Zadar, Croatia - Ribcev Laz, Slovenia

An early start today.  No, really.  

On the road by 7:30am for our big drive up to Slovenia.  Usually we have been arriving at our destination and then heading out the next day to see a sight.  This time we thought we'd stop at a sight that was on the way and then proceed to our destination and arrive later in the day rather than earlier.  (This would prove to be a error that would come back to bite us in the bum a few days later. More on that later.)   

Anything to declare? - "yes. I've lost mind"

We whizzed along a brilliant highway at 140kms/hr for quite an uneventful trip.  It seems that after 2 months the kids may(?) have got the hang of this driving-to-places caper.

Crossed the border and the Croatian border guard asked us if we had anything to declare "alcohol, cigarettes?".  

"No" I said only to hear Harry from the back yell out "Dad, what about that Rakija we have".  (A present of home made firewater from my Uncle to my Dad that we are carting all over Europe to bring home.) 

Much shushing and death glares at the boy and then me casually looking back at the border bloke and saying "no, we don't".

Village of Skojcan - foreground is cavity
where the river runs underground  

Had to endure a nail-biting 3 or 4 second stare off with the guard before he waved us through.  

Arrived in plenty of time for the 1pm tour of the Unesco listed Skojcan Caves which is an underground limestone system featuring the usual stalacmites and stalactites and also one of the largest underground canyons (150m deep) in the world.

River entering cave system

The caves and the canyon were great and because it is late in the season there were only about 13 of us on the 90 minute tour.  (We'd read that in summer the groups can be as large as 150.)

Cave exit

After that we drove about 30 kilometres to Predjama castle which is built into the cliff face and unlike any of the other castles we have seen thus far which are normally perched atop some rocky outcrop.

It was only 15 minutes to closing so we just walked around the outside and got some photos to prove we were there.  

Drove on for another 90 minutes and arrived in the dark at our apartment at Ribcev Laz which is a small village next to Lake Bohinj.

Predjama Castle