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A Green Tours holiday in Slovenia 2nd-9th June 2018. We were a party of 5, with sunny and dry weather, lead by Paul Veenvliet. See

Saturday 2nd June 2018 Up early to catch the 04:20 train to Gatwick and a sub standard Titan Airline plane to Marco Polo airport Venice to be met by Paul and the group
The drive from Venice to Novo Vas as tracked above	Typical Slovenian countryside	The famous Chicken shape of Slovenia	The Group is greeted by Sasha, the Manager, at the gate of Hostel 24 our base for the next four days
In the road verge which was full of wild flowers	Helen's Geotags (enlarges)	Small Blue	Dropwort
Glanville fritillary	Wild Rose	Birdsfoot Trefoil	" Our base "Hostel 24" with an remotely operated gate which Paul eventually opened remotely
We walked through the village for the first day's supper at the only pub			The old water supply piped originally from the spring in wooden pipes
A modern house in the local style plus quad bike		An old style house	A Meadow Brown
An old style house with steps outside	Black Veined White on a Scabious	Novo Vas village Minimart	The bar where we ate supper, a huge mince and spaghetti. Some loud talking locals came in later. Only light or dark Slovenian lager beers are sold
An old barn	A plain terrace	The closed B&B on the main street	The road back home as the sun sets
Sunday 3rd June We walked round the village before breakfast then the group visited a cave and then Lake Cerknica
We got up early and had a walk round the village. The mist cleared quickly	.. Novo Vas from the air	Meadow Salsify	The church of St Michael is behind Helen
Laundry	Old barns	Slovenian open barn	Bygone farm implements
Grass thatched house. Front doors are raised to allow for snow but should have steps	Peony	A Farm house	Hay barn with overhang for parking, washing lines etc
The Church of St Mikel, Slovenia is a Roman Catholic country	Celebrating a Saint's day. The unaccompanied singing was very good	The Priest in the shade	A roadside shrine to the Virgin Mary
Ox eyed daisies in the verge	Ox eyed daisies	Cultivated fields	The decorated Hostel Front Door
Wild flowers	Scabious	A farm slurry pit	Slovenian style skiing, invented at the same time as Norwegian skiing
A Stork's nest, several others were empty	Location of the Kizsna Jama cave that we visited first thing that day, travelling by minibus	Aruncus in the woods	The cliff face which contained the cave entrance
Our guide opening the cave door	The cave system. We went as far as the red arrow. We were lent hand torches and wellingtons	A knobbly stalagmite	Cave cricket
" Inside a "stomach" in stone?	A bone conglomerate on display	A petrified shin bone. Cave Bears hibernated and sometimes died in here leaving their bones. The next picture is a Cave Bear's skull with a brown bears skull on top
"Scallops" pattern caused by water wear	A stalagmite named Volcano "Cotopaxi"	This looks like an Ogres Head	Signatures wall from Victorian times
The 4hr Tour along a lot of the cave's length starts off	Into the dark	Ann looks for Charon. (We took a short boat ride around the lake	A Cave Millipede
A Bear's Shadow on the cave roof	Stalactites	Comfrey	Yellow thistle, Cirsium erisithales
Salvia Pretensis in the wet meadow	Marsh Fritillary	.... Adonis Blue	Fragrant orchid -
Fungus	Burnt tip orchid	Dark veined white	Grizzled Skipper
Spotted Adonis blue	Spotted Adonis blue	We went for lunch at "Contrabantar", a farm and stables. Its name referring to its smuggling past. Another vast meal here!	Grandpa, who runs the stable and appeared several times driving a tractor, always right to left like a stage army
Our evening meal here later on was finished off with an Orecovitz, walnut brandy, referring to Slivovitz. Very tasty!	, A hack with insecticide on its back against flies	An old horse drawn sledge, it nearly always snows here in winter. "Super" has just caught on and our request for beer was "Super"	A barn and pig sty
A barn with an old hay wagon for tourists rides	A very friendly guard dog	Lake Cerknica, an intermittent lake, almost dried out. The fish return with the water	Lake Cerknica in winter (from the Internet) the water has returned
