589 - The Vanishing Act

This is the result of another day off of SoFoBoMo. We were in Slovenia, about 90 minutes from home, and we came to see a fascinating phenomenon, a lake that’s only there in winter and spring. In summer it completely dries up, only to re-appear half a year later.

Phenomena like this are not uncommon in Slovenia. Geologically this is a karst landscape, porous limestone full of caves and underground rivers, rivers that come out of a cave, only to vanish in a canyon some miles down, coming back to the light of day somewhere else.

We plan to come back some time in August for the other side of the story. It must be interesting to see the boats lying on the ground when there is no lake at all.

Or maybe that’s not completely true. Some parts of the lake seemingly don’t vanish completely, or if they do, they do it so late, that no grass grows where the water leaves. These parts are covered by a thick layer of dead reeds, an ideal place for small spiders. Wherever you tread, there are hundreds of them.

We finished the day with a trip to the peak of a nearby mountain. There, at 1114 meters above sea level, is a restaurant with a fantastic view on the lake below. This last image was taken from the forest road up the mountain.

The Song of the Day is “Vanishing Act” from the 2003 Lou Reed album “The Raven”.