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On October 2nd, 2016 I woke up in a real-life castle, how exquisite was that? Y’see, m’lady and I were amid a splendid European vacation and we had been busy tromping through Slovenia when she took advantage of a hotels.com credit (that she had been awarded following an elongated telephone complaint stemming from a stay in New Orleans) to surprise me with what worked out to basically a free room in a 15th century castle. The place was amazing. It had been converted into a five-star hotel with about a dozen rooms, a stunning courtyard, a world-class restaurant, and moated grounds that were swelling with swans and other organic niceties.
Again I ask you: how exquisite was that? The answer is (of course): all the way. All the way exquisite. But that’s not what this story is about.
No, this story is about a different castle altogether, one we visited once we left the comforts of our own. Of course we castle-dwellers like to get out once in a while to visit the other castles in the neighbourhood. It’s what one does.
And so we set out through a drizzling day and stopped briefly at Zuzenberk Castle, which had been converted into a nifty local art-space and was mostly open-air, or in this case open-rain, so we didn’t linger. Hence, this story isn’t about that castle either. Nor is it about the near-death experience that I caused and experienced when our little rental car failed to make an unexpected turn and I ended up careening along in the wrong lane of the road with another car coming at us. My steely nerve and unnerving stolen luck got us out without a scratch, leaving us free to arrive safe and somewhat sound at Sneznek Castle.
As we approached the formidable structure a memory struck me…was this not the site of the dormouse festival? We walked up to the ticket booth and confirmed that yes, this was indeed the home of the quirky annual rodentfest and whattya know, it had taken place just yesterday! I was so disappointed to have missed it that I didn’t even feel like touring inside, so m’lady and I did a walkabout of the beautiful grounds while I licked my wounds, and we soon got back on the road.
So this story isn’t about that castle either. Nor is about the coolest castle I’ve ever seen (and you know us castle-dwellers…we get around…) the Castle In The Rock at Predjama, an incredible structure that can be seen in Game of Thrones and several other cellulite wonders, as we had decided to save that one for the following day.
But now, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, allow me to introduce you to the day’s featured attraction, the headlining act on the bill and the primary reason I have called you here today, the largest of it’s kind to be found anywhere on the European continent and an attraction visited by spelunking thrill seekers from around the globe, I give you: Škojkan cave.
Yeah, okay, it was just a cave. But it was a pretty cool cave. The best part was the lit walking path that snaked through the enormous space passing the countless stalactites and -mites. It looked so very cool winding along the seemingly endless pit and lighting up the sheer walls and crevices that the path clung to.
A definite highlight of the walk was crossing over a narrow footbridge that dangled ninety metres above the jagged floor of the cave. It was cool, dark, quiet, and exciting in an Indiana Jones sort of way.
Outside we were happily surprised to find a funicular that would take us back up to the visitor’s centre, though before boarding we noticed a sign pointing to a path that led away from the funicular which read simply, “Worth Seeing”. Of course we couldn’t resist such a mysterious beckoning and we were soon rewarded with a stunning view of the canyon from a pretty hilltop lookout.
That was the only time I saw such a sign, which is odd. From what I could tell Slovenia should have had “Worth Seeing” signs all over the place.
Did I mention that I had woken up in a castle? That was pretty freakin’ cool.
Todd Man Out 