Where in the world are the Uricks???

I couldn’t work out why the licence plates have HR and not CA or CR! To depict country. Now I know! Hrvatska is the native Croatian name for the country known in English as Croatia. Both refer to the same sovereign nation. Hrvatska (pronounced her-vats-ka) is used by locals, while Croatia is the international name derived from Medieval Latin. The country uses ‘HR’ for, among other things, web domains (.hr) and vehicle plates, reflecting its local name.

We got to Zagreb and turned in the rental car – Oh happy day! We had a bit of an issue with the car which was so great until Sunday. We picked it up in Split – had permission to take it across borders – and were returning it in Zagreb – all Croatia. Except that on Sunday afternoon, in Slovenia, it died on us! After unsuccessful calls to Croatia, I contacted the local Enterprise office in Ljubljana, who (after consultation back and forth with supervisors), sent out a tow truck and came and picked us up (we were on the side of the highway). They gave us another car but without putting our names on any contract, photocopying our drivers licenses, passports, etc. and off we went. We arrived today in Croatia with a different car – one registered in Slovenia!!!! (These are all franchise offices and don’t have cross computer access). Anyway, all’s well – they have the Slovenian car, who knows where our Croatian car is or what ails it, and – so far – our American Express card looks OK!

A teacher trying to teach a history lesson?

At the restaurant where we had some small bites for lunch.

This morning we left the Adriatic and headed inland and eastwards toward Ljubljana, stopping in Postojna to visit the renowned caves there.

Postojna Cave was carved by the Pivka River over millions of years. There are stalagmites, stalactites, and formations called curtains that look like folded curtains.

The cave system is 24.34 kilometers and is made up of four caves interconnected through the same underground river.

The cave was first described in the 17th century, although graffiti inside dated to 1213 indicates a much longer history of use.

In 1819, Archduke Ferdinand visited the caves making them a tourist destination. Electric lighting was added in 1884. In 1872, cave rails were laid along with first cave train for tourists. At first, these were pushed along by the guides themselves, later at the beginning of the 20th century a gas locomotive was introduced.

After 1945, the gas locomotive was replaced by an electric one. About 5.3 kilometres of the cave system are open to the public. We were taken by train for about 1.5 kilometers then walked about the same distance and rode the train out. It was fascinating.

It is hard to show the immense size of the space. In one cave it would have been possible to build a cathedral and it was filled with stalactites and stalagmites!