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Published: August 24th 2006
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I got up at nine and went downstairs to try and organise a hire car. The Croatian people we've met so far have been so helpful and friendly. They actually rang the car rental companies for me, and at first it didn't sound like we'd be in luck. Then the girl on reception rang her friend Brancko and put me on the phone and he organised a car. The trouble arranging one was because we wanted to drop the car off in Dubrovnik, and not back in Zagreb. Brancko even said he would come and pick us up, which saved us trying to get all the way out to the airport in the pouring rain.
Brancko was a little bit late in picking us up which gave us some time on the internet to look for accommodation for the next couple of nights. Despite this we didn't manage to book anything. When Brancko turned up we were pretty impressed with the car, but we didn't find out it was the one we would have until we asked on the way to the airport.
It poured rain the whole way out to the airport, but we got along with Brancko really well.
At the airport I went through the customary paperwork, and they told me some Croatian road rules, eg. no mobile phones while driving, and you must have your lights on at all times.
It was a very cool car so I was extra careful getting out of the airport in the driving rain. The car didn't come with a full tank of petrol, so our first stop was at a service station which enabled us to get food as well, since we hadn't had breakfast and it was now more like lunchtime. I wasn't sure where the petrol cap was so Beck jumped out of the car to have a look. The petrol cap was operated by a button, but it didn't seem to work. The guy from the service station got us to take the keys out of the ignition, and put then put them back in again and it worked. Meanwhile a guy came up to us asking if it was our passport he had picked up out of the puddle. I had to show my passport when hiring the car, and when Beck got out to check the location of the petrol cap my passport must have
fallen out. We were very, very lucky.
Out on the road with food to fill us up, and my passport drying out on the heater we headed to Plitvice Lakes. We passed lots of pubs/ restaurants/ roadhouses, I'm not sure what you'd call them. We decided to call in to one for lunch after our small and very late breakfast. Kate had prsut, which is like cured ham, but it was too strong for me. We all had coke with our lunch to try and wake us up.
Back on the road to Plitvice Lakes it was still raining, but we felt better for our lunch in our stomachs. I can't think straight without fuel.
At the Lakes it was still raining, but we parked the car, walked over to Entrance 1, bought tickets and an umbrella and went for it. I thought I'd let the girls use the umbrella, and bank on getting saturated myself, before getting changed back into dry clothes at the car.
Despite the weather early into the walk we were blown away. We had heard that Plitvice Lakes was good, but it was amazing. We couldn't take enough photos from under the umbrella. By the
time we got to the bottom of the biggest waterfall I was saturated. At the base we couldn't take photos for fear of damaging the camera. There was so much water in the air with the rain combined with the mist off the waterfalls.
The Lakes were a light blue, aqua sort of colour which added to the spectacle. There was plenty of fish in the water which was good news for the local bears, although unfortunately we didn't see any.
The first part of the walk was brilliant, while the rest was good and still nice it paled in significance.
At one point we had to stop and wait for the ferry to cross the lake. There was a cold wind and because I was wet through I was freezing. Kate bought a drink in a log cabin style restaurant so we could sit inside and try and get warm. We couldn't get settled though as we had to rush off to catch the ferry. By now I was shivering, but the guy driving the ferry wouldn't let me in his cabin. It was partly my clothes being so wet that was causing me to be so cold. Kate
gave me her long sleeve top to try and warm up. So I was a little bit cold, but I had amazing views surrounding me, and two beautiful girls trying to warm me up - things could have been worse!
We got off one ferry and on to another, and then we had an uphill walk which kept us warm. At the top we had to wait for a bus back to Entrance 1. A girl working in the park told me we had ten minutes to wait so we went and got a hot chocolate. When the bus came and we walked out of the shop to catch it, the bus just kept going. We had to wait another 30 minutes to catch the next one which wasn't what we needed.
Where the bus dropped off we had a ten minute walk back to the car in the cold again. I didn't stop for any of the views no matter how good.
With the heater on and having changed clothes it wasn't long until we were drying out. Not long back on the road we went through a tunnel that went for kilometres straight through a mountain or mountains.
I joked that on the other side it wouldn't be raining, and wouldn't you know it the sun was out in an overcast sky. Behind us dark, black clouds covered the mountains.
As we continued towards Split there was more tunnels, which led to a greater toll when we got off. We couldn't decide where we were going to stay for the night. The plan was for Sibenik, but we changed our minds, and instead went to Troger. What a great choice it was too!
Troger is a great little sea-side town, and Kate managed to find fantastic and cheap accommodation for us easily. The apartment we are staying in is better than our house at home! From the balcony we had magic views of the old town.
The owner recommended a particular restaurant for us which we duly followed. The food was brilliant. Kate and I both had the seafood risotto, while Beck had fish which the chef/owner/waiter filleted in front of us. The best meal we've had so far in our journeys and that's saying something. We weren't finished with just yet though. For dessert we had pancakes with ice-cream and chocolate topping inside. After such a satisfying
meal we were keen to get back to our great apartment for some sleep, which we duly did.
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