Drive to Plitvicka Jezera

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This was our last morning in Zagreb – Stacey started the day by getting the rental car, or more accurately, she met with the person from the rental car agency who personally delivered the car and explained how to drive in Croatia. We thought we were getting an Audi or BMW, but instead we got a Peugeot – it has a lion as an emblem. This was apparently a free upgrade – brand new and much bigger car than we were supposed to get. Thank you Pat and Ellie Brennan!!Meanwhile, James discovered Zagreb is not so great for running. He got in another visit of the Promenade and a park in the city before heading back to meet up with Stacey. We set off, back to Aida, for strudels. It was late morning, so they only had a single cheese strudel left, which we split. James got espresso and Stacey got the Café Melange (espresso with milk and whipped cream). Next we checked out of the Hotel Astoria, and began the drive to Plitvicka (Plitvice Lakes). Aside from a slight detour caused by a Croatian driver that decided he wanted to turn right from a middle lane on a roundabout, the drive was quite peaceful and we enjoyed the countryside of Croatia. We drove through several small towns, including a few that were hit pretty heavy by the war. A pleasant surprise was the town of Rastoke – as we were driving through we saw all of these waterfalls. The town is actually a mill town built over the waterfalls. We decided we would return sometime before leaving for Split on Sunday. We made it to Plitvicka and quickly found our hotel – the Hotel Ethno. It is a quaint hotel with a swimming pool. We indulged in some sun bathing with our feet in the pool before setting off back to Rastoke to check out the waterfalls and grab dinner.

Rastoke is a beautiful town – hard to navigate, but worth the effort. We finally made it to our restaurant – Pod Rastockim Krovom which also serves as the entrance to the mill town. We first checked out the falls and did the tour of the property – there were definitely overlooks that would not have existed had this been the US, but we got some great photos. We capped off the day by sitting on the back patio of the restaurant with a water fall to our left and right. Their specialty was trout, which they raise on-site in some ponds above the waterfalls. In a weird coincidence, the trout they raise is actually Rainbow Trout / Steelhead – a fish native to Idaho and California. James ordered the trout for dinner (stuffed with bacon and mushrooms – yum) and Stacey got chicken in a cream sauce with mashed potatoes. A serene way to end the evening and what could be a better backdrop for dinner?

Want to see more photos? We created a Picasa website and will include a link to each album for each day. We're gearing up for Plitvice! We're behind in doing this so the following three links are for Days 1-3.

Links for photos:

Day 1 - https://picasaweb.google.com/106540574540801835369/ZagrebDay1?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPuyqKno0eDgaA&feat=directlink

Day 2 - https://picasaweb.google.com/106540574540801835369/ZagrebDay2?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLTUx6yA0sqawwE&feat=directlin

Day 3 - https://picasaweb.google.com/106540574540801835369/DriveToPlitviceRastokeDay3?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJ_uwpL0tYq9-QE&feat=directlink

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Photos

The rental car
Thanks Pat & Ellie!