Slovenia & Croatia : day 1

Another hot 30+ degree day(again thank goodness for air-conditioning) and I am on my way on my 8 day Jewels of Croatia and Slovenia tour.There are 34 of us on a big air- conditioned bus. An interesting mix, mostly my age to a granny from
Wales with her two teenaged grandchildren. I'm really enjoying Kristie (see photo). She is a most attractive American from Charlottesville in Virginia and she has left her 9 & 12 year old kids at home with her husband. Wentz is our guide and Miha is our driver, both excellent and informative about both the landscape and the history.
Sadly we did not have time last night to go into Ljubljana, which I believe is a beautiful city. I found out that the only bus from Lake Bled to Zadar goes at 9pm and arrives at 3am! Could be tricky finding accommodation at 3am (??),so I think I will have one day less at Lake Bled, so that I can see Ljubljana and catch a train onto Zadar via Zagreb to join Claudia & Ralf for my sailing.
Today we visited the wonderful Postojna Caves, which was an unforgettable experience,going underground on a little train, then walking through the wonderful stalactite and stalagmite landscape.The formations were spectacular and we walked about 3 km underground. The Slovenian countryside is very pretty and green with rolling wooded hills.It is a tiny country with about 2 million people and 300,000 in Ljubljana.
Then we crossed the border onto Croatia and into three totally different landscapes. Tourism makes up at least 25% of Croatia's GDP.We had a spectacular drive along the very dry rocky sunburned coastline to Senj. The vegetation struggles to grow on the rocky soil, but the sea is clear and blue with gorgeous little coves and bays with people swimming and sunbathing.From Senj we drove inland through the province of Lica along a very windy road through pretty forested hill country up into the Gacka Valley , with supposedly the cleanest river in Europe.The coast is heavily populated, but inland is almost uninhabited and apparently good for biking and hiking. Also full of wildlife - deer, rabbits, wolves,foxes,squirrels, wild boar and even lynx.We then drove along a new inland motorway to Zadar, back on the coast through an amazing 5.7km double tunnel into the province of Dalmatia.
Zadar is a gorgeous little medieval town with beautiful Venetian architecture and a famous sea organ.It has quaint narrow little cobbled streets and is so full of history, dating back to Roman times.It was under Venetian domination for centuries,then Austro-Hungarian,and after WW1it was ruled by Italy and today it belongs to Croatia.