljana was definitely one of those places that took us by surprise. Although it is the Slovenian capital, it’s a relatively small-sized town, which gives quite a unique touch to it. Not to mention it’s surrounded by mountains and the nature is literally a stone’s throw away. What impressed me the most in this place though, is that it is filled with subtle, almost humble beauty that isn’t all that famous – it’s really like a rough diamond. And in spite of its size, the city has such rich cultural supply!