Underground Fantasy (Skocjan Caves, Slovenia)

Underground Fantasy (Skocjan Caves, Slovenia) - Carved out over millennia by the broiling Reka River, Škocjan Caves is Slovenia’s most gorgeous natural travel marvel. This river disappears underground within the very little village of Škocjan and emerges some forty kilometres away, having carved its path through the rock over a few years.

A large space of south-west Slovenia lies on a limestone plateau. unbelievable caves and tunnels are eroded from the soluble limestone, leaving a fairyland of richly colored and unusually formed stalactites (the ones that drop from the roof) and stalacmites (the ones that grow from the floor). Out of all of those, UNESCO-listed Škocjan sits at the terribly pinnacle of those subterranean treasure troves.

Awkward to urge to, best may be a walk of a number of kilometres from Divaca rail station on a nice path to the hamlet of Matavun. the world contains some nice short walks (especially the tutorial Trail) through some native villages and around collapsed cave areas. there's alittle museum showcasing the cave’s history that helps pass the time until the guided tour is due.

The cave starts modestly through a longish tunnel and thru variety of chambers with a spread of typical cave decorations and formations, the foremost notable with the everyday imaginative names. Early on, the tour traverses Silent Cave, Paradise Cave and also the spectacular nice Hall and witnesses The Organ (which appearance a trifle sort of a church’s pipe organ) and also the Stone Forest.

As the tour exits the Great Hall a deep-throated rumbling can be heard from below. The Reka River lies around fifty metres below and is dwarfed by the immense Murmuring Cave – 300 metres long and over 100 metres high (which means that the Statue of Liberty or London’s St Paul’s Cathedral would fit inside). It lays claim to being the world’s largest underground canyon. Walking gently along a narrow ledge, the tour comes to the vertigo-inducing Cerkvenik Bridge (lead photo). Defying the considerable degree of edginess and shaky legs and leaning nervously over the bridge, it is beyond comprehension to imagine the raucous river below could have carved this cavern for giants by dissolving minute particles of limestone.

The previous bridge and the remains of the earliest bridge can still be clearly viewed and paths to various other caverns and halls branch off for the professional cavers and scientists.

Moving along, the next section includes a mesmerising formation called The Bowls. A series of a over a hundred natural troughs of water have built up over time, filling and emptying into the bowl below, leaving tiny mineral deposits to construct the walls of these mini-reservoirs.

Soon after the eyes squint as the daylight streams through the natural cave entrance created when the roof of an area collapsed and onto a funicular to save the legs from having stagger back up the hill.

The world contains numerous limestone caves, all fascinating in their own way but Škocjan stands as one of nature’s finest travel wonders – a subterranean wonderland of unimagined scale, breathtaking chambers and magical formations.

Trekking to the Lost City - Part Two (Inca Trail, Peru)

Trekking to the Lost City - Part Two (Inca Trail, Peru) - Day 3 is that the longest trekking day (around sixteen kilometres or 10 miles) however it's mainly downhill over uneven ground (which is surprisingly onerous on sore legs) and in some ways is that the main highlight of the trek (apart from Machu Picchu itself). The path passes some majestic Incan ruins.

Sayaqmarka (“Inaccessible Town”) perches on atiny low hilltop, formidably protected with cliffs on 3 sides and a slender stairway on the fourth. It options variety of semi-circular buildings, rooms and squares on completely different levels connected with slender ways, ritual baths, flat open areas and canals. Despite the misty morning our cluster incurred, you'll decipher the remainder space it should have provided Incans travelling to Machu Picchu and therefore the strategic oversight it offered over this key pathway. a number of the unequalled precision of the Incan stonework is featured, designed while not mortar, however with such good joins that you simply can’t slide a pocketknife into the gap.

Trekking follows the first Incan path down into the valley and up to the third and gentlest of the 3 passes. It passes through an Incan tunnel with swish walls and carved steps – an improbable engineering feat given the restricted tools offered at the time.

Phuyupatamarca includes a terraced space for crops and 6 Incan baths most likely related to spiritual rituals. The trekking from here on is on the first Incan staircase and follows over a thousand uneven stone stairs (downwards) through a cloud forest of lichen-strewn trees, orchids and ferns in an exceedingly cool refreshing atmosphere.

