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Published: October 2nd 2007
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Cathedral of St. Dominus
Photo From Split, Croatia Land of Beaches, Mountains and Tourists…Nope, It’s Not California
Driving through most of Croatia, especially the Dalmatian Coast (yup, that’s right, this is where Dalmatians come from), you get the feeling that you are driving through a weird mixture of Italy and southern California. From tall craggy mountains lined with evergreens to cliff side villages filled with sunshine, you feel like you may turn the corner and see tall blond people drinking coffee at a nearby Starbucks. It just feels like California with a few differences.
Much more like Italy, the major form of construction is bougainvillea houses with gleaming red tile roofs. Other than the still-being-built major highways, most of the roads throughout the country are windy two lane deals that vary in speed limit every 5 kilometers or so. People are much more laid back than your average American and have a “live for today” mentality like their nearby Italian brethren.
Overall, it seems that culturally the Croatians have more in common with the Italians and have an atmosphere like Californians. Is it a perfect combination…well, I’ll leave that up to you to decide but I definitely feel like it’s a pretty good way
Plitvice Park Waterfall
Photo From Plitvice, Croatia to be.
Some Days For Beach Lounging The city of Split is not normally a major long term destination for tourists. For the most part it is a jumping off points for other places in the area, be them islands in the Adriatic, small cliff towns on the Dalmatian Coast or a stop in historic Dubrovnik, the jewel of Croatia’s south east coast. Knowing that Split only needed a day, or even an afternoon, we decided to stay in a resort that was only twenty minutes from town and enjoy a few days of relaxation before moving on for more sights.
During our few days outside of Split we did something we rarely do, we stayed completely still. For two straight days we remained on the grounds of the resort, ate all of our meals there, played in the pool and relaxed in our spacious room. The rest was FABULOUS and much needed. We had rested a bit in Greece with Jen, Jeff and Tracy but still had to hunt for food, see sights and find things to occupy our time. Reall,y since we left Australia nearly four months earlier, we had not taken a
Cardo
Photo From Split, Croatia few days to do, literally, nothing.
Not very interesting for a blog I realize but we did have a great time. Kel did some internet work to plan our last few days on the trip and I did some blog work but otherwise I have absolutely nothing to report other than sun, sand, pool and relaxation. Lovely!
A Whirlwind Through Split On our last day of lounging we decided to scrape our lazy behinds up for a quick tour of Split. The major site that everyone seems to see is Diocletian’s Palace right in the heart of the seaside city. This ancient palace, once the retirement home of a Roman emperor (Diocletian) a few hundred years after Christ’s death, remains in decent condition considering its age. Many of the outer walls still remain along with some of the buildings cellars and a few other key structures. On the grand scheme of ancient ruins I’d give the area about a 7 for coolness factor. Its not up there with some of the Greek and Italian sites that still exist but, if you are in the area, it is definitely worth at least a few hours of
Plitvice Park
Photo From Plitvice, Croatia time.
We toured the area and got some decent pictures. I would say that the tour groups in Diocletian’s Palace were a rare breed. It is rare and funny to see a French tour group and a Japanese tour group have a small rumble that was reminiscent of some of the dance scenes in
West Side Story. Nothing funnier than seeing elderly French trying to quiet down a rowdy Asian group that seemed to be having riotous good fun as they ambled. “Shhhh, s’il vous plait….SHHHHH!!!!” I’m sure they wouldn’t have been happy if our laughing had been louder…nothing worse than having someone laugh while you are upset.
Moving Back To Nature Since we left Iceland we really haven’t spent much time, well any really, touring the great outdoors. Europe in general has so many amazing cities and ancient sites that we have neglected some of the great outdoor sites and beauties. Well, given our location and our itinerary we had a rare opportunity to see one of Eastern Europe’s most beautiful outdoor locations, Plitvice Lakes National Park.
This site, conveniently located about half way between Split and our next destination of Lake
Bled (Slovenia), is a complex of 16 terraced lakes that cascade, via waterfalls, down more than 400 meters (about 1200 feet) in the span of about five miles. Most of the park consists of walking trails that lead through some of the most beautiful blue water lakes and gorgeous waterfalls we may have ever seen.
The water’s blueness is due to the same phenomenon that blues the water in Bertchesgaten, Germany. Due to a high content of calcium carbonate the standing water in the lakes is a deep blue green that looks almost unnatural. When the water moves the calcium carbonate leaves the water and becomes deposited on the sides of the lakes creating a constantly changing set of waterfalls. The waterfalls vary from mighty 250 foot behemoths to small one or two foot tall trickles between pools.
Kel and I both agreed that, while trite, we love waterfalls. They are gorgeous and fun to watch, but are incredibly taunting when you are not allowed to swim in them. While Plitvice is gorgeous it does nothing but tempt you to swim. We likened some of the waterfalls to ones we saw five years ago on our honeymoon on
Carp in the Plitvice Lakes
Photo From Plitvice, Croatia the road to Hana in Maui but at least there we could swim.
We spent the night in a nearby sobe/Apartman which is THE way to sleep in Croatia. The sobe concept is basically a small, clean room rented out of someone’s house. There is no city or town too small not to have at least a few of these enterprising establishments with signs along the roadside. Our sobe was located only a few minutes up the road from the park and was incredibly nice and comfortable. Check out the pictures, quaint and almost German feeling, no?
Well, we are off to Slovenia next. Hope everyone at home is doing great. We miss you but will be home in no time! Keep reading!
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rebecca
non-member comment
home stretch!
Hi guys, just finished catching up on the latest and greatest from your trip. It's hard to believe it's been almost 11 months...hang in there...you're in the home stretch now! Looking forward to having you back on this side of the Atlantic.