Moravian Karst – Czech Caves on a Rainy Day

After a perfect day cycling on Saturday, we woke up to very cold and very wet weather on Sunday.  The forecast was right.  I’m so glad we changed our plans around, even if a few couldn’t make the new cycling schedule.  No one would have made it on Sunday.

Instead, after a leisurely morning in the Karasek living room, we dressed up for the cold and rain and headed out to a nearby protected nature area called the Moravian Karst.

The area includes 5 caves open to the public (in addition to other caves that aren’t publicized, such as the one I visited with Milan and Adam described in a previous post). This time, Antonin, Soña, Honza and I went to the Punkva cave. With umbrellas in hand, we opted out of taking the little train ride up to the caves  from the parking lot in order to enjoy the fresh air instead.  After buying tickets for ourselves and 2 of our cameras (I brought my good one this time, but even at 6400 ISO, I was shooting below recommended handheld speeds. This year, I’m really learning what a difference a fast lens would make), we walked the 2km uphill alongside rivers, forests, and little cave holes.

Our guided tour included a walk through the dry part of the caves, where we learned about stalagmites (from the bottom up), stalactites (top to bottom) and stalagnates (when the two meet as one).  We saw plenty of lilve/active ones and many dead ones too (where water no longer drips).  Many formations had names.  For example, here are the Two Owls, Angel, Curtain, and Romeo & Juliette – the ill-fated lovers that will never connect.

And so many more – named and unnamed.

After walking though the Dry Sector, we visited the Macocha Abys (named after the legend of the evil stepmother who threw her stepson down into the abyss. He was saved by an overhanging tree and reported the crime to the villagers, who then threw the stepmother down instead.) This is “one of the most important single geological features in the Czech Republic, …a gorge 138 m deep, which was formed when the ceiling of an underground cave chamber collapsed”.  There are flowers that grow here that are usually only seen in high altitudes.

Some of the natural corridors have also collapsed over the years and so parts the tour were conducted through dynamited pathways.  These were pointed out to us.  Tours are also now conducted in part, on metal sidewalks whereas we used to walk on the cave floors a few decades ago.

The last part of the tour is the water cruise on an underground section of the Punkva River – a 440m long cruise that stops partway so we can visit Masaryk’s Dome.  It’s supposed to be the most richly decorated rooms of the Moravian Karst.  Unfortunately, by the time I photographed some of the elements near the entrance and joined the group, the lights got turned off for us to return to the boat.  This happened a few times, but I still hadn’t learned my lesson. They turn the lights off immediately after leaving to preserve the fragile ecosystem of the caves (and to speed up visitors, I’m sure of it!).

By the end of the tour, I thought that I had perhaps visited this cave in the 90s, but wasn’t sure.  I always say that my life has been so blessed with travel, people, and experiences, that I simply can’t hold it all in my limited memory-storage area. I’ve been saying that since I was 10 years old!  I know I’ve been to several of these caves before, but couldn’t tell you for sure which ones.  It’s like watching movies – if it’s been more than 1-2 years, they surprise me every time.  Considering the number of movies I’ve seen in my life, this is not surprising…

After another 2km walk back to our car, we drove to Milan’s in Rájec.  I had forgotten my Brita-filter water bottle there the night before and so we got to have another visit: always nice and tasty too.  We then stopped at a supermarket to pick up the fixings for dinner (roasted veggies – including celery root – delicious! – cheeses, tuna, etc.) and to refill the milk bottles.  This is cool!  A local farmer reloads the machine daily with non-pasteurized milk.  Antonin says he only discovered the real taste of milk once he started buying here.  For 15 crowns, or 82 cents Canadian, you can fill up 1 liter of fresh milk.  Soña makes yoghurt out of it sometimes.  (As an aside, she tried using a bit of Activia to start the culture, but it didn’t work at all. Their friend who studies such things at the university here found that Activia was one of the worst – false marketing). Anyhow, you can also buy glass or plastic refill bottles on site when that part of the machine isn’t broken.  Even if I don’t digest dairy much anymore, I thought this was all very cool!  It’s a modern version of the milk truck that still existed 40 years ago in Canada.  We used to leave bottles on the porch and new ones would magically appear when we woke up the next morning.

It may have been a rainy day, but it was a great day indeed.  We even watched a movie – one that Antonin and Iva had repeatedly quoted and laughed about during the weekend.  It’s a French movie with Gerard Depardieu called RRRrrr!! set in caveman days.  We couldn’t find the original French version (with or without Czech subtitles) , so watched it in Czech.  Humour is hard in a foreign language… and comedies rarely lead me to laugh – a lifelong plight. Alas, this one was no different, and since Iva had to study, there wasn’t enough laughter in the room for it to be contagious.  No matter – good food, good friends, comfortable couch – it was all good!