Zagreb and Plitvice Lakes

Croatia seems to be part of the European Union, but not really. They don’t like to take the Euro and there are no “open” borders. Since landing in the Azores almost 40 days ago and traveling to and through 6 countries, we have not had to show our passports or any other identification, no borders. It ‘s Weird for us Americans where everyday we hear of immigration issues.

We were traveling by bus and at the Slovenia/Croatia boarder everyone had to disembark and go thru the immigration line, no customs check. We then boarded the bus, moved 100 yards and did the same thing again, not sure why. The bus driver explained something to the affect that one set of immigration was Federal and the other was state, seems odd in such a small country and after traveling so far with no other requests for ID.

We had two nights in Zagreb: big port city, lots going on but nothing too special. With some extra time and not the best weather in Zagreb, it was time for a little color touch-up for Terri. Not being able to read the directions and using her old toothbrush as a dye brush, we ventured onward and I think it was my best job to date! 👩🏼

We picked up a rental car and headed for Plitvice Lakes. Once out of the city, the countryside of Croatia is quite pretty with lots of small villages and towns dotting the landscape. Plitvice is a series of natural lakes carved into the limestone canyons. The lakes create hundreds of waterfalls both big and small. We knew that rain was in the mix for the next day so we decided to hike the upper Lakes/falls in the afternoon.

For those of you that may not know, Terri is a waterfall fanatic! We have driven countless miles and spent many hours getting to waterfalls so there was no way we were going to miss Plitvice Lakes, rain or shine, and we got both.😕

The first afternoon was beautiful, sunny, warm and we really enjoyed the lakes and falls. The second day we awoke to a cold rainy morning. Nevertheless, we layered up and grabbed our umbrellas and headed out. There were a fair amount of tour bus tourists (they do not cancel for inclement weather) and a few other diehards like us.

We weathered the constant rain until the wind started to pick-up too. Navigating the park trails with umbrellas was a challenge all by itself and Terri telling me ” some of these people have no trail etiquette!” while dodging mud puddles was starting to wear on me. At that point we were pretty well soaked and getting cold, having seen most of what we wanted to see – we called it quits.💦💦☂️☔️😃💦💦

We started the typical 2.5 hour drive to the coastal town of Split. The high winds were starting to cause some havoc with the big rigs and creating overall poor driving conditions. About halfway to Split, we encountered our first of three detours caused by the high winds. We eventually did make sure it to Split, just a little late and frazzled.

We parked the rental car on the sidewalk, (like all good Croatians do), and hope it will still be there in a few days when we need it again.

Next Stop: Split, Croatia 🇭🇷 by rental car 🚗🚙🚘