Wobbling Winos: Day 21 - Lipica stud farm and Skocjan caves.

Day 21: Sightseeing in the Karst area of Slovenia, Lipica and Skocjan Caves. 37 km.

Karst refers to an arid limestone plateau in Slovenia, the Karst region that is near the Italian border.

After a hearty breakfast we left our panniers at the Hotel and set off for Lipica the home of the Lipizzaner horses, a 10km cycle from Divarca.

Lipica Stud Farm was founded in 1580 to provide horses for the Habsburg court in Vienna. The Lipizzaner horse as we know it today, was bred from a number of different breeds including the native Karst horse as well as Andalusian horse blood lines, from the Habsburg Archduke Charles' homeland. The Lipizzaner stallions are known for their noble gait and strong build, and were made famous by Vienna's Spanish Riding School. Today they are are used for their clever routine in dressage competitions and performances.

The foals are born black or brown and change color over time until they are completely white after 8 years. Only stallions are trained and training starts when the colts are 4 years old. It takes 6 years to train a horse to the performance stage.

Unfortunately there was no performance today but we could go to a training session. It was wonderful to watch the skill of both the horse and the rider in perfect harmony. We so enjoyed visiting the Stud Farm which had a lovely tranquil feel and magnificent horses.

We had to go back via Divarca to pick up our bags as we are spending the night in Vremski Britof, 6 km down the road from Divarca, and 4 km from the caves.

Skocjan caves wind through ever more impressive grottoes until one reaches a huge canyon with a raging underground river, the Reka. The formations are spectacular with stalagmites and stalactites of various ages hanging down and rising up from the limestone rocks. To give an idea of the size of some of the caverns, the first one we visited could fit St Peter's cathedral inside it. We decided to visit Skocjan caves instead of Postojne caves as they are less touristy and include a massive underground canyon with a river rushing through it, something we had not seen before. Unfortunately we could not take photographs, but the caves were really very impressive.