All Croatia, all the time.

 Split, Krka NP, Zadar, Plitvice NP

Our first view in Split included a cruise ship. That never bodes well.

Unlike for Dubrovnik, I had high expectations of Split. I’m not sure why. I’d read stuff, I’d heard stuff. Whatever it was, I was excited to see Split. I was underwhelmed. It’s a huge city. We only saw a small fraction of it. But we saw what were supposed to be the best parts to see, and nothing wowed us. The old town felt pretty generic. Even the parts you had to pay to see were ho-hum. I guess that's not fair. I'm just hard to impress at this point. Carol and I were the very first two people up the bell tower in the morning, so that we could skip the crowds. The ticket office didn't open for fifteen minutes after the time that it was supposed to be open. So that meant we were waiting at the door. The one guy who was waiting ahead of us decided to use the entire fifteen minutes to give us a history lesson of the place. It was interesting. He was a bit eccentric, but hey, free tour! So we were second in line to buy tickets, but he lingered a bit, so we were first in line to climb the tower! The steps were incredibly steep in parts. It was slow going. We were glad not to be behind a crowd of even slower goers. The views from the top were fine, but nothing like those in Dubrovnik, Kotor, or even Budva, which didn't even have a bell tower; we just climbed the fortress there. In Split, we saw the cathedral and the Roman ruins, but nothing felt up to snuff, versus my expectations. Oh well. Every place can't be the greatest place we've visited. 

Cool crypt

The main courtyard. Dude sitting on the steps on the right is our impromptu history professor. Bell tower is up to the left. Tunnels down to the crypt and the treasury are straight ahead and down.

View of the marina from the bell tower.

View of modern Split from the bell tower.

One more shot from on high.

Okay, maybe two more. Perhaps the views were better than I remember.

The bell tower was by far the best part of old town.

Some cool sculptures on the side of a random building in old town.

Tunnels underground led to a crypt.

More of the tunnels. Not sure why the lights were green through the camera lens. They weren't through our eyeball lenses.

We took a boat tour out to the islands, and they were absolutely fine, or as Josh would say, meh. Period. Even the Blue Lagoon, which is advertised everywhere as a must-see, was only okay. Mostly because there were maybe fifty other tour boats anchored simultaneously in the same small patch of water. The swimming was good, but the overabundance of people and boats detracted from the atmosphere of the place. It is too bad, because the water was super clear.

On the boat. Michelle wasn't feeling well. So she didn't join us on this excursion.

The water was pretty awesome.

The blue lagoon. Tried to get a shot with fewer boats in it. There were way more than that.

The boat ride also took us, for only one hour, to Trogir, a small walled town, a bit north from Split, up the mainland. Trogir, I liked. The walled city felt a lot like Budva, a labyrinth of shops and apartments among the very old remains of a medieval city. Even the modern town outside the walls felt more down-to-earth and accessible than Split. I could live in Trogir. Split just felt too big, too impersonal, and, well, not for me. 

Approaching Trogir from the tour boat.

Trogir promenade.

Typical old town street in Trogir.

The super cool fortress in Trogir.

From the top of the fortress, looking down on the promenade and the old town.

The one thing we did in Split that I did enjoy was hiking up the Marjanske Scale (over 600 steps, with much non-stepped uphill climbing in between) to Telegrin Peak for fantastic views of the city and the surrounding waters. From a distance, Split is quite beautiful. To be fair, it is beautiful in many areas from up close as well. I am just so spoiled after five weeks of visiting so many gorgeous places, that it takes quite a bit to impress me at this point. Michelle and Remy didn’t do the steps. They chose the wine. It was excellent, I hear.

I still say I chose the correct option.

Sweaty, but happy at the top.

Incredible views on the way back down as well.

We had a kitchen in Split, and prices are so high that we never went out for a meal, unless you count the falafel sandwich I got “to go”. So in that way, we didn’t give Split much of a chance at competing with the other cities either. Plus it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit for most of our stay, so that didn’t help. But I just don't feel like Split was trying very hard to compete for my favor with the rest of our Balkan adventure. Honey-badger don’t care. 

Chillin' on the beach on one of the islands from the boat tour.

We left Split and visited Krka National Park to check out the waterfalls. They were amazing. But the park was overflowing with tourists as much as it was with river water. And it was still over 100 degrees. So only so much fun could be had before we had to seek out air-conditioning. It is too bad that we got so little out of what appears to be an enormous and fantastic national park. But the heat can spoil anything. It is what we get for planning a Balkan vacation in August. But that is the only month the students in our group could go. And the park could try a little harder to make its patrons feel welcome. Want to take a boat ride? That’ll cost extra. Want to use a restroom? That’s extra too. Want to catch the shuttle bus? Be ready to play “Lord of the Flies” with hundreds of others with the same idea, as no structure is provided for queueing up at the shuttle stop. It is like they wanted us all to get cranky in the heat. Mark did. He and Remy and Quincy decided to hike the half hour back up the hill to the parking lot, rather than wait to shove their way on the bus. Carol and I braved the free-for-all onto the bus. Can't say I blame him, but in the end, I had a much more positive experience with Krka than Mark. For him, it was all bad. For me, it was mostly good. I just wish I could have visited in February or something, when the crowds and the heat were M.I.A.

