Lost in Croatia

Only 11 miles to go….

We arrived in Croatia on September 17th after a short flight from Istanbul, and while the kids hung out with the packs, Jon and I split up and canvased the long row of rental car booths at the small airport.  We finally found a rental car, a Chevrolet Orlando (kind of a station wagon) for only 60 euros per day.

A shot of our bunk room (in all its backpacker glory) at the Funk Lounge Hostel

We set off to find the Funk Hostel, which Jon had booked online just the night before.  It turned out to be on the outskirts of Zagreb, which in comparison to the vibrant colors and elaborate construction of all the countries we have come through thus far (except Iceland), seemed kind of bleak and drab.  The buildings are all kind of straightforward concrete structures with no frills or design, reflecting their pre-democracy Socialist era. We found the hostel without any trouble, and were shown into our 6 person dorm with private bathroom (12 euro/person).

Again, we gave thanks for Vivian, making us a “whole” party of 6, because it would have been a little weird to share a room with someone else.  The staff at the Funk Lounge were great – very friendly and helpful, and kind to the kids too, giving them a “what’s up girl” as they wandered back and forth between our room and the Funk Lounge next door.  Although this is not the sort of place you might initially book for a family if you were looking at their website’s motto “eat sleep party”, we really liked it. We made our beds with the provided sheets, stowed our packs, then went downstairs to collect our free “shot” coupons for the bar next-door (the kids had juice shots, while Jon and I had raki and honey).  We had some serious travel planning to do, so Jon and I ordered some of the local beers, Ozjusko, and tried to figure out our plans for Croatia, Italy, and beyond.

Attempting to figure out what the next 2-4 weeks looks like

The next morning, we woke early, made a down payment on the Dubrovnik rental we had decided on the night before, and then piled into the car to go to Plitvice Lakes, a Unesco World Heritage site and national park.  First, a side note.  Our Garmin is one of of those travel tools that we need, but we wish we could do without, since it seems to cause more grievance than guidance.  We type in our destination, and it starts us off in the direction we need to go (we can tell that the first road we are on matches with what the guidebook has said, for instance), but then at some point we realize we are on these little back roads and we zoom out and can see that it somehow bypassed the major road we were supposed to follow for the final leg to the lakes.  So this morning, our detour took us through the most impossibly winding road flanked by tiny little farms and villages. On the plus side, we were able to see some sobering evidence of battles waged here as part of the war of independence between the Croats and the Serbs (1991), including buildings with mortar holes all over them, and we even saw a roadside sign warning of land mines.

One of the buildings we saw on our detour, showing evidence of the recent war

After our 1.5 hour detour, we finally arrived at Plitvice Lake and ate our picnic lunch before setting off for our hike.  We had read about this park, and also been told about it by friends – a ‘don’t miss” by all accounts. Aside from the massive crowds (on a Wednesday!) it totally lived up to all the hype.  It is absolutely amazing.  It is a series of lakes and waterfalls, with little rivers and streams connecting it all.  The water that flows into the lakes is super saturated with calcium carbonate (from limestone dissolution underground), which then deposits onto the lake beds (over the top of plantlife) forming cool travertine underwater formations, which are constantly changing the flow of the water and evolving into new falls.  I shoud probably have one of the kids write a paper on that, come to think of it!  The entire park is encircled by paths and hand-hewn wood boardwalks (over much of the watery areas), and you could spend days here photographing the water, fish, plants, and rocks.  Gorgeous!

Plitvice Lakes – so many gorgeous waterfalls, and you can see some of the travertine under the water in the foreground

Overlooking the divide between the “upper” and “lower” lakes sections

Showing some of the boardwalks that wind through and encircle the park

After Plitvice Lakes, we headed home, packed up, grabbed dinner at the Funk Lounge, and readied ourselves for another travel day. Up next: Dubrovnik and the Dalmatian Coast!

Sunset on the way home from Plitvice Lakes. This is the first of many gorgeous Croatian sunsets we will see!