ADRIATIC TREASURES: Postojna Caves, Truffles and Fritaja

This trip has been an exciting blend of castles, cathedrals, country villages, ancient cities, and now one of the highlights for me, Postojna Caves.  We got started very early this morning to beat the crowd of mostly European tourists.  This is a "subterranean world of caverns, halls and passages some two million years in the making!"  In fact, it feels very much like an underground world of mystery, light, shadows and beauty.  This cave is a 24, 340 meters long karst cave system in southwestern Slovenia.  We began our exploration on an electric train, and at times I could reach out and touch the wet walls of the cave.  The lighting accentuated the gorgeous stalactites and stalagmites.  A truly thrilling experience!

At the conclusion of our trip through the caves, both in the train and on foot, we were serenaded by an all male Slovenian chorale (except they included one lone soprano) who sang so beautifully in the magical natural acoustic.  I will never forget this experience. 

If that wasn't enough adventure for one day, we next visited a family owned truffle farm, complete with truffle sniffing dogs.  We followed the dogs to watch them find these underground delicacies.  It was so wonderful to pet the pups, too. 

At the conclusion of watching the truffle hunting dogs, we enjoyed an absolutely delicious lunch of scrambled eggs and truffles, with a side of grappa, of course!

Hmmmm truffles!  They don't look like much, but oh so good

This is a young dog who was more of a lover than a hunter!