Friday morning, we left Zagreb for Plitvice Lakes National Park. A quick two and a half hour bus ride got us there, although we got off at the wrong stop. The park has two entrances, and we disembarked at the second; unfortunately, our guesthouse was located at the first. The park is really the only thing in the area besides a post office, a few restaurants closed for the winter, and the main road, so we had to walk three kilometers to our destination. There was a whole neighborhood of little guesthouses near the first entrance which provide rooms for park visitors. We had selected one such house online, and it proved to be a wonderfully cozy place with a very friendly family. When they realized we didn’t have a car, they drove us ten kilometers to the nearest market and let us use their kitchen to make some dinner. They even shared some Croatian vodka with us while we cooked.
The next day, we went to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. Despite the alarming number of student and retiree groups who entered at the same time as us, we had a wonderful time there. The park is gorgeous. It is long and narrow, centering on a series of lakes and waterfalls. The day was a little overcast, so I doubt our pictures will do the park justice, but it was lovely. The water was unbelievably clear up close, and turned amazing shades of blue and green in the darker middles of the lakes. There were some immense waterfalls near the park entrance, and further back there was a series of small ones with winding wooden boardwalks which took us above and below them for some spectacular views. We had a great day exploring the park.
The next day our goal was to arrive in Dubrovnik, our final Croatian destination. Since Plitvice is so isolated, we didn’t really know when busses might come. We asked at park information, and they told us one should stop at 12:15. We waited until 1:00 before one finally picked us up. A quick look at our map told us we had drastically underestimated the distance to Dubrovnik. It is at Croatia’s very southernmost tip–not extraordinarily close to Plitvice. We had also underestimated how many Croatian kuna we would need to get there, and had to pay the bus driver in some Euros as well. Our bus terminated in Split at 8:00 pm, where we were dismayed to find that the next bus to Dubrovnik was not until 1:30 am. We killed time in the station until we could climb on board the bus and collapse. Our slumber was interrupted only twice: once during a brief cross of the Bosnian border, where our passports were checked, and again when our bus broke down and we were forced to wait for another and switch. These difficulties, along with the gorgeous scenery and adorable seaside towns we passed, convinced us that Croatia is a country where a rental car is essential.
We finally arrived in Dubrovnik around 7 am. Our guesthouse was in walking distance of the bus station, and is absolutely charming. We slept until about noon, and then ventured to old town Dubrovnik. This walled-in city is situated on the coast, and is breathtakingly lovely. You enter the walls on a drawbridge over what used to be a moat, and is now a garden filled with playgrounds and orange trees. The entire town is made out of the same white-gray stone, from the streets to the buildings. It’s spectacularly clean and beautiful, abounding with flowers and fountains. The harbor and seaside are spectacular; the views of the rocky coastline and the vividly blue sea are amazing. We spent the afternoon just wandering around the winding alleys of the old town, and had dinner at a highly recommended seafood restaurant right on the water, where stray cats begged for bits of our fried sardines and grilled squid.
This morning, we ventured back to the old town, but walked beyond it down the curving coastal peninsula. The land slants steeply up into bare hills which we were warned against venturing into, because there may still be landmines from the 1990’s Yugoslav wars. However, the lower parts are filled with houses and are of course completely safe. We walked through winding roads, steep stairways, and lovely split-level gardens to reach the very tip of the peninsula, where there was a big hotel called Hotel Belvedere. To our surprise, it was completely ruined and abandoned. We later asked our host about this, and he explained that the hotel was at the front lines of the invasion of Dubrovnik, and the Croatian army was there being bombed by the Serbians.
We walked back to town where we wandered the streets a while longer. After a cheap dinner of pizza slices (our kuna were running out) we headed back to our hostel. We quickly posted this blog before hopping on a ferry to Italy!
We would just like to say that Croatia has been one of our favorite destinations by far. It is a treasure trove of natural and cultural beauty, and practically free of tourists. We would highly recommend it as a vacation spot, especially if one could rent a car and do a driving tour. We suggest discovering it before the rest of the world does!
Hi! I’m Jeanne Oliver, author of Lonely Planet’s Croatia guidebook. Your posts on Croatia have been really interesting. I think they deserve a wider audience! Why not visit my Croatia travel forums at http://www.croatiatraveller.com and share your experiences with my visitors? It would be great if you could post a trip report or even just give some tips to other Croatia travellers. They need your expertise!
Hope to meet you soon on my forums.
Jeanne
Hi, I hope you are enjoying Rome and Tarquinia. My aunt called to let me know that your luggage (Joan’s and Mark’s) has been delivered to the apartment. Elisabetta
Elisabetta,
We got the luggage. It was waiting at the apartment. The apartment beautiful and, despite the rain, we are having a great time.
We will post more tonight.
Thanks for all your help and support!
Joan & Mark
merci , j’ai pris beaucoup d’informations utiles sur la Croatie , aussi j’ai jouter un coup d’œil sur http://www.croatietourisme.com
merci encore
It has to be abudantly clear to Albanians that vincoele this time around cannot achieve independence.I would doubt very much that either Europe or US can stomach the consequences of a unilateral declaration of Independence. The threat of Serb and Russian backlash to this option is too real in my opinion. Kosovo Albanians, even if unified with Albania proper would not be able to hold onto to Kosovo without NATO or US forces. It is as simple as that.
The most relevant thing to watch is how quiet will the uurlny Kosovo Albanians be?Will they be able to maintain the discipline or will they under the pretext of some or other Serbian atrocity start the riot?
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Now I feel stupid. That’s cleared it up for me
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