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Published: October 11th 2010
Croatia was special for many things, the scenery, the history, the fact it was warm enough to wear shorts, but most importantly because my mom came to join my adventure!
I met Mom at the Zagreb airport where we rented a car (yippee, back behind the wheel!) and headed to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Checked into the hotel and had some dinner. Mom got to wear the same clothes since her luggage decided it liked Germany and wanted to stay a little longer.
Luggage showed up the next morning in time for our hike through the lakes! Plitvice has a landscape that I've never seen before. A series of lakes and waterfalls, with crystal clear torquoise rivers in between. Stunning. We took a tram to the top and walked down past a series of falls through the woods. Mom was a hiking machine! Towards the end, we took a boat ride across one of the larger lakes. All in the beautiful, warm sunshine!
We next hopped in the car and headed to Trogir on the coast. Stayed in a great little apartment close to town. We walked into the old part of the city that evening and while walking around
stumbled upon a free concert at the cathedral by a touring choir. The sound was incredible. For dinner was the first of many great pizzas on the trip!
We explored Split the next morning. Walking around the remains of the Roman Emperor Diocletian's palace was really interesting. Over time the residents have incorporated the remains of the palace into their homes, but the original structure is remarkably intact.
After wandering around for awhile, we headed down to Dubrovnik. This was the only bad part of the trip, driving along the winding coast road through the rain storm. I was exhausted by the end of the trip, but fortunately there was more pizza (and beer) at the end of the road!
The next morning, the sun came out for our tour of Dubrovnik. Mom, was again the hiking queen as we walked the entire way around the intact city walls.Dubrovnik is incredible town right on the coast. Looking out from the walls over the hordes of tourist walking the streets below, I began to think I was back home at Disney World. Evidently there are a lot of people who think the place is incredible as well.
The Big Slap
Slap is a waterfallThe next day we took a drive along the Peljesac Peninsula and then a ferry to Korcula, the birth place of Marco Polo. We were adventurous and booked an apartment the night before. After a little confusion in finding the place, we settled in and enjoyed the bottle of local wine we had bought from a small winery along the drive. The Peljesac is known for their wineries.
Not sure is Marco Polo really lived in the "Marco Polo house" but the local archaeologists were trying to find out!
Next morning, we took another drive up Korcula Island and then had a nice ferry ride back to Split. Much more relaxing than the drive down!
For our last day, we picked the town of Zadar and found a small place a few 100m from the ocean to stay. It was a little difficult to find, but turned out to be the nicest place we stayed. The man who met us did not speak English but we were able to communicate through phone calls to the manager. We had a drink of his Dad's homemade wine and then he drove us in his Mercedes convertible to a restaurant
by the water for dinner. Interesting drive for the three of us in a two seater!
If you are ever Croatia, Zadar is worth a quick visit. Nice seaside town with a great history. Roman ruins along with Venetian architecture. The highlight was this really cool sea organ. The wave action produces music. I would really love to hear it during a storm!
Croatia was a lot of fun, again especially because mom was there to share it with me. But now it's back to the backpacker lifestyle of hostels, buses, and trains! On to Slovenia!
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mike cryder
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the Viking Queen!
proof you were actually there with the viking queen! as always, great photoes...what was that you went to college for?