Aug 19 - Hilarity at Plitviča Lakes

Highlights:

Elena - tour master extraordinare

New friend: Brian from Denver

Finally! Pig Roast! So I had the lamb

Learnings:

Live the moment - put the camera down

Next time - bring your mother

Sweating is eventual - please stop thinking you can wear your hair down

Ok so, bit of a tumultuous morning here. First I have to clean my flat, ugh, and pack, uugh, and I still haven’t mailed this damn box uuugh. Meeting the group at 7 ish this meant I had to be up really early and getting in late the night before, ‘past’ Meagan figured sleeping was more important than figuring her life out so the morning wouldn’t suck. Past Meagan is an idiot.

I did it though, got to the marina, got my things in storage for the day, and tried to find the damn meeting location. This should be easy... anyways I won’t get into the details. I made it. That’s all. Present Meagan still wondering why the hell past Meagan didnt do a better job of organizing herself.

Luckily - introduce Elena to my frantic Monday. She is a younger Croatian who we later learn is studying to become a lawyer, but she is immediately approachable, personable, and HILARIOUS. I wrote down so much of what she said and her jokes... I’ll butcher them all so I’ll try and just highlight a few good ones. We all know I’m incredibly bad at any kind of Joke telling (Ken - you understand best I think although I somewhat doubt you are reading my blog... Moose - maybe help him? Just joking lol)

Elena has a dry humour so please don’t take these things seriously, it’s all just fun and relatable and most likely some truth.

She starts off with advising us of our long journey ahead noting that she will try and break up the 3 hours with some highlights of the scenery and notice of our itinerary. She notes while leaving Split to “Enjoy the Boring communist architecture” she is spot on for most of the city - only the palace area has a bit of the Italian influence... but she also noted that they decided to deconstruct 11 of the 14 towers which were once inside the palace area to build some silly monument in Venice called St Marks Basilica.

She asked where we were all from (16 total) quite a mix! US - Australia - Russia - its an English tour so not sure why I’m surprised - and then she introduced her and the driver saying we are locals - obviously. She then gives us a couple of notes about how the bus works - Press the sound button - you hear my lovely voice - press the coffee button as much as you like - and I will not bring you coffee.

Couple Croatian cultural and historic highlights she points out along the way:

Huge graffiti sign with ‘1950’ - why am I telling you to look at graffiti? Split established a football fan club in 1950 which they are extremely proud of lol men in split are all about football and it’s graffitied all over the city... so now you will suffer like me and see it all the time. Although they have never done well - the men don’t want anyone to forget.

Aqueduct - you could only build a city once an aqueduct was built. The original still stands as we saw along the way

Sphinx - you may think what the hell is a sphinx doing in Croatia - well during the Diocletian Era (305-316 retirement) the emperor had them shipped from Egypt as he was very impressed with their ritualistic culture. If you see a headless sphynx the heads were removed during the Christian take over.

Also, the palace was the Diocles retirement home - he is one of the few emperors who actually was not killed during his rule and able to retire.

Cellars in palace - they were used for a lot of game of thrones scenes and are one of the few original preserved areas in the city untouched by time. This is because they were used for garbage and sewage and weren’t cleaned until 1930 so completely preserved due to this.

Sulphur water in Split - apparently the natural sulphur water is good for your back? Modern spas were built because of this. What Croatians are most proud of though is that the fish market beside the sulphur springs has absolutely not flies. This is because flies hate smell of sulphur... and Croatians are proud of this because it makes it cleaner. It’s the little things Elena explains.

North wall has statue of Gregory of Nin - the Croatians rub the toe of the statue for luck and you must also if you walk by she notes that we don’t throw coins into fountains here for luck that’s too expensive we just choose to touch feet...

Things move slowly on the coast compared to Zagreb were there is more industry and ‘real work’. If you see a Croatian having coffee at one of the many restaurants in front of the place (a favorite things to do) - you will walk through the palace exploring, go to a couple museums, experiencing the city and you come back to the same restaurant two hours later and the Croatian is still there drinking their coffee. This is normal. Also, while drinking the coffee we are forever complaining or gossiping. What do we gossip about? Usually three things - its hot enough, or it’s too hot, the Tourist crowds - or the lack of tourists - football doing poorly (would complain about doing good but they don’t do good, so)

A few general notes about Croatians:

9 ppl / square km

4.1 million in Croatia

2017 many moved - many to Germany for work (Croatians think of Germany as promised land - nation that does things best)

Smilje is where Nikolas Tesla was born

Dalmatian dogs were bred here- but America took them all for a movie

First parachute 1617 - Croatian studied DaVinci drawings but it was Croatian not Italian

Zinfandel - origins here

Pen kala - created a Pen

Different dialects of Croatian depending on location - Hungarian Croatian, Italian Croatian...

