Dimnice Cave in Markovščina, Slovenia

The Dimnice Cave is spectacular enough on its own. A vertical cave mouth opens up from the earth with a railed path spiraling tens of meters down from the forest above. Once past the locked gate, your guide leads you into a largely unspoiled natural karst cave system. Here you'll find a treasure trove of geological formations and small animals eking out a life underground.

Far down in the cave system, along the underground river, you'll encounter decaying manmade walls, rusting handrails, and a concrete slab. On the floor are the damaged footings where once stood a water pump. During the German occupation, this pumping station was installed to supply water to the troops above.

During your initial descent, you might have noticed a curious circular hole going straight down into the cave, and a channel along the slope seemingly pointing at an angle towards the surface. These were the locations of pipes that fed water up and out of the cave. After the war, locals decided they wanted nothing to do with water provided by enemy hands and dismantled both the pump house and the pipes.