Late within the day and close to the ultimate camp website, there's a shocking terraced agricultural space in conjunction with a residential advanced at Wiñay Wayna (lead photo and below), that roughly interprets to forever young. A series of fountains run from the highest to all-time low of the slope in an exceedingly good alignment with the terraces. The Urubamba River that we tend to crossed at the beginning of day one continues to flow below.

Day Four tends to start early for a short walk (about an hour and a half) to the Sun Gate (Intipunku) which oversees the entire Machu Picchu site. As if uplifted by a mystical power, people who could barely take another step over the previous two days approach a sprint as the trekkers herd towards the Sun Gate at dawn. Surrounded by magnificent scenery, the peaceful walking of the previous three days is lost in this final undignified crowded surge towards the Incan sanctuary.

The crowd awaits the sunrise. Everyone speaks in excited but hushed tones and there is a huge sense of satisfaction at completing this holy grail of trekking. The hardship of walking the last three days had all been worth it. A few alpaca and llama contentedly graze below, familiar with the daily pre-dawn commotion. The mountain saddle which Machu Picchu is built upon tends to be misty but when the foggy curtains lifts, the truly awe-inspiring and haunting travel wonder of the “lost city” of the Inca unveils before your very eyes.

The Fall Kaleidoscope (New England, USA) 

The Fall Kaleidoscope (New England, USA)   - Through autumn or fall, the forests of America's New England and elements of Canada are cloaked during a blazing palette of reds, oranges, yellows, golds and mauves. Through Vermont, this kaleidoscope of color is highlighted within the inexperienced Mountain National Forest that runs sort of a rugged backbone through the centre of the state, whereas in New Hampshire, the White Mountains and also the Kancamagus Highway are the highlights.

Called leaf-peeping regionally, the annual fall foliage is nearly an obsession with some folks. The newspapers publish a daily map to assist pinpoint the optimal locations for the colourful colors. Travellers in cafes, maps sprawled across tiny tables, speak surreptitiously of methods to weave down sneaky backroads to urge a stronger read. no matter your methodology, make sure you get out and walk or ride among the slender lanes and streets of the little townships and rural areas of recent England. The forest areas are threaded with a range of relaxing walking ways and trails.

The vivid white paintwork and timeless beauty of the high-steepled churches, elegant government buildings and old homely inns in the small towns of Vermont and New Hampshire make a wonderful backdrop for the riotous rich colours of the maples, spruces, oaks and beech trees.

And if all this colour builds an appetite, Ben & Jerry's rich premium ice cream in northern Vermont is among the finest I have ever eaten. What could be finer than gazing over the majesty of the autumn colouring feasting on a waffle cone filled with pecan butter cup and karamel sutra ice cream.

Reindeer Paté, Cloudberry Pie and Sweat (Kuopio, Finland)

Reindeer Paté, Cloudberry Pie and Sweat (Kuopio, Finland) - In the centre of the country, Kuopio may be an ad for the travel wonders of Finland. Set among spruce forests and surrounded by sparkling lakes, Kuopio comes complete with ski-jumps, an orthodox church and also the world’s largest smoke sauna. mix that with fascinating native cuisine choices and Kuopio offers a wondrous, single day sample of Finland at its finest.

The best read of Kuopio is from Puijo Tower perched neatly on a hill of a similar name. It offers a panoramic vista showing the sprawling city with its varied lakes and thick forests. On this same hill are the ski-jumps. How folks stand on prime of those, ski down and launch themselves within the air for over a hundred metres defies comprehension and one's mental state. I clung on tightly for concern of obtaining even near the jumping zone.

With its harsh climate, the Finns are terribly sensible with food. each elk and reindeer feature in conjunction with an important stress on fish. If you'll take away the thought of munching on Rudolf’s relatives, reindeer is obtainable in numerous forms from steaks through to sausages. Not feeling too guilty concerning the well-being of Rudolf’s relatives, I had reindeer paté on an important rye bread and it absolutely was decidedly tasty. The reindeer promoting department are effective as 3 totally different Finns in conversation told me that reindeer was extraordinarily smart for you as its meat is remarkably lean, carrying solely 2 % fat.

