Croatia - Day 19 — Patti Part Two

Today was a big travel day. We needed to get from Lake Bled Slovenia to Split Croatia and we made it! When researching how to make that happen I found out that as good as the trains are in Italy - they are equally bad in Croatia. Buses are far more common to get from city to city but that didn’t appear to be a great option either, as we would have had to take a bus to Zagreb and then at least one or two more to get to Split. Renting a car in Slovenia and dropping it off in Croatia would be really expensive as they have to put the car on a truck and send it back, so we hired a driver! It’s a service called On Day Trip, and while it was expensive it worked out great. The driver picked us up at 9 AM sharp and off we went. We were also able to add a side trip to Plitvice National Park which we were very excited about. Plitvice became the first National park in Croatia in 1949 and it’s filled with lakes, dams, waterfalls and miles of plank walks over and around the waterfalls. It would be easy to spend a full day or even two at the park, but we had only two hours so we covered as much ground as possible. So beautiful!

Waterfalls everywhere you look! And these really amazing plank walks often right across the waterfall.

The water is very clean and clear up close with lots of fish swimming in it, but no fishing allowed. From up above the water is the most amazing turquoise color and I had to find out why. Turns out Plitvice water coming off the mountains contains magnesium carbonate which gives it the beautiful color. Really incredible.

We wished we could have stayed longer as there was so much more to see, but we had to meet our driver and continue the drive to Split. We arrived to the hotel about 5:30 and headed to find dinner since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Our first impression driving into Split wasn’t great. Very industrial as it’s the second largest city in Croatia. But as we got closer to the water and the Old Town is got a lot prettier. Lots of huge boats and ferries which take people and cars out to the Dalmatian Islands. We found a cute restaurant with a good view of the harbor and had a great meal. Lots of wonderful very fresh fish here and that is exactly what sounded good to us. We shared the best Mediterranean salad ever and both had the sea bass with grilled vegetables. From sausage to sea bass in a single day!

Julie eagerly waiting for me to take the darn picture so she can eat!

We don’t even have a full day here before we head over to stay on the island of Hvar so we just took a walk through the main square after dinner. We came upon a very cool palace that has been repurposed into somewhat of a shopping, restaurant and hotel compound. It’s actually from about 313 AD and is the ancient Diocletian Palace. He was a Roman emperor originally from the area and had the palace built in Split for his retirement. The main building is open to the public and was lit up beautifully at night. There is a hotel and restaurant operating right off the courtyard and they had a man playing a guitar and singing. People were sitting on the stairs with a drink or gelato listening and it was definitely the coolest courtyard I have ever seen.

Croatia doesn’t use the Euro for currency. They have their own called the Kuna and it’s hard to get used to in my opinion. Now I'm juggling 3 currencies in my head. A little over 6 Kuna is equal to one US dollar so everything initially seems really expensive. I got a latte and a croissant this morning for breakfast (of course I did!) and it was 19.50 Kuna which seemed high. Then I realized it was like $3.50 US - cheap.

We have had some really interesting conversations with some of the locals in Slovenia and Croatia about what it was like when both countries were in Yugoslavia and under the dictatorship of Tito and others. Also what the war was like in Croatia with the Serbians, especially because the war in Croatia was relatively recent. Croatia is still recovering and you can see the damage in places from the bombings. I have so much respect for these people for how they persevered in very challenging times and a renewed appreciation for how lucky we are in the US. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty great.

We will only have the morning here tomorrow and then we take the boat to Hvar. Spending a few days on an island sounds great to me!

Here’s my favorite picture from today.....

Do videnija - goodbye!