Blogs from Central Croatia, Croatia, Europe - page 2

After many wonderful days and adventures on the Adriatic coast, Nui and Nenad decided to explore the second face of Croatia, away from the coast, its hinterland. The massive mountain chains of the Dinaric Alps and a few smaller mountain ranges of Velebit, Biokovo and Velika Kapela, slice through the country from North to South, following the direction of the Adriatic coast. The highest point rising to 1'831 meters, making the land rough mountainous, rocky and steep on the West and hilly, full of forests and pastures on the East. These mountains serve as a climate divide as well. West of the mountains you find Mediterranean climate, East of them Continental. We experienced this to its most extreme impressive form, as we travelled from Vodice to Zagreb. We left the coast 9AM at 28 degrees with ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Ce matin l’objectif était de ne pas rallier Zagreb en une étape, de près de 400km, mais de coucher, en Bosnie Herzégovine, étant donné, qu’entre Belgrade et Zagreb, il n’y a aucune ville, vers la mi-parcours, où faire étape. La seule que j’ai trouvé était Banja-Luka en Bosnie-Herzégovine. J’ai quitté l’hôtel assez tôt, pour pouvoir avoir un peu de temps à passer à Banja-Luka, qui sur le net semble assez plaisante, pour une soirée étape, mais qui est située dans une région où il y a 3 pays qui se chevauchent. La Serbie, la Bosnie, et la Slovénie. Sur ma carte papier, les frontières sont bien indiqués, mais pas vraiment facile à lire. Ce qui se traduit par de sérieuses difficultés pour programmer sur le gps, mais avec un peu de persévérance et ... read more

In the 1960s, films were made of the German author Karl May's "western" novels, featuring the characters of Old Shatterhand and Winnetou, a Native chief. They were filmed in Croatia, which was thought to look like the American West! From the clips, it seems that May was sympathetic to the Native cause. Much of the filming was done in the Plivice National Park, our destination on Thursday. Here's a clip if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yTfdy9TKt8 The park was founded in 1949. It was fought over during the war, and landmines are still thought to be found in remote locations in the park. Much of the infrastructure was destroyed in the war, and this gave the area time to recover from over use. "The national park is world-famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Sixteen lakes can be ... read more

I have a full day in Zagreb today plus all tomorrow morning, before catching a lunchtime train to Ljubljana, and I am looking forward to exploring this city. My only fix point today is meeting Vlatka at 5pm. She is the local guide we use in Zagreb, and from our email exchange she seems delightful . She has kindly agreed to meet me in the hotel lobby so she can explain how she runs our tours. After a great breakfast I head off to the main square, armed with a city map, courtesy of my hotel. I want to orientate myself, and try to walk as much of the city centre as I can. It is a much smaller city than Budapest. During my own ramble I actually get to see a great deal of the ... read more

First stop today was the Bear Refugein Kuterevo! We had a short tour from one of their volunteers who showed us the three young bears there Marko Kralj (7 years), Mlada Gora and Mlad Dol (both 9 years) & also a new comer, a 7 month old cub who had just arrived from a zoo - literally, he was still in his crate when we arrived! Very cute, but sadly we are not allowed to share his photos. She had to go an help with the cub but pointed us towards further enclosures where the big bears are! We only say two of them - one of them very close! - but apparently there are five bears in there. We also heard a bit about the ethos of the place, very much a back to nature ... read more