I also managed to taste a slice of kalakukko which is simply fish baked in a loaf of rye-bread. Despite my description, it tastes quite divine and is very filling.

However, the highlight was dessert. In the short summer months with their long meandering days of sunlight, berries and mushrooms grow everywhere. And of the number of different varieties that grow, cloudberries are the Rolls Royce of Finnish berries. Their creamy, slightly sharp, semi-sweet taste is so popular that it is celebrated on the Finnish two Euro coin. Anyway, it certainly tasted damn good as cloudberry pie.

Jätkänkämppä, which fortunately you don’t have to pronounce to enter, is the world’s largest smoke sauna. It is an experience not to miss. Only open on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, it takes all day to heat and prepare. The smoke collects inside and is released before being opened to the public. With your entrance fee, you get some quick instructions and two towels – one to wear around your waist and one to dry off with at the end.

Simply undress (completely), shower and wander into the wall of heat, which smacks you in the face as soon as you enter. Normally, Finnish saunas are separate and nude, but Jätkänkämppä is mixed with the towel used for modesty. Through the steam and dim light, there is a very eclectic group of people. Several travellers, all looking warily around trying not to commit any social faux pas sit along side local families, couples and men and women of all shapes and sizes. One man the size of a beached whale (which is an unusual sight in Finland) tosses a ladle of water on the coals. There is a shot of steam along with a sharp hissing and the gentle aroma of wood (but no smoke!).

When you feel well-cooked, quickly slip on your swimmers and dash for a quick plunge along a short wooden jetty and into the nearby lake. Don’t get me wrong – the lake is ridiculously cold even in the midst of summer – but the contrast of the water’s temperature gives you a sensational burst of tingling freshness right through your body. In winter, a hole is cut into the ice on the lake. The locals tend to sit outside on a bench for a few minutes relaxing and chatting. This was where I learned about the value of reindeer meat among other broad and varying topics. This exercise is repeated another couple of times until you simply feel great. It is time to settle on the benches outside for one last time and enjoy a therapeutic, cooling, but expensive beer.

Fortunately, English is widespread with quite a number of visitors in summer. Finnish is probably the most incomprehensible language I have heard anywhere in Europe. Sadly after a number of days, my Finnish only extended to sauna (pronounced SOW-na) and kiitos (thank you). As much as I like to learn a few words of the local language wherever I travel, when a local told me (and wrote down) that “hello” was said as hyvää päivää, I simply resigned myself to relying on the English skills of the locals.

Finland tends not to feature on many European itineraries as it is a little further away and a little more mysterious. It is an extraordinary place of friendly, spirited, proud people keen to share the natural beauty and rich culture of their country. Any nation with more saunas than cars must be worth a visit. And Kuopio is a small town that captures Finland so well and should be on a future travel plan.

Note
Source: Cloudberry Photo

Germany's Black Forest is home to cuckoo clocks, shimmering lakes, rich cherry chocolate cakes and small half-timbered villages frozen in time (such as Gengenbach). It is also home to Germany's best known waterfall in Triberg Falls. Tumbling in small steps down a rocky path, the setting in verdant green forests creates a soothing scenic image.

guest post by Vera Marie Badertscher
photography by Leigh Spigelman

You can see it from deep within, or drive along the edge. From the approach through Beautiful Valley to the edge of the Canyon of Death (Canyon del Muerte), a drive along the north and south rims of Canyon de Chelly (prounounced de-shay) stores up images to last a lifetime. In my humble opinion, it is the most beautiful drive in Arizona, along the edge of the most beautiful canyon in Arizona.

Unlike grander canyons, de Chelly has an endearing human scale. Drive across the flat, sandy level space of the plateau called Defiance and look down into green pastures and a cottonwood-lined stream and you feel like an intergalactic traveler who has just discovered life in a hostile universe.


Chase the sunset along the edge of the canyon and watch tall spires sketched in shadows separate from the canyon walls and fade into a solid black mass. Stop along the way to see the ancient vertical trail that people living in the canyon still use-nimble as the goats they lead. Look across at White House Ruins (top photo), testimony to ancient occupation. If you are truly blessed, as you gaze down at the rural scene of life in the canyon, you'll see horses running free, splashing through the stream, whirling like spirits blessing the day.

