Day 7 Plitvice lakes Zadar and Split

Plitvice Lakes are in the middle of nowhere Croatia and they are absolutely beautiful.  Hiking the lakes was the main focus today, but we also drove to Split stopping in Zadar on the way.

On day 7 we started up in Plitvice Lakes, left there around 2, got to Zadar around 4 and Split around 7:30 pm.  We didn't have time to stop in Sibenik sadly

The view from our window in the morning

Miric Inn had a pretty good breakfast.  Lots of options and Zach even got eggs

By 9 am we were already parked in the in the park and this is one of the first views you see Veliki Slap or the big waterfall.  It is hard to get the scale, but this thing in huge!

We hiked down and saw these great views of this amazing blue/green water.  Not much actually grows in this water because of the calcium cabonate.  Also it has been a national park for something like 80 years so it is pretty well protected.

Much of the walking was on board walks like this

We of course took all the crazy detours including climbing through this one through the Supljara Cave.  Lots of fun steps up to the top through the cave.

After the cave it was back down for a few more waterfalls on the lower lakes

Next stop was the boat to take us across lake Kozjak which is the biggest lake.  You can actually hike around it, but we only had 5 hours to see everything so a boat seemed like a good option

There were lots of fish in the water and since the water is totally clear you can see all of them pretty well.  Some of them looked like goldfish almost (not these guys)

Dinky with his people or rather his ducks

Waterfalls between the upper and lower lakes

Maybe one of the most scenic parts in the beautiful upper lakes

After hiking across the lakes a few times the trail went into the woods for a while, but of course there was still waterfalls like this one

Final waterfall before heading to the farthest bus stop

Part of our lunch at the restaurant while waiting for the bus

Birdseye view on the short hike from the bus stop to the parking

Around 2 pm we were on the road again.  This time our destination was Split and the views were varied, but great the entire time

Mountains!

On the way to Split we stopped in Zadar which is a fairly large city with a great old town including roman ruins

Old town gate

St. Domets church from the 9th century (with the tower belonging to a nearby church)

There is a tower so of course we have to climb it.

View of the city from the top

Yep we made it

Once we came back down we looked around the roman ruins that were near the church

After a very long potty break thanks to really slow asian tourists we went to hear the sea organ.  This is an art installation built into the sea wall.  It plays different pitches depending on the waves and wind.  There were also people and dogs swimming off of it.  This dog loved jumping off the wall after the ball

Final stop in Zadar was for gellato :-)

We then had about a 1.5 hour drive to Split along A1.  Here is Split as we came down the mountain toward town

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures, but parking for our hotel was nuts.  We went down this crazy small alley and then Zach had to back us all the way out when we got stuck. After that we decided the 1 dollar an hour parking that didn't involve nearly hitting other people and cars was totally worth it

Our lovely room in Peruzovic Apartments. A little ikea and small, but for $45/night it was amazing.  Also the guy was really nice and explained everything.  Unfortunately this meant that we were late getting the car back and they closed before we got there, but eventually we figured it out and were off to dinner

View of Split not far from the car company

We ended up eating at Le Monde which was a great little place across from our apartment.  This is Zach's sea food pasta

We managed to make it back to our place a little after 10 pm.  Which was good because I updated the blog and Zach figured out how to wire money to Kosovo for our tour.  Good thing calls back to the US aren't very expensive in Croatia!

Tomorrow we are going biking and kayaking in Trogir

Day 6 Istria to Plitvice

Of course we had another long day planned.  Today's highlights include walking around Pula, stopping in Rovinj, Porec and Motovun in Istria and then driving through some crazy roads on the way to Plitvice park.

Map of where we went.  We started in Pula, then Rovinj, Porec and Plitvice.  We didnt get to stop for the hike I wanted but with 20,000 steps for the day that was probably fine

Our apartment didn't have breakfast stopped at Mlinar for some strudel and a latte.  

Second shot at a latte.  I guess in Croatia latte actually just means steamed milk so we had to go back and ask for him to add coffee

After breakfast we wondered over to the amphitheater.  When we got there we discovered it was closed because they were cleaning up from the concert.  Kinda sucks since that was one of the reasons we stayed in Pula, but at least we still got a few good photos

Dinky is sad the ticket office is closed

We then meandered back to our hotel following the Rick Steve walk.  This was not on the walk but looked interesting.  It is a monument to WWII I think.

Next stop was the Cathedral from the 5th century.  We peaked inside just long enough to see they were still holding mass inside

Detail from the cathedral.  Lots of the church and bell tower were built from rocks stolen from Roman things

Temple of Augustus in the day light.  In person you can actually see how it was patched back together after it was bombed in WWII.   This is one of the main buildings on the Forum which still serves the same purpose today

After some detours we found the roman floor mosiacs which seem to just basically be in somebodies back yard under a garage looking structure.  

The chapel is all that is left of the Byzantine basilica that once stood here

Finally we walked back and checked out.  On the way out we got a bottle of wine that we had tried the night before and liked.  With help from GPS and me for directions we were off driving the Rovinj.  The scenery was great and included lots of grape and olive tree fields

In Rovinj we found some parking and did the quick Rick Steve walk around the town.  The day and town were beautiful

View from the top of the church of st. euphemia bell tower

St. Euphemia's remains are actually in the church.  There is a long crazy story about how her remains were found drifting in the Adriatic and then some fisherboy dragged her body up to the church

View from the bell tower looking down.  After we left the church we wandered around soaking in the town and buying a few souvenirs.  We found our car and were then off to Porec which is just north on the coast.  The drive was quite fun.  Google took us through what seemed to be somebodies farm field (ok really just a 1 lane road in the middle of nowhere), but we eventually made it to Porec

The main reason we were in Porec was to see the Euphrasian Basillica which is the oldest well preserved Christian church which is mostly from around 550 AD.  The mosiacs in the church are from between 530-1300.  Unfortunatly the church isn't really open on Sunday.  We got to see the inside of the church, but not the rest of the complex and we didn't get to climb the tower.

View of the church from courtyard

Final stop in Porec was for gellato on the way out of town

Our last top in Istria was Motovun which is a hill town in the northern middle part.  Again it was an interesting drive up and parking was pretty fun as well.

The first stop in Motovun was finally for lunch at 3 pm.  This is the view from our table.  Motovun is recognized for having amazing food and we got a spot at one of the best places to try the truffles

I had truffles and pasta, Zach had tuffles with risitto

After lunch we spent about 30 min walking around the town walls and seeing the inside.  This is St. Stpehens which was designed by the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (inspired a lot of the DC archetecture)

After not enough sleep wine and lots of walking we decided a 20 min nap in the car was a good idea before the long drive to Plitvice

Once we were driving again the views were amazing!  Lots of hills mountains, sea views and all sorts of pretty little towns

Once we left the Adriatic we drove up a mountain on this not so big road.  This is when I was glad Zach was driving.  After making it over the mountain this was the view of the valley on the other side were our final stop was

Around 8:30 pm we finally arrived at our hotel the Miric Plitvice Inn.  We were greeted by the very nice owner who let us have dinner even though we were a little late

Dinner was 20 euros each and was an absolute feast.  There was like 5 courses and was great

Thankfully after dinner we only had to walk to few steps to the annex building where we settled in for the night.

Tomorrow we explore Plitvice park, and drive to Split with hopefully at stop in Zadar