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
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