Oktober, november 2011 - Adria Airways

( 93 )that is, in front of the cave. The entrances to the first and second storeyscan clearly be seen on the former external wall of the castle.Today it is toured each year by around 110,000 visitors, who usuallyinclude it as part of a trip to Postojna Cave. They are usually stirredmost by the torture chamber and the judgement hall, with its deepchasm into which, it is thought, the condemned were thrown. In thecave at the back of the castle, on the ceiling you can see steel versionsof the water collection system used in medieval times to catch waterand channel it throughout the castle. From there, cave guides takesmall groups through Erasmus' Passage, which is just 37 metres long,but almost vertical, so visitors must be harnessed to ropes.Several times a day, visitors can also enter the lower cave, 25 metresbelow the castle entrance, light their way with flashlights through partof the cave system, and then come back out into daylight 25 metresabove the castle. Inside the cave you can see the signatures of visitorsfrom the 16th century onwards, and this is also home to 12 species ofbat, which are protected, so the cave is closed during their hibernationperiod. The upper section is called Fiženca, after the Slovene word forfig, since according to tradition a fig tree once grew at the exit, wherethe warmer air from the cave provided shelter from the winter chill. Byspecial arrangement, groups can also undertake a more difficult tourthat lasts up to five hours.The main public event below Predjama Castle is the annual ErasmusKnights' Tournament, a two-day medieval spectacle in July, featuringduels and shows, and a night-time siege of fire around the castle. Thisevent is attended by around 10,000 people.Predjama Castle continues to stir up spirits today. Literally. A few yearsago a team of ghost hunters from the USA visited the castle, and not onlyfound ghosts, but recorded them. Mainly, of course, in the torture chamber.Since that time, interest in “Predjama ghosts” has been growing.And the cave environment continues to offer its own extraordinaryfeatures. The same thermal system that supposedly kept the fig treealive, now provides snowdrops, which grow in the meadow in front ofthe castle – at Christmas time.A