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Published: February 21st 2011
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Wednesday (1/9/2010)
Surprisingly by 6am the following morning the port was still again as we boarded our ferry to Split. After a snooze we pulled in to a pretty port town. We stored our luggage and bought bus tickets for the afternoon to Plitvice leaving us a few hours to explore Split. Starving first stop was coffee and pastries (our second worst addiction to ice cream!). We battled the tour groups through yet another old town. We passed through the Silver gate to the Peristal (central court) and the grand Cathedral Sv Duje. We climbed to the top of bell tower for view of the port, old town and distant countryside. We climbed back down continuing through the vestibule into and back along the promenade to the new town for some shopping at summer sales. Jez scored a new pair of Raybans and Carly some desperately needed additions to a dismal backpack wardrobe. We discovered a quaint pizzeria down an alleyway we a cute courtyard for lunch, despite the lengthy wait (or maybe we were just starving) it was worth it.
Back to the bus station for our four hour journey to Plitvice Lakes, through some lovely countryside we arrived at
6.30pm scoring a lift with one of the guesthouses right to our door. We checked into Villa Zora an old farmhouse and on advice of our host Boris to the local bistro for dinner (including a doggy bag of pizza).
Thursday
We set off early on foot to try and beat some of the crowds, about a 2km to the Plitvice National Park gates. With another bus to catch that evening we set off on the 4-6hour loop beginning from the large lake. After a short bus ride to the top we arrived to a wooden walkway, turquoise water and trickling waterfalls within lush forest. Picture perfect, hence we made lots of photo stops trying to capture it! I've managed to pick just a few from the couple thousand for the blog!
The further we went the busier it got, (glad we started in the direction we did). Next we took the ferry to the top of the small lake section which was teeming with huge tour groups. We stopped for a coffee in the sun refueled to battle and dodge the prams, interlocked couples and people that just couldn’t step from the center of the walkway, let alone
get out of your photo. We climbed to the lookout above the parks largest waterfall and our loop came to an end. We took a secret side track for some uncrowded views and last pics before reaching the bus pickup point. With plenty of time to spare instead we opted to walk the rest of the way back to our villa (and burn off a few of those ice creams).
Back to Zora we collected our gear and waited by the bus stop, and this is where the real fun started. Within minutes a guy offered us a lift to Zagreb for the same cost of the bus… confused we kindly declined. Fifteen minutes later the bus cruised on past us, despite our frantic waving. Even more confused the timetable stated another bus shouldn’t be much further then thirty minutes away. We set a staggered wave down and waited….. nothing. Eventually a minivan pulled over offering a lift to Zagreb for 100 each, he looked legit so we climbed in. He stopped at the next few bus stops until the van was full and at the last stop the real bus flew past.. not appearing to have stopped to pick
up those who'd refused the minivan. Perplexed but slightly impressed at their litte scam we were just happy to get to Zagreb. We bought train ticket to Llubjana for the following morning and checked into Zagreb Youth Hostel. Sterile, secure and quiet... we had no complaints.
We wandered through the streets of Zagreb, pavement teeming with people out for drinks, flanked by beautiful old buildings and filled with music of local performers. We struggled to find anywhere serving food after a couple laps we settled for a little sidewalk restaurant. Believing we had calculated the last of kuna (Croatian currency) perfectly we ordered grilled meat and vege with just enough money left to split a beer. Unfortunately we hadn’t counted on them charging us for the bread which we’d nailed being starving, scrounging the last of our coins we were still 50lipa (kuna cents) short. Leaving a stray 10 Euro cents and no tip we hot footed it back to the hostel!
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Matija
non-member comment
Awesome
So you are in Dalmatia now, and how long are you staying? I am a native Croatian and live & work in Istra, a beautiful half-island, really great reccomendation if you want to please your eyes 'nd body