There is a separate article "Karst topography".

Kras (Carso in Italian), also called the Classical Karst or the Kras Plateau, is a limestone borderline plateau region of southwestern Slovenia extending into northeastern Italy. It lies between the Vipava valley , the Vipavska brda , the most westerly part of Brkini hills, Gulf of Trieste and a short part of Italian state border between the Trieste Bay and the Vipava River . Its western border is an old ethnic border between Italians and Slovenes. The region is famous as the inspiration for the geological term karst topography.

The plateau rises quite steeply above the neighboring landscape, with the exception of the southeastern side, where the steepness is less prounounced. The plateau gradually descends from the southeast to the southwest. On average it lies 334 metres above sea level. Because Karst steeply descends to the Adriatic Sea (see: Kraški rob ), it is less submitted to the beneficial climatological effects of the sea. The main vegetation in the past were oaks, but now are pine forests. Forests now cover only one third of Karst.

Kras is famous after its caves in Slovenia Vilenica (the oldest tourist cave in the world), Lipica cave , Divača cave , Kačna cave ) and Škocjan caves , that are written on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites and in Italy Grotta Gigante (the biggest tourist cave in the world, with a special horizontal pendulum that measures the ebb and flow effect of the moon on the earth).

The major part is located in the Southwestern Slovenia on the area of 429 square kilometres, and has a population of about 19,000 people. The Karst as a whole has exactly 100 settlements. The town of Sežana is the center of Kras on the Slovene side of the border; where the poet Srečko Kosovel was born. The main rural centers are the settlements of Divača , Dutovlje , and Komen . Štanjel is a picturesque nucleate settlement at the top of the northern rim of the plateau; its houses are tightly clustered around the Turn hill, giving it the appearance of a medieval city.

Natural conditions and way of life shaped all the elements of Kras architecture in simple but crystal-clear forms. Karst is known world-wide after its wine, named teran, and smoked ham . The main tourist center is Lipica with horse stables (Lipizzan horse breed) and other tourist objects.

See also

• Geography of Slovenia
• Geography of Italy