Red Admiral	Following the Martin Krpan trail. The story is in the next picture, which enlarges. His weapon was an axe	Or possibly the Emperor allowed him and other traders free rein to help rejuvenate the region after it was devastated by the Turks	Mistletoe
	Hawkweed?	Bee hives, multi-coloured to help bees find their correct hive	Aquilegia vulgaris
Open Forest	A tiny toadlet on the path	Cardinal Beetle	White Admiral
The forest floor	Birds Nest Orchid	Aquilegia	Lesser butterfly orchid
Prunella	Mixed woodland	Ragged Robin	Wood White
Wet flower meadow	Orchis morio	The last bit of Lake Cerknica, the rest has drained away	There were frogs and tadpoles in the pond
Campanula	Gladiolus	Marsh marigolds	A Pool Frog
Black winged Demoiselle	The river Jezerscica to which we drove looking for yellow wagtails and corncrakes, Helen saw a corncrake	A grass snake held by an expert, then we moved on to the Tourist office in the town	Grass Snake
We were briefed at the tourist office and then drove in two groups to different hides with a "Hunter" each. We communicated with our Hunter in fractured German.We waited 3hrs and eventually saw a wild bear in the dark....	....but Helen took some better photos while it was light enough	An Olm from the Internet We all wanted to see one	We had returned from the bear watching hides with their horrendous ladders to our minibus in the town and then walked to a pond, fed from a cave with Olms in it. They often appeared there at night. Unfortunately one swam off directly a light was pointed at it, but some of our group saw it when we returned after 10 minutes, or at least saw its nose
Monday 4th June A trip seeing a limestone meadow and a wet meadow
The Hostel Lounge Breakfast at the hostel came from Hija Glamping although Sasha provided omelettes, coffee etc. One day they provided a superb Rhubarb and Custard in filo pastry. Only once unfortunately!	A natural sign post	His very long, white antennae is not visible against the pink	Burnt orchid
Burnt orchids	Fly Orchid	Pyramid Orchid	Blue
Dark Arches Moth?	Helen, Ann and Paul	Yellow Woundwort, Stachys recta	Meadow Brown
Flower Meadow	Blues mating	Jim up to his knees in flowers	Glanville fritillary
Helianthemum	Bee on Scabious	Heath Fritillary	Female blue
Marbled Clover Moth	Dropworts	Glanville fritillary female
Spotted Fritillary		Forester moth
		Tiger Lily Lilium bulbiferum	Colorado beetle collected by a local gardener
Yellow beetle	Chamaecytisus supinus	Spotted Fritillary	Spotted Fritillary
Broad leaved Cotton grass in a wet meadow	Broad leaved Cotton Grass		Orchid
Marsh Orchid	Phyteuma	Defiant	Hog Weed
	A clear karst stream	Cow Parsley
Aquilegia	Yellow belled toads in a puddle
Adiantum Fern	Poplar Admirals
Next we visited a large sinkhole, Rakov Skocjan, where a cavern roof has collapsed		Wild rose, rosa pendulina, growing there in the shade
	Black ground beetle
	Footbridge reflected	Common Lizard, Zootoca vivipara	Moss covered Dolomite
Beautiful Demoiselle, a banded demoiselle	The pond just before the river disappears into a swallet	Turquoise Winged Demoiselle, a banded demoiselle
Almost gone the river flows through the Great Natural Bridge	Looking down to the swallet where the river disappears	Flag Iris in a water meadow	The river Rak's short journey, appearing, flowing a few miles then disappearing
Anthericum liliago	The ruined Church of St Cantianius on the "Great Natural Bridge" inhabited since the stone age but destroyed by the Turks	Helleborine
Tuesday 5th June A trip to a Italian ruin, Trnovski godz a high plateau and a high virgin forest
The usual walk round the village before breakfast			Peony
Farm and Byre	A grandma working early in the field
	Large Copper	Salsify	Field Cricket
The ruin of a grand house, owned by an Italian noble, looted and destroyed when the Communists arrived	The barn used as a voluntary folk museum by locals	The barn museum	An old plough
Collected bygones in the barn	Enamel Pots
		A timber wagon	The Gnome's cave
The gnome's house?	A privy with spare potties on a hook outside (for the queue?)	A Czech Tourist
Goats	Campanular glomarata	Bedstraw	Chicory
A rare (here) limestone pavement	Balm-leaved red deadnettle	Emerald Moth	Mullien?
