Sloveenia päev 5/day 5

 

Hommikune seltsiline

22.07 Hommikul andsin jalale natuke puhkust ja jätsin Pirani või Portorozi uurimisretke vahele.

Teel Postojnasse

Ees ootas natuke pikem (ja kiirem :) ) sõit sisemaa suunas. Portorozist välja liikusime väga rahulikus tempos, ummik oli mitme kilomeetri pikkune aga lõpuks see ahenes ja ees ootas kiirtee. Kella 13ks olid ostetud piletid Postojna koobastesse ning enne seda tahtsime Predjama kindlusega tutvust teha. Voucheri sai piletite vastu vahetada Postojnas, seega esimene peatus oli seal. Edasi 9 kilomeetrine sõit Predjamasse.

Julge töömees

 Predjama loss on kantud Guinessi rekordite raamatusse kui kõige suurem koopas olev loss. See on ehitatud koopa suudmele kaljusse, mis on juurdepääsetav praegusest jalakäijatele mõeldud teelt. Ülejäänud maastik on tunduvalt madalamal. Lossi on mainitud juba 13. sajandil.
Enne kui jõudsime lossini tekitas elevust ühe hoone katust puhastav mees. Ta ei olnud millegagi kuhugi kinnitatud, liikus oma tossudes mööda katust ning muudkui pühkis harjaga. Teisele poole hoonet jäi sügavik.

Predjama loss

Vanaaegne tualett

Piletimüüjalt  saime audiogiidid ning asusime teele. Predjama pakkus küllaldaselt uurimist, toad olid enamjaolt ligipääsetavad, kalju ühe sisustuselemendina andis võimsa efekti. Audiogiid jutustas lossi ajaloost, meie liikusime tubasid uurides järjest kõrgemale. Ühel hetkel tabasin ära eesti keele. Kokku olid meiega lossis uudistamas vähemalt kaks väikest gruppi eestlasi. Ühed ehmatasime vist natuke ära kui isa korrus kõrgemalt kajava häälega rääkima hakkas ning alumised ei saanud aru, kust hääl tuleb (ja vist ka, miks see eesti keelsena tuleb).

Puuviljapitsa

Lõunapausi tegime Postojna keskuses, seekord Pizzerija Minutka ja põnev puuviljapitsa.

Veidi enne ühte olime tagasi Postojna parklas. Koobaste sisemuses on temperatuur aastaringselt 9-10 kraadi juures, saime spetsiaalselt selleks kaasa võetud soojemad riided välja otsida. Meid jagati keele alusel (meile jäi inglise) kahte gruppi ning selle järgi kahte rongi.

Postojna koopad

Postojna koopad, spagetisaal

Rong alustas oma teed koobaste sügavikku kordagi peatumata, tekkis juba mõte, kas meid sõidutataksegi ainult ringi millelgi lähemalt peatumata. Kokku ca 24 kilomeetrit koopaid, sõitmist ju teoreeriliselt oleks. Aga varsti oligi peatus, kus meid rongilt maha juhatati.

Selgus, et olime sõitnud 2km, jalgsi saime läbida 1.5km ning pärast uuesti 2km rongiga tagasi. Giidi selgituste saatel saime imetleda seda võrratut ümbrust. Koopa lae ja põhja kõrguste vahe on jahmatav. Mõelda kuidas esialgu ainult küünlavalgel uuriti ja avastati, eluga tagasi väljapääsu suunas liiguti, rajalt eksimata. Praegu on koopad valgustatud, välguga pildistamine on keelatud, see häirib looduslikku tasakaalu. Olime natuke esimesest punktist edasi liikunud kui koopad mattusid täielikku pimedusse. Giid väitis, et näitamaks kui tume seal esialgu oli. Igatahes super kogemus.

Tartini väljak, Piran

Postojna koopad (Postojnska jama) on Pivka jõe poolt voolitud ca 24 kilomeetri pikkune karstikoobastik. Selle moodustavad koopad, saalid ja galeriid. Koopaid kirjeldas esmakordselt 17. sajandil Johann Weikhard von Valvasor.

Piran

Kiirteed mööda lõunasse tagasi. Mõtlesin endamisi, kas ummik on nüüd teises suunas ja pean tõusval teel meetri kaupa edasi liikuma. Õnneks sellest pääsesime.