Food here typically is just meat with more meat

Music - sounds Italian with Croatian lyrics

North is where things get done - Zagreb is huge and think they are better than anyone else... Zagreb believes the Rural areas are inhabited by savages - lots of caves so - obviously just cave men. They think of the coast as lazy - Not like it takes us 13 centuries to clear cellars or anything...

She notes after these highlights ‘We do so much for the modern world! You’re welcome!’

Ljike is the new area after the longest tunnel through the biggest mountain which we drove through. There can be beautiful hot weather on the coast and then go through the tunnel and can be 5m of snow.

Also the weather affects the plants. There are no trees really on the coastal side because of the extreme winds. As soon as you pass through the tunnel - tons of trees. Wood is an export here and is usually shipped to Italy where they make beautiful furniture, as Croatians inland also are lazy and don’t have time for that...

So! Now about where we are going!!

Plitvice got popular from German movies about cowboys and Indians as they were filmed here. Fans started visiting and the word spread. Check out the movies - they are terrible.

Plitvice is the most beautiful park with millions of tourists every year. Elena has done it 6 days a week for two years as it is her favorite - no one is EVER disappointed so she always has happy customers (I’m already happy - her jokes and humour completely changed my morning - I want to be her best friend - and obviously I told her this)

I won’t say too much about he park - the pictures say it all. We went to the small falls which feed the big falls. The lakes through Plitvice differ in depth and are all named after very important people - most of which paid to have them named after them lol

We spent 5 hours hiking through the trails and amazing boardwalks. The water was so clear you could see every detail of the bottom. I was more than once tempted to ‘slip’ off the boardwalk and go for a swim.

After the park we had a dinner spot planned by Elena with traditional food - and she didn’t disappoint. We walked up to see pigs roasting on a spit - YES! My mom told me most restaurants in smaller villages will open when the pig is ready and close when it’s all gone... here we are! They also had lamb on a spit... heaven.

Looking for a seat one of the older gentleman on the tour asked if we could sit together - sure! I was talking with another woman on the tour from Tasmania who lived in Canada for about 15 years as she was a coach for the Olympic diving team!? Cool! Her and Brian chatted too and I was walking in front so I heard that he had three kids and was travelling to Australia originally but something had changed so he was now here!

He was great company - actually worked at a nuclear power plant in the US and was in the navy! We talked about his two daughters and son and about our work. He was told to try the Cevapi (these were the little meatloafs I had tried during the sailing tour) and here - Elena recommended getting them wrapped in bacon! Lol as she noted - meat with meat is Croatian favorite. She also recommended the cheese pancake for dessert... the Cevapi and lamb were amazing - we decided to order the pancake to share just to try it - but they brought out two. Shoot - guess I’ll have to eat it all. It’s served with traditional fig jam - amazing.

Elena amused us all the way back to Split. Getting back at about 8 pm. Brian has told me about this little bar he stumbled upon in the palace that I should definitely go to, so when we landed he invited me to join him for a drink there. I thought why not! It’s so nice to have some English speaking company, which he agreed was nice.

I went and grabbed my bags - checked into my hostel - and walked over to meet him. I’m glad I did this. Going out at night hasn’t been top of my to do list here and I think that has a lot to do with travelling alone. Not that I have felt uncomfortable at all, just nicer to go with someone.

The little square was smack dab in the middle of the palace in front of the temple of Venus. The bar was simply on the steps of the square - they had little seat cushions and wooden squares for your drinks. Beautiful.

I ordered a big beer and Brian laughed. Later when he learned that I was a curler - he commented that he now understood why I ordered the big beer! lol ps that’s how you order it, they always ask if you want the small or the big one... there is only one answer.

There was live music here and it was just an amazing time. A young couple started dancing and they were clearly trained so, even more entertainment. How could it get better? We were sat beside a couple who had this big dog who was only just a puppy lol one of those 200lb puppies. He was very friendly, so much so the owner seemed jealous lol trying to call him back but he enjoyed the attention Brian and I were giving him. Other than the drool, great pup.

Brian walked me through a few other places in the palace that he liked - we went and rubbed the big toe of Nin - which is actually a shiny bronze compared to the patina green of the rest of the statue from being rubbed so much. Finally ending at my hostel.

Another great day in the books - and my beautiful little hostel with AC underground! I slept very well indeed.

The first dock where we took at 2 min boat from one side of the lake to the others

The walking trails went all along and over the water and even through the beautiful forest surrounding the lakes - it was an amazing day

View from the top of a mountain we had to climb ... it was a long hot day but Elena kept a good slow pace for everyone

My pup friend in the square!

These were the big falls and hey that’s me! Elena asked at every photo op if I wanted a picture and I said nah - but I should get one at the big falls so my mom is happy. So mom, for you.