Chafer	Ringlet	Ringlet	Phyteuma spicatum
Heath Fritillary	Perennial Corn Flower	See enlargement below	Looking over the cliff. The forests are vast and unending
Heath Fritillary on White Clover	Fritillary	Rock Bunting	Alpines?
This Panorama enlarges
Through the minibus windscreen	Beetle, Clytra. not a Lady bird	Chamaecytisus supinus	Rain and cloud coming as we drove to the mountains
Rain	High virgin forest
Looking down	The Cloud is clearing, we are on the same level		Mulleins
	High Virgin Forest	Veronica	The valley below gives some idea of the forests
Ranunculus		Campanula	Thyme
Dactylorrhiza fuchsii	Acinos arvensis
		Alpine Meadow
Cliff face	Hoary Plantain & Chafer	Rock Garden	Polygala
Euphorbias		Biscutella laevigata
Oxytropis jacquinii	Polygala	Looking down from the high view point and botanical reserve, Mount Sneznik	Heath Fritillary
	Gentiana Acaulis
Heath Fritillary	Heath Fritillary	Ringlet	Ringlet
	Roe Deer	Laburnum	Harvestman spider
Saxifrage	Moss grown rocks	Alpine Newt
Black and white slug	Alpenrose	Orchid	Helleborine
Electric Generation from water bursting from the rocks at....	.....Pod Lipco	A crescent in Vipava	Assume the vowels in Slovene words
The Bridge to Pod Skala restaurant	Supper at the Pod Skala restaurant in the town of Vipava. Over cooked fish	Dining Area	A former mill
Reflection. The loo, which needed a key, was on the other side of the bridge. This is the start of the Vipara River	There must be 100% humidity	Reflection
Wednesday 6th June A trip to the Wetlands by Koper and a river area by the Croatian border,
Novo Vas village church before breakfast	The Church Graveyard	Rustic Bridge	Hello
A Lone Tree	Campula	Burnet moth	Hoary Plantain
Two Campulas	Grass Thatch	In the Church graveyard	A Wooden Virgin
Nottingham catchfly	Knapweed	In the Nature Park Strunjan near Koper, red necked terrapins,	Red necked terrapin
Scarlet Dragonfly	Perennial Pea	Holly Blue	Marsh Frog
Container Port at Koper on the skyline	Orthetrum cancellatum	Convolvulus	A hide for watching the birds
Nature Park Strunjan, near Koper	White cattle, Boškarin or Istrian cattle	Pigmy Cormorant	Camargue horse similar to Lipizzaner
Black backed Stilt	Italian Wall Lizard	All friends?	Lunch at Histria Botanica who specialise in producing Natural Oils; see their website
Note the the stills for the natural oils	A Croatian village looks down from the hill beyond the border	Note the Croatian border in black	River short of water
River bed	Sedum flowering	Nettletree Butterfly	Marbled White
Smoke Bush	Sloe Hairstreak	Marbled White	Bug orchid
Large Chequered Skipper	Perennial Pea	Nettletree Butterfly	Marbled White
Mountain Ponies. We stopped on the way back to see Bee Eaters but they were too far away	We went to the Hija Glamping site for supper. (Also called Park Idila)	The owner's house	Račji Otok, Lake Bloke an artificial lake
Sleeping biker bear	Natural Art	Park Idila location
Mates	Gate Post	A skiing bear (Slovenian style), has the snow melted?. All the sculptures are carved by the owners husband	Ann, Jim, Martin, Helen and Paul in the cafe
Thursday 7th June High Pine woods, the Kocevje Virgin Forest and Reichenau village and Sawmill
We picked up Petra, our guide, at this lake, a flooded open-cast coal mine just outside Kocevje A map is at next picture		Nine spot Moth	A Forest Hut on a hill top, the view is below
Yellow Clover	Pansy	Fire Bug	The view
Pine Woods	Bee hives near Reichenau (Rajhenav)	Walnut Tree	Inula
We drove through the pine woods to Reichenau (Rajhenav)	Heleborine		Tree called the Queen of Rog plus Ann and Petra
Seedlings in a dead stump, life goes on	Bladder Campion	Rajhenav (Reichenau) was originally inhabited by Gottschee Germans. It was founded around 1400. After the last wave of colonization in 1574, the village consisted of 10 farms. During the Second World War its German population was evicted and the village was completely burned down in the summer of 1942. On 15 August 1942, Italian forces shot 20 to 30 civilians and then disposed of the bodied in sinkholes. On 26 June 1943 the Partisans defeated the Italian military near by. After the war only three houses remained in the village and the land was used by a state-owned dairy farm	Another bear
Rajhenav farm where we had lunch. The farmer was very proud of his cattle. And we had an excellent beef soup	Farmer and wife by Petra see http://www.petradraskovic.com	Fly catcher in the garden	Bracket Fungus in the virgin forest
Possibly a dead tree?	Emerald moth	A mammoth snail, 4 inch shell, edible?	Enlarges
Virgin Forest Edge	Ann found a tick that Helen helped her dig out with Paul's special tool. Martin had one that left its mouth bits in and had to be dug out and both Helen and Paul found unattached ticks they flicked away	Coloured Bracket Fungus	Meadow Brown
Sawmill History (enlarges)	Location of the water tanks	Water was a problem and was stored for the sawmill in large sunken tanks now a wild life habitat	Supper was at the Gostilna Žolnir, Kostanjvica na krki, our new base where the Lime Trees smelt beautifully and they had a surprisingly large dining room. We had a smaller one!
