Postojna Cave: making a dark and cold cave child-friendly

My obsession with Postojna Cave started in 2010 when I moved to Croatia. Wherever I go and whenever I look in Croatia, there's advertisement of Slovenia's Postojna Cave. The worst thing was actually the fact that we didn't manage to visit the freaking cave since 2010. So when we finally did this trip, my husband made fun of me every single day for the week, sending me pictures to my cell and leaving me leaflets of the cave everywhere, in my purse, on the dining table, in the car compartment... that was lots of fun for him.

Postojna Cave is not even the most essential cave system of Slovenia, although it's indeed the most famous. The bigger and more important cave system is Škocjan Cave, which carries the title of UNESCO natural heritage site -this is on our list for next destination.

On the day of our departure I was ecstatic. My husband asked me whether after all these years my expectation of the cave had built up so high I might be disappointed when I finally see it.

I felt the need to prepare babygirl well for the trip. Caves are dark, wet and cold. A scary place for a toddler. I wanted to enjoy the experience, and the last thing I wanted is a toddler screaming and wanting to get out of it in the middle of the tour. She really liked Oziđana pećina Cave we visited in Krka National Park (about that trip here) but Postojna Cave is way bigger than Oziđana pećina, it's 24 kilometers long (5 kilometers are open to visitors -which is a huge surface for a cave). Then I remember how she really liked the bats and bats story in Oziđana pećina, so we decided to reactivate the bat-mood two days before the trip to Postojna. We told her we're visiting bats' house -although there's no bats in Postojna Cave, but she has the idea of a cave as the house of bats. This story got her super excited, to which her dad spiced up with the story about human fish (Proteus anguinus), a very rare species live in Postojna Cave.

Who wouldn't be impressed with such a natural wonder?

We arrived in Postojna at around 11am and got the tickets (I didn't manage to buy them online, but it would've been cheaper -you could buy here). We paid €32 per person for my husband, his mom (she was visiting us in Ljubljana so we took her) and myself for a combo of the cave and Predjama Castle (story about this Castle in the next post), and €2 for babygirl -this price for up to 5 year old. The organized tour (we took the English group) started at noon so we had the time to have coffee and buy babygirl a little magnetic miniature of the human fish (they don't sell bats, of course).

Beautiful limestone: the kind of view seen during our train ride

40 visitors made up our group, led by a guide called Sandra. Except babygirl, there was only one other child in the group, but she was a small baby sleeping in a carrier. So obviously, my toddler was the loudest creature during the 1,5 hour tour. I mean, she's naturally loud, plus the good acoustic of the cave? Oh how she entertained the whole group with all her (super loud) comments -the ones like: "mama where are the bats though?? oh maybe the mommy bats and the daddy bats are working now so the baby bats are in the daycare. That's why there's none here, right??"

The path of the walking tour: easy, safe and child-friendly

We entered the cave by the electric train which drove us around 2 km. What can be more exciting to toddlers than train?! Temperature fell drastically as we drove into the cave -it's constantly around 10 degrees Celcius inside. We were ready with jackets, babygirl even wore her rubber boots so she could walk comfortably even in paddles. But if you don't have warm clothes, don't worry, they rent coats for €3.5. After we got off the train in the Great Mountain hall, we continued the tour walking (around 1.5 km), while our guide lady explained about the history and the nature of the cave, the creation of stalactite and stalagmite, the development of the cave and the ecosystem in it. We walked through the Russian bridge, the three most famous chambers -the spaghetti chamber, the white chamber and the red chamber,  the tunnel that lead to Pivka cave, the most beautiful stalagmite called Brilliant -which as well the symbol of the cave, the aquarium with some human fish in it, and ended up in the concert hall (oh the great acoustic of the concert hall!) where the train drove us back outside through slightly different route from the one we entered.

The "gothic" and "brilliant" stalagmite, the two most famous stalagmites, which are also the symbol of the cave

The aquarium I mentioned, with the human fish, was also a highlight attraction for babygirl. We saw at least three big human fish in it (they're averagely 20 centimeters long) and learn some interesting facts -that they live up to 100 years and could survive without food for up to 10 years!

