Caves and Castles

Tonight we are in the town of Postojna roughly located in the centre of the country.
 Thursday evening we arrived at our planned hotel- Guesthouse Marco to find the owner nowhere to be seen. With the help of a guest who was just leaving we gained entry to the house and awaited his return. He returned shortly thereafter, having been out for his daily walk with his dog.
 After a quick shower and change of clothing we met up with a friend from a previous tour who was also visiting Bled from Stockholm, Sweden. We walked along the lake for a while then spent a couple of hours having dinner together. The main topics of discussion were past trips and plans for future adventures. We made tentative plans to meet again in Ljubljana if we arrived in good time on Sunday.
 Yesterday ( Friday) we spent our time in Bled with the better part of the morning engaged in a walking tour around the entire lake (7km) The focal point of the lake is a small island located towards  the south end of the lake. A small church is the main reason people visit the island, either by rowing themselves or hiring the services of a gondolier ( although their boats look nothing like the ones in Venice. Occasionally some of the more adventurous types will actually swim to the island, although walking into the church half naked and soaking wet is probably frowned upon. Based on TripAdvisor reviews we decided we would simply view and photowgraph the island from multiple angles rather than see it up close.
 The rest of the day was spent relaxing and recuperating and planning today's trip. After a sizeable serving of lamb chops at a recommended Osteria ( the Slovenian equivalent of a tratorria) we set off in search of Bled cake to satisfy our curiosity. A small bakery at the other side of the lake provided a large slab of the local delicacy- custard and cream sandwiched between 2 layers of filo pastry.
This morning we picked up a our rental car, a Volkswagen Golf 6 speed manual.
 Setting out from the town we picked up the highway and followed it west for several km, exiting onto a secondary road before it carved north into Austria. Continuing west towards Italy for several km we turned south and began a slow steady climb through the Vrsic Pass. The road narrowed as weak began a series of hairpin bends (24 altogether) before we reached the summit. A little rusty, not having driven a standard in several years, the first few turns were a little laboured until I managed to adjust my speed to the steep inclines. The decent involved a further 26 turns before the road levelled out into the Soca River Valley. Stopping in the town of  Kobarid, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch before continuing our journey.
  Arriving in Skocjan a little later than planned due to an impromptu diversion across the border, we found ourselves a little early for the 4pm tour of the cave. Having been forewarned that the cave was quite cool inside, we found ourselves a little overdressed for the toughly 1 km walk to the cave's entrance. After a brief explanation we set off into the first section of what would be a 2km hike as we descended some 500 feet below the surface. Consisting of two different sections, a smaller quiet area then a large underground canyon with a river running through it.
 We emerged some 90 minutes later having viewed some spectacular stalactite formations and some , now dry, pools reminiscent of the limestone formations of Cappadocia. Leaving the cave we hiked around a collapsed canyon before climbing another 200 steps to the surface.
 A 30 minute drive brought us to the town of Postojna where we are staying the night with the idea of visiting the much larger ( and more touristy) Postonja Cave and also Predjama Castle.