Just getting started on the hike through Krka National Park.

Lots of falls-in-the-distance type views.

Everything was beautiful. Not just the falls.

But they were pretty amazing.

See what I mean?

You were allowed to swim in them until about five years ago. Probably better that you can't now. All you would see is people, instead of nature, like back at Kravice Falls. This is better. 

One last shot of Krka.

That brings us to Zadar. Another shot at a big city on the water in Croatia. Since Split left us wanting, Zadar was Croatia’s best chance at redemption. It came through. The old town was hopping. The restaurant was awesome. (More complimentary hooch!) The tourist information center was super fancy and the woman inside was extra helpful. We watched the fantastic sunset from the peninsula edge. We hung out at the “sea organ” listening to the Adriatic blow gentle tunes through a series of thoughtfully engineered pipes under the pier. We saw Roman ruins. And we did it all in the span of a few hours on the only evening we were there. So, "Yay Zadar!"

First look at Zadar

Cool church - 1300s

Cooler convent with bell tower - 1200s

Even the detail are cool in Zadar

Old dude in a sculpture garden.

Older dude in same garden.

Can you imagine spelling bees in Croatia?

The sunset in Zadar was pretty spectacular.

The next morning, Mark, with the help of our tourist info gal the night before, had a carefully crafted plan all set go, involving a boat ride to one of the many islands just off-shore. We all know how carefully crafted plans go. They do not go well. After dropping Remy off at the Zadar airport, we drove back to town intending to park Luka in the free lot near the ferry terminal. It was FULL! (see the "Badges" post about Durmitor N.P. for why I choose all caps.) So we went to the pay lot. FULL! We drove around some more. We finally found a spot on the street, and went looking for the kiosk to pay. We found someone who warned us that there was no kiosk, despite the dozens of other illegally parked cards and that we would be towed if we parked there. She watches the tow truck every day, coming back and forth. “Everybody back in the car! How about we park up in the lot behind last night’s apartment? There were multiple spots when we left. Who’s gonna know we checked out? It is not as if the spots are numbered.” FULL! We drive around some more, at one point going the wrong way down a one-way street, but still finding no parking.

After more than half an hour of this, we admit defeat, and decide to leave Zadar before it left a sour taste in our mouths. We wanted to remember Zadar for the feeling it gave us the night before. So instead we drove to the small town of Nin, specifically Queen’s Beach, which is ranked in the top 100 beaches around the world. Seemed like an excellent plan B. And indeed it was. Even Carol, who was having a tough time letting go of the plans to storm Ugljan island, eventually warmed to the whole beach experience. The water was warmer than any place we’d been on the trip, but still cool enough to be refreshing. The beach was sandy, not rocky! The water was clear and without seaweed. It was a popular beach to be sure, but it was so massive, that it wasn’t hard to find some personal space. We even found a spot under a tree growing right on the beach, so we had some much coveted shade.

Our shady spot.

Didn't need to pay for an umbrella like these suckers.

It was crowded, no doubt. But there was plenty of space on the sand, and in the water.

Yet all of this still wasn’t quite enough to cheer Carol up. Normally she is at her happiest when in the water. But expectations and bast-laid plans can be a bitch. But then we learned of the local tradition to cover yourself in the "healing" mud in the marsh behind the beach. Dozens of beachgoers were walking around looking like they were midway through a spa treatment, covered head to toe in the stuff. The signs claimed that among other things, the local mud heals ailing muscle and spine injuries, that it increases fertility, and that it relieves arthritis. Carol was not buying any of that, not just because she actually listened in science class, but because she didn’t have any spine injuries or arthritis, and was not looking forward to reversing menopause just in time to go through all of that again. But she did figure that the mud would be a good exfoliator if nothing else. So she lathered up. Then when Quincy saw Carol looking like a competitor on Survivor, she decided to get in on the action as well. I took photos. The two of them basked in the sun long enough for the mud to dry. Mark and Michelle raised one eyebrow each and rolled over on their beach towels. 

Now she's smiling.

Quincy gets in on the action.

Taking that as a hint, the girls washed off in the bay, and then the three of us who were not already horizontal walked down the beach in search of fun. We had all sorts of options like jet skis and paddle boats, but we opted for the “aquatic park” which was basically an inflatable American Ninja style obstacle course on the water. We paid for our participation bracelets and climbed aboard with the forty or so other takers of the moment, trying to see what we were made of. Apparently I am made of blubber, pudge, and a bit of paunch. That thing was tough. It tested your balance (only Quincy had any) on extremely slippery footing. It tested your strength in pulling your own weight up onto different elements with nothing much to grip. And it tested your agility with constantly moving targets as your landing pads. Again, Q could dabble, Carol and I were useless.

The juggernaut. It looked harmless from the beach.

