Slovenia: Europe in Miniature
Published in The Straits Times, 24 December 2017:
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/europe-in-miniature
The roar of rapids gets louder. I tread cautiously on the narrow, slippery walkway, dwarfed by spiny stalactites and soaring stalagmites that rise as high as 15m.
I peek nervously over the ledge. Fifty metres below, a fiercely foaming river is slashing raucously through the base of the imposing karst gorges that tower over us like a cathedral.
I am exploring the subterranean ecosystem of the Unesco-protected Skocjan Caves in Slovenia, one of the largest known underground canyons in the world.
Our group reaches the thin, vertigo-inducing Cerkvenik Bridge, suspended precariously within the cavernous 150m chamber.
"You shall not pass!" Viktor, our Slovenian friend, says jocularly to my husband and me, over the crash of turbulent waters.
The Lord Of The Rings reference is apt - we cannot help but picture J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, particularly the battle scene between Gandalf and Balrog in the Moria Caves.
As I steel myself to cross the linkway of this dim underground world, I consider how surreal it is, that an hour before, we were just basking in the Mediterranean sunshine of the Slovenian coast and in the morning traversing the lattice of cobbled streets in the charming capital city of Ljubljana.
As Viktor would say several times during this trip: "In Slovenia, you can hike the mountains in the morning and swim the sea in the afternoon."
Slovenia - not to be confused with another Slavic nation, Slovakia - is considered a small country, nestled within south-central Europe, bordering Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia.
But Slovenia is power-packed with remarkably diverse landscapes, as its geography straddles the karst caves, the Julian Alps, Mediterranean Sea and the Pannonian Plains, all easily accessible within a relatively short drive. That is why the country is often dubbed "Europe in miniature".
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