Blogs from Central Croatia, Croatia, Europe - page 31

I have arrived safely in Croatia (about a month ago now…I have been quite lazy updating) …though getting here was a bit tougher than I had imagined. First of all getting out of India was a NIGHTMARE! My flight was scheduled to leave at like 2:30 in the morning, and I had been told to allow plenty of time to get through security, so I figure 2 1/2 to 3 hours would be plenty. Anyway I left about 3 1/2 hours before my flight was scheduled to depart, and of course the hotel car breaks down not even a quarter of the way to the airport. So after they send a new car to come and get me, I arrive at the airport and notice there is a big crowd in front of the terminal. I ... read more

Im going to combine these three stops into one entry since all were very short and theres nothing too exciting to tell. Skola is a little village in the Carpathian mountains in Western Ukraine, I was staying with the family Marjana, a girl I met in Lviv. It was really nice, but a very short visit. I was only passing through Budapest, but met up with with Anna, a nice girl I randomly met on the train last time I was in Budapest. She speaks something like 7 languages. Only spent half a day wandering in Zagreb before catching the train to Split. You really notice the Italian influence after the short trip from Budapest into Croatia - everyone sitting outside in the cafes, sipping cappucinos in their designer sunglasses.... read more

The next morning Davor (son of Franjo) invited me and his children (all non-English speaking) to go to a very nice place. This turned out to be my best day in beautiful Croatia. After about an hour of his driving we arrived at Plitvice Lakes National Park. The entry fee was 250 kuna and well worth it. We entered at the upper lakes set in dolomite, a resistant calcium magnesium carbonate or bi-carbonate. (The lower lakes were set in limestone, a calcium carbonate...where the natural carbon from the air makes a mild carbonic acid that erodes the limestone making many caves and underground rivers.) Since my field notes are long gone, I write from memory and my remaining pics. I use Wikipedia for my facts about the lakes. We walked around a large upper lake for ... read more

I started planning this adventure six months in advance when I had an invite to stay (free) in a multi-million dollar private ski resort in Eastern Switzerland. This was my first passport cuz Canada, Mexico, and the Eastern Caribbean Islands did not require a passport for citizens of the USA then. This one week in Hrvaska was to finally meet my direct relatives (separated by three generations and language). I took a bus from Zurich to Zagreb, and was met by a direct relative (Ljiljana) that spoke English. We walked around Zagreb for a hour or two taking in the sites. Then Ljiljana drove me to our family farm, outside of Zagreb, at Rakov Potok. I received a warm welcome from my relatives at the family farm. Commentary: In the dark days of the 1990s very ... read more

I woke up early with a bit of a hangover. I caught breakfast at a little café near the hostel and met Chris and our Croatian friends at the plaza with the famous statue. We went to an outdoor café and I threw a beer down while watching the gorgeous people of Zagreb walk past. We switched cafes and later went for a walk to a spot where the Prime Minster was chatting with a group of upset workers. On the way we walked past a famous painting that had survived a huge fire that had decimated the city years earlier. We met up with Mark Jurkovic at the plaza and all went for one last drink for the afternoon. Marko took me and Chris for a quick city tour before dropping us back off at ... read more