People were biffing left and right. The burlier the dude, the more spectacular the fall. I couldn’t believe we didn’t need to sign a waiver. For example as to why, while I was climbing up to the top of a slide, a toddler would be toddling along directly beneath me. One ill-timed slip and the kid would be chevapi (see local delicacies/minced meat). We paid for half an hour of climbing around on this thing, but we were done before they even told us time was up. Not that they seemed to care if we stayed all day. Apparently nobody could. It wears you out. We were exhausted. But none of us had ever done anything like this before, so we gave it six thumbs up. You can’t really go wrong with water slides and trampolines. 

After we were beached out, we finished the drive to our apartment in Plitvice Jezera, the national park that I have been looking forward to all trip. This was the number one destination for me on a spreadsheet list of about a hundred destinations that we have covered on this trip. By all accounts, it was supposed to be fantastic. The night before, we spent about twenty minutes with our host, Marko, mapping out the ultimate route, to get the most out of our day. We set our alarms so that we could be the first ones into the park in the morning. We made sandwiches, and placed water bottles in the freezer, ready to be packed up and hauled off on what was going to be a five-star adventure. You know where this is going. What went wrong this time?

The mapped-out route that got us to every highlight of the park. Thank you Marko!

Nothing. Absolutely nothing went wrong. I had one of the best days of my life. Top twenty anyway. And I’ve had some pretty epic days. If the crowds could have been cut by a factor of ten, it would have been a top ten day. This place is simply awe-inspiring. I took 165 photos today. I just counted. My average on the trip is about forty on any given day. I am not one of those people who snaps four or five of the same shot, waiting to pick a favorite later on. If I do take more than one, I immediately pick my favorite and delete the rest. So that is 165 completely different nature shots, with nothing left to cull. Not a man-made subject in the bunch. Plenty of people, but those are only either selfies or shots of Carol with a wow-level background, or a tourist who wouldn’t get the hell out of my shot! Just kidding. There were so many people that it was impossible to take a photo of some things without having an accidental tourist or two in the frame. But that did very little to quell our spirits. Too much beauty.

Not gonna bother with captions. Everything here is from that one day in Plitvice National Park.

The waterfalls numbered in the thousands. No exaggeration. Dozens of them were international-level quality. It felt like we were back in Costa Rica. Only the water was so blue that it couldn't have been. It just had to be fake. Water is never that blue. The cliffs were majestic. The greenery was lush. The flowers were ostentatious. Even the birds seemed birdier, and the butterflies, more buttery. “Look at that!” “I can’t!” ”Why not?” “Because I can’t stop looking at this!” The word “beautiful” does not begin to describe even a small corner of Plitvice National Park. And although we didn’t see every corner, we definitely saw the top twenty thanks to our very thorough and thoughtful host, and apparently we saw at least 145 others. When finally someone does coin a word for the “wow-factor” of this place, that word will be rendered verboten by some religious outfit who feels it blasphemous. So I will stop attempting to use words and let some pictures do the talking. But know that my low-end cell phone camera does not do the scenery justice. I would blame my photography skills (lack thereof) but it would be impossible to frame a poor shot here. So I blame the camera.

Sweaty. But happy.

We did some pre-park sightseeing and then entered the park at 8:00, with enough time to catch the very first boat that would take us to the most popular spots first, so we could beat the crowds. Sadly, so did almost two hundred other people. So we waited in line and caught, barely, the second boat a half hour later. Then we winded our way through the masses and walked the boardwalks. Carol’s favorite part of the journey was that many of the staircase and ramped boardwalks were actually built right on top of rushing waterfalls. So you couldn’t see too much through the cracks, but you could hear the water rushing inches below your feet. My favorite part, and Carol’s close second, was the color of the water in most of the lakes. We’d never seen water so blue except for maybe a few spots in the Caribbean and Fiji. And it is impossible to compare a distant memory with what is staring you in the face, but I’d say this beat both of those spots as well. Again, the camera is insufficient to truly convey what we saw. Sorry.

And no, I didn't photoshop the color. That is the real deal.

We hiked twenty kilometers in all from 7:30 to 3:15. If we didn’t have to shuffle along because of crowds at some points, and if we didn’t have to stop every minute to snap another photo, we might have covered even more distance, as there were other paths that we chose to ignore. The weather cooperated, as it only got up to about 82°F. That sounds hot, but when you compare it to the 102°F we experienced in Split and in Krka national park, it was more than welcome. We did decide to brave the busiest boardwalk a second time, just to get our fill of the coolest spots. But the second time we went in the reverse direction, hoping to see things we hadn’t seen the first time. I’m not certain it was worth it, as we felt like salmon swimming upstream for maybe half an hour. The tour groups all take these walks in the same direction, to avoid what we did not. But the waterfalls were still epic even the second time around.

This is the view we came back for a second time.

Anyway, can you tell I liked Plitvice? Our lodging situation was perfect. With a stunning twenty minute walk to the least used entrance to the park, it was optimally located. Our host was very friendly. The top floor of the house was all ours with a separate kitchen just for us. The beds were comfy. The dinner they served us was excellent. Two nights just weren't enough. But we have to move on this morning. I refuse to budge until they physically kick me out at check out time. We fly home the day after tomorrow, so only one wrap-up post is left to come. I'll write that one when I'm home and have had some time to gather my thoughts about the whole trip. 

We definitely saved the best for last. Nice planning, Stevo.