Croatia: Plitvice Lakes

After a few days along the seaside in Croatia, we eventually had to venture inland, where the temperatures plummeted quickly.  We watched the thermometer in the car for the outside temp drop from 23 C to 8 C in a matter 4 hours.  Thankfully we dressed for the weather and were ready for our day hike at Plitvice Lakes.  I won’t talk much about the national park itself.  You can look it up yourself or for your convenience, click here.
We were nervous going there, because we had read so many reviews on TripAdvisor that it can get extremely crowded during peak season, so much that you can hardly walk on the boardwalks through the park.  We decided it was worth the risk.  1) not sure if we’d ever get back to Croatia and 2) it was November 1st.  Definitely NOT peak tourist season.
WE picked a route to take us through the park and hopped on a bus (three big trams hooked together – think Disney) to take us to the starting point. 

We chose the ‘H’ trail, because the brochure said it would take 4-6 hours to hike it.

And so our adventure began . . .

The rest of these pictures are not in chronological order.  That’s what happens when you have two cameras, and one of the memory card malfunctions, and you lose half the pictures, and then have to use recovery software to get them back, but not in the same order.

My favorite thing about the park was from the very beginning we could hear the sound of rushing water throughout our hike.  Even when there was no water fall in sight.  That just made the whole place seem even more peaceful.  It also helped that there were hardly any people there!!  Much of the time, especially the first half of our day, we had the boardwalks all to ourselves, which made for some great picture opportunities.

Clear, still water.

Crazy logs to play on (is it still considered stepping off the boardwalk if your feet don’t actually touch the ground?  Boards come from trees, right, so technically we were still on some kind of board walk)

Katya pushing the limits.

Happy to be with Dad (yeah, I wrote that).

Just a little bit further . . . keep pushing  . . .

“My tree!”

Always time for a break.

2 for 1 Thai Massage special.

Mama, the sun’s in our eyes!  We can’t look at the camera.

Waterfalls around every turn.

Walking just over the water’s surface.

I love how this photo captures the many separate streams from the falls.

Cuticle-cleaning fish therapy, no extra charge.

This was toward the end of the hike.  By this time we had hiked almost 8 km.  5 km for the first part, and 3 for the second part.

The hiking was mostly downhill, except the last leg from where you see in the picture, to where I am standing taking the picture.  It was also the only part of the hike where the kids slowed down.  Absolutely stunning views from the top, though.

And then we got to ride the bus/tram back to where we started.

So confusing, completely out of order pictures.  Going back to the waterfalls now.  Could almost reach out and touch the water (don’t do it).

Accidental poses are some of my favorites, by the way.

Let me just say, if you’re planning to visit Plitvice Lakes, do NOT bring a stroller.  Boardwalks there are NOT wheel friendly.

Let me pause the captions for a bit while you scroll through several photos.  And not just because it’s after 11PM and I am struggling to come up with witty remarks.

I should mention that after the first 5 km, there is a boat that takes you across the big lake where the other 3 km starts.  You don’t have to do it this way; there are many other routes to take, depending on how long you have and how fast you can hike.

Lunch on the “other side” of the lake.  Re-fueling for the second leg of our journey.

Stunning beauty everywhere.

This was the tallest waterfall in the park, though the picture does not do it justice.

I can’t explain it, but I really like this picture of Alex.

and this one of Katya.

and this one of Mark (along with all the other ones too).

Back to the end view of the valley from the top.

And finally, the last picture:  looking back at the lakes from whence we came. 

One of our favorite outings ever.  Things in our favor: no crowds, beautiful day, started early in the morning, happy children, no wheels, dressed warm/comfortable, day got warmer, lots of water, lots of snacks, planned ahead.  Had any one of these things not been in place, the outcome could easily have been different (ie yucky).  Based on our experience, we highly recommend this place.
Rob

Croatia: Zadar

I am going to give myself a pat on the back for keeping up with this blog and documenting our stories. I am swamped with all sorts of activities and events, and cutting out time to sit down and blog is such a difficult task these days. But I love it when I write it, and I know how much our kids love reading it…so I must persevere and finish telling the story of our Croatian trip! I keep asking Robert to pitch in, and he will…but at the moment he is in the kitchen creating our outfits for the Ugly Sweater Christmas party this weekend, my Mr.Creative.

