Slovenia lies in the south of Central Europe, where it is placed at the meeting point of many of the main European cultural and trading routes. The mostly mountainous country, with the Julian Alps to the north, and over half of its surface blanketed in forest, also has an elaborate cave system, with over 10,000 across the country. In the winter, thick carpets of snow are rolled out across the mountainside, while its large collected of waterfalls freeze over.