Most people who visit Canyon de Chelly ride trucks through the bottom of the canyon,splashing through the stream, craning their necks up at the curved red walls. Because the canyon is on the Navajo Reservation and people live in the canyon, you cannot just wander in on your own. You can climb aboard the old troop trucks at the historic Thunderbird Lodge near the campgrounds in the Canyon itself. Or you can go to the Park visitor center and hire a Navajo driver to take your own vehicle into the canyon. The Navajo guides will tell you tales--some true--like the one about the mesa where people starved rather than give in to Kit Carson who had been sent to relocate them. They will tell bad jokes, like the one about the tall formation leaning into the chasm. "Martini rock" the guide will say, "One drop will kill you."

This ride into the canyon ranks as a trip of a lifetime, but while you're there, don't forget the rim drive. Unfortunately, many people miss that alternative view. From the information center along the north rim in the early morning, and along the south rim to Spider Woman Rock at sunset, a canyon rim tour turns the canyon inside out.


Vera Marie Badertscher writes travel articles and blogs about books, movies and travel at A Traveler's Library. A long-time Arizona resident, she actually prefers the human-scale of Canyon de Chelly over that other famous Arizona attraction, The Grand Canyon.

Leigh Spigelman is a photographer experienced in travel, nature, wildlife photography and architecture imaging. He is based in the Southwest United States and travels extensively in his digital pursuits. See his photography website at http://www.imaging123.com and check out Leigh’s blog.

Chinle Vacations

The tiny travel wonder of Luxembourg, precariously sandwiched between France and Germany at a European crossroads has a woven web of hiking paths that crisscross the country. While the city features excellent historic walks such as the Wenzel Walk, the northern part of Luxembourg offers a tremendous array of walking and hiking options. With maps available from tourist offices and clear signposts with blue triangles marking the paths, hiking is one of Luxembourg’s most popular leisurely pursuits (after all, one-third of the country is forested). And there is no better place to walk than the grandly named Little Switzerland. While there is nothing alpine about this lowland region, the dramatic landscape gives some credibility to its moniker.

Start from the country’s oldest town of Echternach with its sprawling abbey credited to St Willibrord (a wily Yorkshireman who the locals believed cured epilepsy in the seventh century). With little thought over a strong steaming coffee, I selected E1 (see map), a suitable sounding walk of twelve kilometres. After a short but strenuous climb, a nice viewpoint (Troosknäppchen) offers fine vistas of the abbey and town.

The path follows the Müllerthal Trail (the miller’s path named from the numerous watermills that once existed on the river) quickly leading to densely wooded forests, lush verdant valleys and spectacular rock formations. Left over from the Ice Age, roughly hewn rock steps and ladders weave a narrow, twisting path between towering 20 metre high rock walls at times only wide enough for a single file of walkers.

This ancient landscape generates its own steamy microclimate of high humidity producing vegetation unique to Europe with moss coating everything in a carpet of green and ferns sprouting from small rocky crevices.

The trail leads through the evocatively named Wolfsschlucht (the wolves’ lair - top photo) that apparently sheltered wolves in times past. Continuing along a tiny brook, through the Labyrinth and past the giant single rock of Perekop, the trail leads to Hohllay. This is an old cave where traces remain where millstones were cut. Regular performances still run at the nearby amphitheatre, a wonderful natural location for plays, theatre and music.

Sharing lunch with a couple of hikers, climbers clambered up the sheer rock walls, the occasional yelp of a slipping climber being caught by his ropes breaking the peaceful forest ambiance.

Turning back along a small creek with tiny waterfalls, the path toured via Zig-zag Gorge (photo below right) and an atmospheric cavern called Räuberhöhle (thief’s hideout - photo left) before tracking the Sûre River back to Echternach.

