Today we boarded the bus very early in the morning at 7:30 am for our scenic tours of Postojna, Koper, and Piran. After driving for about an hour and 30 minutes, the first stop on our list was the Castello Di Predjama in Postojna. This castle is truly unique in that the castle was actually constructed in the side of a cliff with caves underground and a jousting field outside. Unfortunately, the castle doesn’t open to the public until July so we weren’t able to tour inside. So, for the benefit of the people who couldn’t be here with us, below is a picture of what the castle looks like.
We then moved on 9 km down the road to Postojnska Jama or in English, the Caves of Postojna. The cave is over 10 km in length and as a result we had to take a 6 to 8 minutes train ride into the heart of the caves. Our tour then took us into large chambers with thousands maybe millions of stalagmites, stalactites, and pillars that were once river beds, over a bridge constructed by WWI Russian POWs in 1918, into several large cage areas known as red room, white room, spaghetti room, and concert hall. We were also able to see the famous for that area amphibian, the “Human Fish” or salamander. After the tour we took the train back to the surface were Professor Jukic decided to nap and students shopped for snacks and souvenirs.
Next stop on our trip was on the coastal town of Koper were we walked around the town and had lunch before our winery visit. Some tried the kalamari (speleed that way here), chicken fillets, pizzas, pomme frites, and beer. We then moved on to Vina Koper winery where students were given a guided tour of the wine cellars. Thousands of wooden barrels flooded the floors with wine. The largest barrel holds 41427 liters but unfortunately due to rotting it is no longer being used. We then moved on to the wine tasting, the students favorite part. We tasted three wines, a 2008 Capre Malvazija dry white wine, a 2009 Refosk Rex Fuscus red wine, and a 2009 Sladki Muskat dessert white wine with bread and cheese. We then followed the wine tasting with shopping, my favorite, with some of the very wines we just tasted being offered. This winery is also unique in that you are able to purchase wine from pumps like at a gas station. Photo shown below.
Winery Picture
Our last stop of the day was Piran where we could actually see the coast of both coastal neighboring countries, Croatia and Italy. Upon arrival some students decided to jump in for a swim and some chickened out. Picture shown below. Piran has a very relaxing ambiance and as a result, we just strolled around town lazily taking in the sights and seeing how the locals interacted with each other. After a long day of walking and seeing the sights we headed back to the M-hotel for dinner and another night out on the town. Until next time, Dober Viche (Good Night).
--Christianne A. Gosling
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