Last night we parked up at Ochtinska Aragonite Cave which is right out in the middle of nowhere and thus gifted us a clear starry sky.
Having seen many caves, Mark needed a little persuasion to visit this one, but it is one of only three aragonite caves in the world open to the public. These adorable little crystals are made up of calcium and start off as glittering dust, and in a mere 14,000 years morph into little stalagtights a couple of cms long. Give them half a million years and they will have grown to the size of a rugby ball. Plus they live in a cave with three different types of marble, they are fascinating!
It’s fair to say we were both enthralled and loved this magical cave. Its €6 to get in, and a further €10 if you want to take photos. There are guided tours in Slovakian but info sheets in various languages and the staff were really helpful pointing out and translating the key things for us. You can’t touch anything as it’s so delicate and protected by law, so don’t do as I did and try walking and reading simultaneously and come within mm of walking into a massive dangling rock formation. The guide saw it happen and laughed obviously sensing my embarrassment and profuse apology.
We then drove on to the perfectly set little village of Didinky, where we walked the pups near the lake and made vegetable soup for lunch. I’m definitely in Autumn mode and making soup most days, I’ve already made tomorrows mushroom soup lol.
We then planned to go to the Ice cave, but I hadn’t realised it closed in September – something we need to be conscious of travelling out of season. Still we get so much enjoyment from the driving, the terrain and vistas are wonderful.
Hoping to give the pups a further walk we drove on to Strbske Pleso which has a large mountain lake, but its evidently a major ski resort with multiple car parks and masses of people, which I didn’t fancy, so we skipped it and drove 20mins further to Podbanské which is a quieter resort with free parking but limited trails. We did both the short kiddies troll and owl routes. Tomorrow I’m tempted to climb the iconic Krivan Mountain…not sure if Mark is as keen lol
Having to be parked up by 6pm due to darkness certainly extends our evenings. I’m sure we will get plenty of reading, games, coursework and Mark’s guitar practice done through the colder months.
SofaWolves 