It seems an accident of history that this tiny country exists as an independent country with its history of battles and wars. Indeed, the castles that litter nearly every rocky outcrop, gorge and small hill is a strong reminder of how many battles have been fought over the years for this scenic centre of Europe. It is a gift as the feisty and proud population of the self-promoted “Europe’s smallest big country” offer superb trekking through well-preserved forests broken only by the occasional muffled greeting of moien in the strange sounding German-like dialect.

Other Benelux Posts
1000 Years in 100 Minutes (Luxembourg City)
A City of More than Sex and Drugs? (Amsterdam)
Belgian Pride
Drinks Around the World: Chimay Beer

Note
More details available from the Müllerthal Trail website.

In the midst of spring, Sydney is awash with colourful flowers and blooms. The state floral emblem of the waratah is spectacular with its large deep red flower. The hardy waratah scrub suits the sandy soils of the area and even regenerates if burned to a crisp after a savage bushfire.

Only thirty years ago, two kilometres south of Venice (and a hundred kilometres south of the mosaic travel wonder of Ravenna), Italian cavers stumbled across an extraordinary wonder of the world. Considered by many to be Europe’s finest show cave (though Skocjan Cave in Slovenia is stunning), shining their torches into the first huge cavern must have taken their breath away.

The cavers named the massive cave hall the Ancona Abyss after their nearby home city and from the seemingly endless pitch black hole that they bravely abseiled a descent of two hundred metres. Today an artificial tunnel enters the huge cavern at ground level. Having grown over millennia from dripping water, the huge stalagmites that jut twenty metres into the air are dwarfed by the room able to hold most of the world’s cathedrals.

This room contains unusual formations called palm trunk stalagmites formed from the water dripping from such a height that the drip splashes vigorously creating a roughened exterior like that of a palm tree.

Through the five rooms on the tour, the cave regular uses soft blue lights to complement the standard lighting to highlight the incredible purity of the formations. While coloured lighting in caves is often gaudy and kitsch, the tasteful lighting in Frasassi highlight a number of delicate formations and doesn't detract from the experience.

The tour is littered with the typically imaginative names for formations including Niagara (last photo), Fairy Castle (right) and Organ Pipes that highlight the finest and most unusual of a treasure trove of cave decorations.

A carpet of calcite crystals lies perfectly flat marking thousands of years of growth in an undisturbed lake, the surface marking the height of the lake. The lake level has since dropped leaving a crystalline floor, delicately thin and sparkling as only nature could create.

The third room includes numerous small stalagmites reflected perfectly into a crystalline lake and is appropriately name the Hall of Candles (top photo). The backdrop of this lake are narrow column, albino white in the colour of pure limestone and untainted and with no discolouring by any mineral element. Most traditional cave formations have hints of brown from iron, green from copper and various other shadings from other mineral impurities picked up as the water flows through the soils inside or surrounding the caves.

An hour later, the final cavern, the Neverending Hall, contains a circular path that loops back onto the main path. Visitors peer deep into the Earth trying to view more remarkable formations as the cave fades to an inky blackness, the last vestiges of lighting soaking into the walls.

The late discovery of Frasassi Cave has aided its beauty with early lanterns and candles not tarnishing the glistening limestone and early visitors not sampling the delicate formations. Over a million years with small deposits of limestone from every drip and trickle of water has created a treasured wonderland of formations, reflections and decorations on an unimagined scale.

Other Cave Posts
Caverns, Crooks and Castles (Slovenia)
Underground Fantasy (Skocjan Caves, Slovenia)
Crystal Wonderland (Western Australia)
Waterfall Hidden in a Mountain (Switzerland)

Source: Photos

Matobo National Park in central Zimbabwe is a wild rock-strewn travel wonder. With small areas of dry grasslands, the park is a remarkable mix of natural gravity-defying rock formations, ancient cave art and a game park for a broad variety of African animals including the endangered white and black rhinoceros.

A local ranger guided three of us around this superb park for a single day some years ago. The boulder-strewn area is rich in small caves and hollows. The morning commenced exploring a couple of these caves where the San Bushman left impressive ochre cave drawings estimated to be around 1,600 years old. Giraffe, zebras and antelope are distinct in the delicate artwork. The floor of the areas around the caves supposedly contains ashes that have been dated to over 10,000 years old.

