They Said:

On our way from Ljubljana to the Croatian coastal town of Rijeka, we decided to get off the train and daytrip to one of the largest cave networks in Europe . The caves were a twenty-minute walk from the train station, and on the way, we noticed the first signs of fall - leaves twisting in wake of passing cars. It's hard to believe the summer is almost over and the seasons are about to change.

We arrived in time for the two o'clock tour, and after Alli lovingly called Chad a schmuck for not telling her to bring a jacket, she rented one at the cave entrance and proceeded to look like Batwoman. Chad reminisced about his spelunking days at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, and after boarding what looked like an oversized mining car, we were pulled into the darkness.

In front of our seats, cave officials had kindly posted signs telling people not to stand, as the train often rushes past low-hanging rock formations. What they didn't tell us, though, was that at some points we'd have to duck (well, Chad would have to duck) even while sitting. The cave seemed to extend forever until we finally got out and found our English-speaking guide for the walking portion of the tour.

It seemed like every rock formation had a name. The guide was really funny and showed us stalactites and stalagmites even resembling the gates of heaven. He turned to Chad and asked him if he knew why they were called the gates of heaven. "In a few minutes, I'll show you," he said. True to his word, we passed the gates, and he eventually shined his flashlight on the floor and revealed two large rock formations resembling breasts. We all laughed.

Near the end of the tour, our group crowded around a small pool to see what has become the symbol of the town of Postojna - the human fish. The human fish is a salamander-like cave animal, the largest cave-dwelling creature in the world, with fleshy-colored skin, human-like fingers, and extremely sensitive eyes. According to the guide they can go years without eating and grow to a length of 30 centimeters. It turns out that our group was the first in weeks to not have asked if they were good to eat.

The end of the tour left us with 25 minutes until the arrival of our train to Rijeka, but the walk back to the train station was predicted to be 30 since we'd be going uphill on our return. Somehow, despite Chad's numerous stops to find a pet human fish to take home, we made our train and began the journey to Croatia's Dalmatian Coast.