Day 15: Some roadtrips require teamwork

---

---

By Nicola

Bags packed, the boat trip has come to an end. We had a last breakfast on board the boat before walking over to the car hire office to collect our car for the next part of our trip: Plitvice lakes and Istria. Christi and I were to be the drivers for the week and we had been waiting for this moment with some trepidation! After sorting out the admin part, loading our bags and making sure of which side the driver sits, we were ready! I was the first driver with Christi on navigation duty, Riana watching out for pedestrians and Louise making sure I stayed on the right hand side of the road! There were a few near misses with the pavement as I adjusted to the new position of the car around me, this being the 1st time I had driven a left hand drive vehicle and on the right side of the road. I also kept looking for the gear lever with my left hand, finding only the door! After a while until my right hand realised where the gears were now!!

Our first stop en route to Plitvice was Sibenik. After finding some parking we headed towards the old town. On the way we passed a display of old cars (Ficos) along the water front. We then headed to the cathedral of St James which shows 71 sculpted faces on the side of the building. These were people involved in the construction of the building (or those too tight to pay for the construction!) The stone facade of the 15th century cathedral was very impressive.

Our next stop was Zadar. This seaside port town forms a peninsula with many locals taking advantage of the hot weather and swimming off the pier. One of the most standout aspects of Zadar is the "sea organ". This is a combination of tubes built into marble steps on the pier which create a musical moaning noise as the waves lap at the steps. This was created by Nikola Bašić and completed in 2005. It is quite an impressive installation.

The rest of our drive took us to Plitvice Lakes. We stayed in a lovely airbnb apartment just south of the entrance into the park. We spent the evening unpacking and planning our lake trip for the following 2 days. We ate dinner at the restaurant within walking distance from our apartment with a busload full of tourists... at least we didn't have to drive there!

---