All the old news, but not fake news.

Wednesday 25th April. The car park for Postojna Caves had a campervans area with water and mains hook up. So we were able to get into the caves for a reasonably early tour commencing at 11.00. We were in the English-speaking group which was almost exclusively Chinese although many of them were obviously American Asian and there were a few Indian Asian there as well. We boarded a narrow-gauge railway with an electric engine which took us 4km into the cave system through natural tunnels, caverns and some man-made tunnels. We then had a 30-minute tour around some vast caverns with a spectacular array of stalactites / stalagmites of every shape and size. Although much more in quantity then Cheddar there was not the same colouration due to the mineral content being mainly ferrous and aluma giving the formations a rusty or black colouration. When we left the caves, we tried to find out information about bear sighting trips. In this area the European Brown Bear has been saved from extinction and is now thriving around this area of the forested lower Alps. In spite of some contacts given to us by the restaurateur last night we were told a certain amount of preplanning is reservations are necessary and consequently a nonstarter. In the afternoon we went to Predjama to visit the castle there which is constructed actually inside a cave. Slovenia’s Robin Hood character who really existed – Erazmus Leuger was besieged here in 15th century and during the Austro-Hungarians wars. He was able to withstand the siege due to a secret passage out of the caves and even taunted the troops below by lobbing fresh cherries at them. However, they had the last laugh as he was hit by a cannon ball in the nether regions while sitting on the long drop kazi which collapsed around him. We left Predjama to go to Piran on the Istrian coast but found the nearest campsite was along the coast at Strunjan. Thursday 26th April. The camp site at Strunjan consisted of mainly wooden chalets which were a mixture of permanent homes and holiday homes. The restaurant on site was very good value and we enjoyed some fish at a reasonable price. Our aim today was to explore the little peninsula on which the towns of Portoroz and Piran were situated. As Piran prohibited cars from the city centre we went off on our push bikes, skirted around Portoroz and enjoyed a day exploring mainly Piran an attractive fishing port with Italianate, architecture including a rather splendid square dedicated to the towns most famous son Giuseppe Tartini a renowned 18th century composer and violinist, a fact that somehow has passed me by. The square was originally an inner harbour which was filled in during the 1800s and paved as a marble square. Our return cycle route took us along the coastal path to the next bay and then the most challenging hill which was a long walk pushing the bikes but then had a nice high speed reewheel down hill to the camp site. Friday 27th April. We set off today to cross into Croatia. There was a border control between the 2 countries even although they are both members of the EU. We drove to Rijeka but found the camp site was closed until 1st May, as it happens this was to our benefit and instead we went south along the coast and found a site on the edge of Optija at a place called our Icici. In the evening we walked to a shell decorated restaurant for supper. Beautiful spot Lovely view of sea from van.