Steep, exciting canyons in Slovenia

The first hike in Slovenia was, just like in Serbia, more of an exit game than a real hike - we had to find the markings in various places and distances and not be confused by the 'trail' (washed out, dry river/ stream beds). When we finally arrived, we had a very warm conversation with a local from Trebese, who showed us videos from June of this year of a 10-meter high waterfall that we couldn't find on our hike due to the current drought, and wanted to treat us to an orange juice. Considering the threatening thundercloud, we declined and made it to the car just in time. We stopped at a restaurant, had delicious mushroom soup as an appetizer (yes, with lots of real forest mushrooms!), tasty homemade gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce, very good roasted piglet, and a unique apple strudel with two cappuccinos for only 26 euros. We survived the rainy night without getting wet in the tent this time.
So we could start the next morning full of expectations to the castle of Predjama. The day surpassed our expectations by far. The castle built into the rock, with its sophisticated methods of utilizing the features of the cave passages inside the rock, impressed us. When eight of us participated in a guided tour through the 'normally accessible' parts of the cave passages below the castle, we were blown away. With helmets and headlamps, we listened to the cave explorer and absorbed all the impressions (stalactites and stalagmites, bats, huge caves that we couldn't even light up, silver and gold sparkling water pearls on the rock caused by harmless bacteria...). Until the cave explorer asked us to turn off all lights. Pitch black. Silence. The dripping in the cave sounded louder - the senses suddenly sharpened. Total disorientation. With the lights turned back on, we found our way back.
Afterwards, we went to the Postojna Cave: the second largest dripstone cave in the world. Everything was very touristy. Everyone lined up according to their language, then took a small open train into the cave for 8 minutes, were guided through the 10-degree cold cave passages for about an hour, and then brought back out by train. The landscape inside the cave was indescribable, almost surreal. The formations, which take millions of years to grow so tall and wide, stretched as far as the eye (and the light) could see. By the way, stalactites and stalagmites grow about 1 cm in a hundred years...
After an already exciting and thrilling day, we adopted 'Gunther' at the Postojna Cave. Gunther is a not very talkative, but very inexpensive olm. Olms can survive up to 10 years without food... From now on, 'Gunther the olm' is our constant travel companion.
We briefly visited the old town of the capital Ljubljana before we searched for and found a rainproof shelter again.
The next day took us to Bled, the city with the only island in Slovenia. An idyllic spa resort located directly on the Triglav National Park. There we strolled around the lake and up to viewpoints with a magnificent view of the island and the castle behind it.
The next day, we embarked on a nearly 7-hour hike over 1100 meters of elevation through valleys, along mountain slopes secured with cables, over two peaks (Visevnik and Veliki Draski), and through slippery scree. We ended the evening with a well-deserved barbecue and a small fire - the nights reached temperatures between 0 and -3 degrees.
Once again, the sun greeted us in the morning. We first visited the impressive Savica Waterfall, combined with a energy-saving mini hike. At 2:15 p.m., we arrived at our outdoor agency to go canyoning. From there, we went to a water-filled gorge. Together with 5 others, we were equipped with wetsuits, helmets, climbing harnesses, and water shoes. As soon as we arrived at the entrance to the gorge, the first 3-meter jump into the 5-degree cold water awaited us. Then we went down natural water slides, a zipline, jumps, short walks, and abseiling methods along the gorge. Absolutely amazing. Radiating with joy, euphoria, and enthusiasm, physically exhausted, we fell into our tent no more than 10 meters away from a rushing river.
The (presumably) last hike of the vacation awaited us the next day: up to Slemenova Spica. A comparatively easy yet impressive hike.
We left the Triglav National Park with the consensus that we must visit the park again. At least to climb Triglav and to take another canyoning tour. With that in mind, we crossed the border to Austria.