However, the most striking elements of the park are the eerie formations, with huge rocks balancing precariously upon each other. Though appearing to be stacked by giants, they are purely a result of erosion and time. Softer volcanic rock is eaten away leaving the harder granite, the normal weathering process separating the rocks from each other. Stunning formations result including the popular symbol of the park, the “Madonna and Child” and the fascinating “Rock Arch” with its centre rock looking like falling at any moment.


The View of the World marks a majestic view over a panoramic moonscape of rounded boulders and harsh rugged grasslands. The view so struck Cecil Rhodes, the founder of de Beers diamond company and whom Rhodesia is named after (Zimbabwe is south Rhodesia) that he asked to be buried there. Some large boulders and a generous plaque inlaid into the large granite platform mark his final wishes and memory. The setting over the dusty plains is strangely serene and harmonious.


Littered throughout the park, strange rainbow coloured lizards sun themselves in the cruel summer rays. With blue heads and green, yellow and red bodies, their rainbow bodies meld elegantly into the lichen stained rocks that form their home.

Full from lunch, the afternoon is reserved for a walking safari. Unarmed, the trusty ranger tracks us through thin grasslands with various antelope and a small herd of zebras nervously eating, their heads regularly bobbing for any signs of danger.

With a sense of nervous excitement, the small group slowly sneak towards a couple of white rhino until we are only ten metres away. They appeared undisturbed continuing to graze leisurely on the scant food supply before lying down for rest. The guide reassures us that rhinos have poor eyesight and hearing so if you approach downwind, the rhinos are likely to remain unaware of your presence. Fortunately, the wind stayed gently blowing in the one direction. Black rhino are less friendly and the only one we spy is kept at a respectable distance.

While Zimbabwe struggles through its modern political challenges, Matobo National Park offers a peaceful haven in the centre of the country. It is best described by Cecil Rhodes himself - “The peacefulness of it all: the chaotic grandeur of it: it creates a feeling of awe and brings home to one how very small we all are.”

Other African Posts
Gorillas in the Mist (Congo)
The Great Congo River Journey (Congo)
Lake of Stars (Malawi)
The Pink Pageant (Kenya)
Real Africa? (Central African Republic)
African Top Ten Travel Wonders

Even in the relative safety of a large vehicle, a polar bear is a chilling, awe-inspiring animal. When only a pane of reinforced glass separates you from the world’s largest land-based carnivore, a strange mix of fear and excitement sets in.

Every year around mid-October, migrating polar bears congregate in their hundreds for a handful of weeks in the northerly Canadian town of Churchill, awaiting Hudson Bay to freeze over. Purpose built tundra buggies, a kind of bus perched on a high-clearance, all-terrain truck chassis, ferry snap-happy tourists out onto the shores of the bay to witness these endangered arctic giants.

Some bears sniff around the buggy hoping for a tasty treat while others content themselves sleeping lazily on the crusty snow-laden ground. The occasional athletic bear leaps onto its hind legs, lifting itself to window level, the scratching on the metallic sides echoing uneasily through the buggy.


Mothers shepherd their cubs cautiously while younger adults stage mock fights, these solitary animals bought so close together waiting for the biting northerly cold to freeze the bay. The young cubs are a scream, their boundless energy and uncertain footing on the icy ground creating plenty of entertainment to those on the buggy. Once the bay is frozen, the polar bears can leave the shores and hunt for their favoured ring seals, the rich fresh meat rebuilding their fat reserves lost over the summer months.

Shallow lakes have already frozen, a mothers showing her cubs technique for walking on thin ice, cautiously spreading her weight over a wide area by widely stretching her legs in an exaggerated sliding walk like an oversized spider climbing a window. The bumbling cubs eagerly stroll behind like cotton balls blowing in the wind seemingly oblivious to the threats of the barely formed ice layer and paying scant attention to their mother’s lessons.

There are good chances that you’ll spot other creatures that inhabit this desolate, chilly environment. With all dressed in a standard uniform of white to camouflage into the surroundings, arctic foxes compete with arctic owls and flocks of ptarmigan exploring the desert-like tundra for food.

Read more about Churchill and the polar bears.

Photo Source: Tundra Buggy