Piran

Natuke puhkust ja värskendav suplus meres. Jätsin vanemad Pirani ja Portorozi piirile merevaateid nautima ning kontserti kuulama ja suundusin uuesti Pirani.

Seekord õhtuvalgus ja linn täis inimesi. Käisin ringi Pirani tipus, uitasin kõikvõimalikes suundades vanalinna tänavatel.

Piran, teel linnamüüridele

Piran

 Ei tahtnud uuesti suurt tõusu linnamüüride poole ette võtta ning leidsin ühe ilusa trepi. Sealt kulges teine trepp, mida mööda liikudes avastasin ennast uuesti linnamüüride eest. Kell oli nende 9. Arvasin, et järjekordselt vale aeg aga õnneks müüridele lastigi täpselt 9ni, teiselt poolt alla sai nii hilja kui vaja. Oleksin kindlasti eelistanud hommikust valgust aga vaade oli ikka võrratu.

10.9 km, millest 9.5 õhtul Piranis :)

Morning companion

22nd July. I let my knee rest in the morning so I skipped my exploration of either Piran or Portoroz.

On our way to Postojna

Slightly longer (and faster) drive up north was ahead of us although moving out of Portoroz took quite some time due to heavy traffic. That cleared out after some kilometres and we were on our way. I had bought Postojna Cave tickets for 1 pm and wanted to go to Predjama castle first.

A "crazy" worker

Predjama castle was entered into Guinness Book of Records as the largest cave castle in the world. It was built in a cave entry, caved into rock. People can reach the castle from a path leading to it. The rest of the surroundings are considerably lower. Predjama castle was first mentioned in the 13th century.

Before we could even reach the castle we saw a man cleaning a roof of a building (thing). He was no attached to anything, just moving around wearing his trainers, sweeping the roof, abyss on the other side. Creepy.

Predjama castle

We got audioguides from the ticket office and were on our way. Predjama castle had plenty to see, we could look into the rooms, cave walls as a part of the interior design were astonishing.

Kitchen sink

Audioguide told us about Predjama`s histoy as we moved from room to room, getting higher and higher into the cave. At one point I noticed someone speaking Estonian. In the end we saw at least two tiny groups on Estonians. Father managed to spook one group by speaking loudly in Estonian a floor up from the others. They did not seem to understand where that voice came from (or why was it in Estonian).

Fruit pizza

We had lunch in Postojna centre in Pizzerija Minutka and this time a curious but quite tasty fruit pizza.

We were back at Postojna parking lot before 1 pm. The temperature in the caves is 9-10 degrees all the year so we got to fish out warmer clothes we had brought especially for that occasion. We were divided into two trains according to our language. 

Postojna caves

Postojna caves

The train started its way deeper and deeper into the caves not stopping once. At one point I wondered if we were only being driven aroung without actually having time to look around a bit closely. Portojna has approximately 24 kilometres of caves, so theoretically that would have been possible. At last the train reached its destination and we were led out of it. The guide informed we had driven 2km and got to walk for 1.5km to drive 2km back again. With our guide we got to admire that amazing wonder. To think how people first discovered the cave and moved around having only candles as their light. How people managed not to get lost. Now the caves are illuminated. Taking photos using flash is prohibited as it disturbs the natural balance of the walls. We had moved a bit from our fist stop when the caves were entirely benighted. Our guide claimed it was to show us how absolutely dark it was there. Brilliant experience.

Postojna caves (Postojnska jama) were created by the Pivka river. They are approximately 24km long karst cave system. It was first described by Johann Weikhard von Valvasor in the 17th centiry.

Piran

Highway back to Portoroz. I was thinking to myself it the traffic jam from morning had reversed so I would have to drive one metre at a time moving up a hill. Steep hill. Luckily that was not in the cards for that day.

A bit of rest and another refreshing swim in the Adriantic Sea.

I left my parents somewhere between Piran and Portoroz to enjoy sea views and a concert and headed back to Piran.This time evening light and town full of people. I reached the fartherst end of Piran, wandered in the streets in all possible directions.

Piran

I did not want to take on the steep ascent to City walls again so I found a lovely staircase. That led to another staircase. Suddenly I found myself facing the walls. As it was 9 pm (for them) already, I thought I was too late again but the ticket office was just ending the day so I got up. The exit is open one way so people could take as long as they desired. I would have preferred the morning light but the view is gorgeous nevertheless.

10.9km (out of which 9.5 in Piran :) )