Friday 8th June A circular route taking in a castle , an orchard and bee eaters
Kostanjvica na krki. Meals were provided by Gostilna Žolni by the yellow pin, top centre	Our splendid B and B Castanea. As always we explored before breakfast	The Breakfast room	The southern Wooden Bridge
	Another B and B
		St Jacobs church	The northern Wooden Bridge
	The Castle (Schloss)	Art	The town steelyard
A wooden foot bridge	Hapsburg Empire style terrace	Chicory	New house old style
The only street art we saw. Maybe there is Communist brutal architecture and Graffiti in Ljubljana, we saw none		Typical door	A wooden saint
Indian bean tree	A Nursery?		Old Shutters
Paris quadrifolia	Lesser Butterfly Orchid	Meadow brown	Meadow brown
Silver washed Fritillary	Golden Beetle	A small grass snake	White Admiral
Wet Woodland	Silver washed Fritillary	Female Brimstone	Frog in a puddle
Moor Frog		Virgin forest left, ordinary forest right	Dung beetle
Virgin Forest, never touched	Speckled Wood	Tiger moth	Wood White
A forest hut with a yard that attracted huge cloud of butterflies	Purple Emperor	Lesser Purple Emperor	Silver washed Fritillary
Silver washed Fritillary	Lesser Purple Emperor see orange circles		Purple Emperor
Map Butterfly,second brood	Map Butterfly, Araschnia Levana f. prorsa	Fritillaries, could one be a first brood Map?	Brimstones
Podsreda Castle	Wayside Shrine	Castle gate	Entrance Hall, where they park the carriages
Up to the Glass Museum	Red engraved bowl like Bohemian glass	Paperweight
Central Courtyard	View from the window	The attic with lesser horseshoe bats roosting there	Don Quixote
Martin views the pictures in the exhibition
Childrens' work, their town badge is a Dragon		The Village below	Central Courtyard
The Dungeon	We had lunch in the kitchen before our tour of the castle	We drove to the rare types of apple preservation orchard and heard how they fund their work.	Sweet William in the grass of the orchard
The Bee eaters kept well away from their nest holes, in far off trees and our guide was really disappointed. We were badly bitten by mosquitoes while hiding in the bushes	Bee eater, much enlarged	Bee eaters	We had supper at the Gostilna Žolnir again and walked home in the dusk
Saturdayday 9th June Another 4am start and a long drive to the Venice Airports
Marco Polo Airport	Ann and Jim unload at Treviso for their Ryanair flight. We drove on to Marco Polo	A long view of Marco Polo from our illegal parking spot. A Police car stopped alongside us with its siren on, you had to notice!	We left the B and B at 0400hrs for the long drive to Venice and arrived in good time. We took an hour at the "bag drop" and then waited an hour and a quarter on the tarmac after the scheduled time for take off because of a French Air Traffic Control strike. Titan Air ran out of sandwiches for sale and did not finish meal service. A 13 hour day by the time we got home, but a very enjoyable holiday.

Balm-leaved red deadnettle

Račji Otok, Lake Bloke an artificial lake