All right. So after the waterfalls, we drove back towards the coast, to Zadar. Zadar is an ancient city located in the Northern part of Dalmatia.  During the war in the 90s, Zadar was shelled sporadically for several years. Its connections with Zagreb were severed for over year, many buildings in the city were damaged, including some very important UNESCO sights.

We were not planning to stay in Zadar for a long time. We arrived around 4 pm to the city, got settled in our apartment, and ventured out to find something to eat. I must mention here that back when we were in Trogir we got an email about the fact that the apartment that we booked in Zadar had water pipes problems, and that we were offered another apartment for our stay. This alternative apartment turned out to be a much better, bigger and better located (and normally more expensive) one than the original place. So it all worked out in the end.

This is a quick picture of our place—living room plus two big bedrooms.

And this is how I dried our laundry that afternoon! Good thing I had lots of practice of this sort of stuff living in Ukraine (although ours was on a much smaller scale).

Oh wait, now I remember that we didn’t just go straight to find something to eat. We first went to the beach! Well, technically, it was not a real sandy beach, but that’s where the locals swim in the warmer months. What we went to look for were Zadar’s famous Sea Organ and the Greeting to the Sun.

It is a bit difficult to describe, but the way that Sea Organ works is that with the help of the waves pushing air into the reeds, the organ produces sound. The sound comes out from the pipes insde the stairs on which you can sit and that go down all the way into the water. Does it make sense?

As you can imagine, the kids loved that. They waited for boats to go by so that bigger waves would be created and the organ would play louder. It was COOL! And it was even more impressive because it was in the dark.

Alex wanted to be right at the bottom of the stairs, but he got soaked pretty quickly when the waves unexpectedly decided to make some music. 

Now, The Greeting to the Sun is a different attraction, located right next to the Sea Organ. This is  how it is described what it is on its website (much better than my explanation): “The Greetings to the Sun consists of three hundred multi-layered glass plates placed on the same level with the stone-paved waterfront in the shape of a 22-meter diameter circle. Under the glass conduction plates there are photo-voltage solar modules through which symbolic communication with nature is made, with the aim to communicate with light, just like the Sea Organs do with sound.

Simultaneously with the „most beautiful sunset in the world" the lighting elements installed in a circle turn on, and, following a particularly programmed scenario, they produce a marvelous, exceptionally impressive show of light in the rhythm of the waves and the sounds of the Sea organs”. Sounds like fun, right?

After a peaceful stroll along the promenade (a newly rebuilt one since it was destroyed in the war), we found a place that someone recommended to us.

This is where Robert had his huge meat dish he shared with Alex, trying all sorts of Croatian meat.

This is also where Mark said he wanted octopus stew, and nothing would change his mind. This kid ate the whole thing!

One thing I really appreciated about most of the restaurants we went to was that they let us buy a half-size portion of any dish for a kid for half-price.  So because our kids  eat the same food as grown ups do (no kids’ meals required), it was so helpful!

After dinner we walked around the city a bit (we might or we might not have bought more gelato that night). The city was not nearly as architecturally unique as Dubrovnik and Trogir. We could tell that many buildings were quite damaged, sadly….

We came home around 9 in the evening, tucked the kids in bed and continued watching “Once Upon A Time”.  Is this random? Have I mentioned this before? Yes, Robert and I checked out “Once Upon A Time” Season 1 before our trip and decided to marathon-watch it.  We still need to finish Season 2 now.

Anyway.

The next morning we headed straight to the Glass Museum. All I wanted to see was a glass blowing demonstration that was part of the admission. Yes, we saw it—took about 5 minutes (with loud music blaring in the glass shop, so the kids could hardly understand what the guy was saying).

And then it took us another twenty minutes to walk through two stories of the museum and see all kinds of glass artifacts discovered in this area. Robert and I could have spent a bit more time there reading all the explanations, but the kids were definitely ready to move on. My advice—skip the museum.

This is what Mark looked like when we exited the building. That’s not a happy face.

Of course! Who wants to walk around the glass museum when there such a nice “beach” to explore! Since we didn’t have to check out till whenever that day (courtesy of the owner of the apartment since we were in the low season), we decided to go back to the Sea Organ.

Now that is so much more fun!

Chilly but fun.

Look how empty this place is! This is unheard of in the summer months. It is packed here from early hours till midnight. We loved this place!!

After a quick lunch, we packed our stuff, and headed inland….way-way-way inland…to Plitvice Lakes National Park.