After a long time, good news! The flea market has been opened again, but now we already have such interesting content, that the flea market will get an extended pause. In the next few weeks, we will present you with impressive holes in the ground. The first is the one from the cover photo – it is a surface row of the Bor copper mine called “Southern trench” in Majdanpek, since 2018 owned by the Chinese corporation Zidjin. But no matter how impressive this hole is in size (2.5km • 1.6km) it is the least interesting. There is a much more interesting place nearby – Rajko’s cave.

The road to the cave leads through what certainly was popular picnic area before the Covid-19. When we came across, there was hardly anyone…

…but while our small team of Veljko Nenadić, @dragannenadic and yours truly @lighteye was waiting to enter, a significant group of people gathered in front of the cave. There you could also buy occasional souvenirs from Lepenski vir, a Neolithic civilization that is one of the oldest in the world.

In front of the cave there is a memorial plaque with the names of people who are responsible for the research and arrangement of Rajko’s cave, from the famous Serbian geographer Jovan Cvijić who started the research back in 1894, to the official opening for visitors on September 12th, 1975.

Our guide, Maja Pavlović, described briefly before entering, the history of the cave research and gave a few instructions how to behave in this fascinating environment.

We then enter a long metal path-bridge over the canyon of the Rajko’с river that flows through the cave. The temperature in the cave is just about ten degrees Celsius, and below us, in this place, the river is barely seen…

But from the beginning we can see the first decorations created over millions of years at the ceiling… Don’t be fooled by the wide-angle lens, the space is quite tight.

Wherever you look, you see scenes as if from another world… or from the center of the Earth. In any case, after visiting the cave world, you will feel as if you have traveled to another planet.

Inside the cave you will find many smaller caves, usually so small that only the bravest young explorers can enjoy them.

Please don’t complain, the group was quite long, so unfortunately I couldn’t follow the story about the halls and photograph at the same time. The trail itself is almost a mile long, and the straits alternate with spacious halls full of decorations, such as these…

Stone draperies, probably the most interesting decorations in any cave.

There is too much material for one text this time. Be here tomorrow, when we find out where from the name Rajko’s comes, to complete the tour, and to try to find a way out of this fantastic cave…

Stay tuned!

The photos in this #wednesdaywalk taken with the Fujifilm X-T20, the Canon EFs 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 and the Canon EFs 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lenses.

This post is made as a contribution to a photo challenge done in collaboration of two of our members: @tattoodjay hosts a competition called “Wednesday Walk” and @elizacheng’s contest called “Make me Smile”.