Our second spot in Slovenia was Postojna, a town that boasts the country’s second-largest cave system and one of the most scenic castles in Europe. Cave size doesn’t really matter, but the experience was “really cool”, and that is a Wes quote!
With an English-speaking tour guide, we took the cave train deep into the limestone caverns, carved out by rivers over eons.
The existence of the cave has certainly been known before recorded history, but it took some technology to discover its further recesses. Since we know exactly when distant caverns and tunnels were discovered, and hence, when they were widened and readied for tourists, stalactite growth can be precisely measured. Growth of about 1mm per decade is not particularly slow-growing in cave time. Almost exactly 100 years ago, this reinforcement was done and a new (circled) stalactite is growing.
This stuff is cool! (And, um, cold and damp, but truly, totally neat-o.)
Down the (necessarily charming, bucolic) road is Predjama Castle, literally “castle in front of the cave”. It is both an incredibly attractive and very secure fortress. What it wasn’t was comfortable–at least for residents under siege for long periods of time. Cold, damp, dim…and that wasn’t just the torture chamber.
Here is the castle-in-a-cave. 
The castle is about halfway up a 400+ foot rock face. It’s pretty secure. 
All good castles should have a dank torture chamber. 
The thick walls still allowed in light in the outer parts of the fortress. 
Okay, it’s funny because it’s a toilet. Not-so-funny is that the Guy Who Lived in the Castle died because of this toilet. All good medieval castles made sure toilets had a hole that went straight down outside. Here, the WC is the most vulnerable spot in the castle because it had the thinnest walls. The story goes that after the castle had mockingly held up more than a year under siege (with secret cave exits that allowed resupplying), a servant betrayed the master of the house by signaling when he was on the toilet, and he died when a catapult hit the target. It’s a little suspect that a medieval weapon could be accurate, but it’s a good story. 
Wes uses his earbuds as a cat toy. Piper hides behind a door. 
The view from the watch tower. Originally, all the trees had been cleared for good viewing. 
Of course there’s a drawbridge! It’s a proper castle, you know. 
I loved the countryside.
Have I sold you on Slovenia yet? Come with me next time!
Needopedia 