When we got out of the cave, the rain was pouring. Babygirl was hungry so we decided to have lunch in one of the restaurants in the cave park complex called Jamski dvorec. Babygirl and I shared pumpkin soup and spaghetti bolognese, my husband got roasted porcini mushroom with salad and my mother in law got autumn risotto -with turkey and mushrooms. Once we're done with lunch, which was very good, at a fair price of around €10 per person, the rain stopped, so we walked back to the car at the parking lot (which cost €4 for the whole day).

So, if you've been thinking about going to a cave, but afraid your toddlers would not like it, don't worry! If you prepare them right, they could actually love the experience. Our did! Caves (even the big ones like Postojna) could be child-friendly too :)

As for my high expectation my husband questioned about, did the cave actually meet it? Absolutely. 

Slovenian coast: Ankaran, Izola, Portorož and Koper

Although we thought we're officially done with this year's summer vacation (read the post about our summer vacation here) now that we're in Ljubljana (read the post about the reason why we're in Ljubljana here) we decided to spend one weekend at the Slovenian coast. Slovenian coastline is only 43 kilometers long so we basically saw most of it in one weekend. It might be short, but doesn't mean it needs to be missed, right?

For financial reason I booked us a hotel in Ankaran, which came out much cheaper than hotels in more famous areas such as Portorož or Piran. We got a triple room at Hotel Arija for €55 per night with breakfast, in a resort complex with private beach, outdoor and indoor pools, children playgrounds, restaurants, basketball and tennis courts. It's just a little more than an hour drive from Ljubljana so we drove off right after my husband's done with his work on Friday afternoon.

Babygirl and her dad dipped themselves a little bit in the sea before the sun completely set, when I realized that I lost my new bathing suit -which we bought along the way because I forgot to pack myself one- then we just rested and spent the evening in the hotel.

After breakfast the next morning they ran off to the beach for a swim, then realized that the water was just way too cold and decided to dip in the outside pools by the beach that were filled with sea water -I was still without bathing suit.

Babygirl and her dad's game in the pool. Obviously looking way too dangerous for me.

Around noon we headed to Portorož, around half an hour drive from Ankaran, to grab have some lunch. We chose a family restaurant by the beach called Prego, where babygirl and I shared spaghetti with seafood (with huge prawns that amazed her) and her dad had grilled calamari. After a long walk along the coast full of hotels and casinos, we sat down for coffee and ice cream next to a playground where babygirl played with slides and tunnels.

Around 3pm we headed to Izola, a small coastal town on the way back to Ankaran, because my husband wanted to visit the maker of his childhood favorite canned mackerel (in tomato sauce) produced in this very town -the brand called Delamaris. But of course we didn't check their working hour, and their official shop closed few minutes before we arrived. We sat down in the oldest bakery and cake shop in Izola to have frozen yoghurt and izolanka, a signature dessert of Izola which is vanilla cake filled with layers of vanilla and chocolate cream, orange cream and walnut.

The beautiful old town of Izola

After the cakes we walked through the beautiful old town and witnessed a wedding that was going on in the main town church. The town itself looks similar to most old Italian towns in the Croatian part of Istrian peninsula, hilly, narrow passages, full of colorful stone houses with the main church and a main tower in the center, all looking onto a small port where fishing boats are docked. I got myself a bathing suit in a small shop here (finally!) so when we came back to our hotel we all went swimming in the salt water pools until sunset.

The view of sunset from our hotel backyard

After breakfast the next day we continued the salt water pools routine until noon, and we decided to go to Koper after checking out from the hotel. The hotel staff told me nicely that even though we checked out, we could use all hotel facilities (pools, sauna, gym) until the end of the day if we wished too, which was nice, but we made up our mind already about Koper.

