Split & Plitvice Lakes, Croatia

(May 25th - May 26th, 2015)

We started our day off pretty early as we had a long drive to the Plitvice lakes. We were impressed with the well-maintained highways and crazy long tunnels. We drove through a tunnel that was over 3 miles long! We also encountered our first speed traps on Croatia roads, which were ironically placed in some of the most isolated tiny towns where speed limits were already 30km/h instead of the freeways where people were easily going 180km/h when the speed limit was 130km/h. We stopped off in the town of Opajita (recommended by a Croatian co worker of mine) for the most amazing breakfast. We wandered into a hotel restaurant thinking we would get some croissants, orange juice and coffee, but instead found a breakfast buffet with an unlimited mimosa bar, vegetables, meats, cheeses, eggs, pastries, cakes, fruit, yogurt…pretty much anything and everything we could have asked for. After we were full and happy, we continued our long drive to the Plitvice Lakes. By the time we got to the lakes it was pouring down rain. We bought some rickety umbrellas from the gift shop and headed into the park. Even though the weather was horrible, the lakes were extremely crowded and we encountered several school field trips. The trails with wooden pathways were flooding and the dirt trails had turned into large mud puddles. We quickly accepted the fact that our shoes would be brown and soaked by the time we came back to the car.

The moment we got down to the main lake and tiny ferry dock we knew we were in for something special. We took the ferry across the lake and were met by waterfall after waterfall of perfectly clear water. Due to the constant rain, the water was gushing at every point. We hiked around for about three hours trying to capture all the beautiful and incredibly unique waterfalls. It was impossible for a photo to do the place justice, but we still tried :) The park is massive and we probably didn’t even see half of it, but we felt like considering the weather we made a good effort to cover as much territory in our allotted time.

From the lakes we made the long drive to Split. We didn't have accommodations booked in Split so without the internet, we set out to find something on the fly. We had a B&B in mind and set our gps for the location. Everything was going well until the gps went rogue and tried to take us down pedestrian only streets and through parking lots that require payment and have no pass through. After a stressful session of avoiding people on scooters, getting honked at multiple times, and cursing at the gps we decided to park our car and search for a place on foot. We walked into the first hotel we found and while we didn’t want to pay the 250 euros they were charging for a room, the front desk guy gave us a few good places close by with some cheaper rooms. We luckily found a room in a nice boutique hotel that was willing to give us a good deal. We settled into the room, washed up and headed out for dinner (and a drink for Allen!). We took the advice of one of the hotel staff and chose Chops Grill for dinner. We split a caprese salad, I got spaghetti with homemade pesto and feta and Allen got filet mignon with roasted vegetables. Everything was amazing so we opted for a chocolate lava cake with ice cream…and never once regretted that decision :)

We were planning on leaving for Dubrovnik in the afternoon so we got an early start the next morning. We had breakfast at the hotel and then walked around the historic city center. We enjoyed walking through the old castle that has been converted into apartments, shops, and restaurants, and walked down their nice boardwalk along the marina. While walking along the boardwalk we found a semi submarine tour for $10 a person. So naturally we bought tickets. The submarine aspect of the tour was pretty lame. We saw some tiny fish swimming around but the windows in the bottom of the boat needed a serious cleaning, making it hard to see much of anything. We did however get some great views of the coastline and of the city of Split from the water so we felt like it wasn’t a waste. After our excursion we had a fresh juice and fruit cup from a spot inside the city wall. We sat in the sun and enjoyed the snack before continuing to explore. Before heading back to our hotel, we grabbed a quick caprese salad from a café inside the palace walls. While initially regretting our decision to stop in Split due to the stressful driving, parking, and accommodation searching experience, we left very happy with our experience. In our very short stay we had met some incredibly friendly and helpful people, had some amazing food, and thoroughly enjoyed walking around the historic part of the town and harbor.