Koper is the main trading port of Slovenia. It has an old town part like Izola, but it's mainly industrial. My husband works mainly for transport infrastructure -like ports and railways- so he wanted to visit the port since the first time we got to the country. After seeing around we grabbed fried sardines and fried calamari for lunch. As babygirl was asleep on her dad in the carrier, we decided to head back to Ljubljana immediately. It was a day of parliamentary election of Croatia, so my husband needed to go to the Croatian embassy to vote -to which he previously registered for voting outside his residential address.

Following our short visit I personally think the Slovenian coastal towns are, although a little underestimated, worth to visit. One might not find turquoise colored sea with crystal clear water like in the southern part of Adriatic sea (the part you'd find in Croatia), but the towns are beautiful, local people are welcoming, and you can eat (and drink!) really well in this area.

Would you move abroad with a child?

I did move abroad. Six years ago. For good. But I didn't have a job then. I didn't have a child. Would we move abroad, now that we're a family, with jobs and a mortgage? Honestly, we probably would.

We don't have any good reason yet to move for good -like that dream job offer, for example, in some place warm by the sea. But there are some shorter terms options, like secondment my husband might someday get, or longer-term research I might have to do for my study in some other country. Sounds exciting, right? You get to live for some period in a new environment you're not familiar with, take your child to new parks -maybe even find a new daycare, explore the new city in a new country, visit everything, eat everything along the way?

Or not? Would it be too scary? New language, cultural and climate shock for a child?

This week, though, we began an adventure in some sort of a new home for the next three months. My husband got some kind of fellowship -more similar to short term secondment, to work in the same office but in different city and country: Ljubljana, Slovenia. Babygirl and I joined him now for a couple of weeks, then we'll be back in Zagreb because I need to go to work for some more weeks, then we'll be joining him again in here.

Enjoying Tivoli Park (with ducks and squirrels) in the heart of Ljubljana

Before coming here, we told babygirl all the time that we'd be moving into a new apartment in a completely new city. She didn't seem to care. She didn't seem to listen. Until one day in the last week in Zagreb, she got upset for some reason, and got into a fight with me. In her frustration, she actually yelled "I want to go to Slovenia right now!" :)

Slovenia might not sound "abroad" to most Croats. Ljubljana is literally two hour drive from Zagreb. But I can tell you that the experience for babygirl is priceless. She realizes that the people here speak different language -which she doesn't understand. The easy part is, most Slovenes understand our language (Croatian), but we don't understand theirs. Everyone is too kind and would speak back to us in Croatian. She notices small things which she figured out by herself, like when she pointed out how the buses in Ljubljana are white (they're blue in Zagreb), how the garbage trucks are white (green in Zagreb), how there are squirrels everywhere (she's never seen them before so that's super exciting), how the police officers are on horses, how the banknotes look different, and plenty of other things. It might sounds silly but these are actually amazing facts when a 2-year old actually made an observation and conclusion by herself.

Exploring Ljubljana, while waiting for daddy to come home from work

We spent our first day home adjusting (although we could tell babygirl is settled in the new apartment from the first hour we got in), then I took her to Tivoli Park on the second day. When we found one of the many playgrounds in Tivoli, she excitedly asked "is this my new daycare?" I had to explain to her that we'll be here only for a short period of time and that she won't have to go to a daycare, but I could see that she took the idea of "living in other country" very well.

One of the playgrounds in Ljubljana zoo

I decided to take her to the zoo on our third day, which turned out to be a great experience. Ljubljana zoo is smaller than Zagreb zoo, with less number of species, but I've got to say I like it better. There's no cemented area, no asphalt, no industrial cages. Everything is built in line with the natural habitats, trekking paths are just like in the real woods, animals have plenty of open space and children playground are all built with natural materials and colors.

We saw leopards, tigers, different kind of apes, giraffes, camels, zebras, elephants, brown bears and many other animals, and her favorite were: the seals! We had to go back to the seal pond at least three times, and she made me buy her a stuffed seal in the souvenir shop.

At this point I don't know yet what we're doing tomorrow -I'm thinking maybe the castle (funicular ride!) or botanical garden. Whatever it would be, I'm sure we'll enjoy our stay here. So babygirl, welcome home for the next three months! And you, we'll keep you posted of our adventures :)