Day 2 - Dubrovnik, Plitvice Lakes and Zagreb, Croatia

We got up bright and early...Alison and Bill hit the free buffet, which they said was incredible including local fruit, traditional breakfast food and even wontons! I was last into the shower, so I just had cheese and crackers we had stowed away from the President's Club stop! That's more my style for breakfast anyway!! So, we hit the city early and there were not too many people around. We tried oh so hard and had no clue how to make it to the walking path around the old city walls. Door after door was locked...so we just walked inside on the sidewalks and peeked out a few areas to see the crystal clear water. Many of the cafes and tourist activities were closed until May 1, when their season officially starts...and all the cruise ships roll into port. It was so nice seeing it on our own and not dealing with hoards of people pushing you through! So, we took a little detour through an alley and lo and behold, there was a gate...open to access the wall!! We finally realized, they didn't open until 9! So, we were going to be able to walk to perimeter! And what an incredible view from the top!!! We scaled one of the towers, took TONS of pics and got to see the city from all angles. There was a mountain view to the east with a pretty little cross at the top of the hill. Views of the old castle and coastlines on the north/south and a stunning view of the cliffs and the ocean to the west. You could also look into the town from all angles to see the businesses, homes, courtyards, garden, cats and dogs that all took residence inside the walls. Just amazing! There was even a crazy old cat lady or two...I guess that's universal! She had hoards of cats she fed (so sweet), but a super creepy doll collection too...with them in every window of the house as well as in a flower pot on her back porch!! Eek!


Here are some photos of the tour around the old town.




And I found another little pup friend too! :)


Once, we heading down from the wall...we had an even creepier experience...and I nearly jumped out of my skin!!! I looked down at a little hole in the wall...and a teeny critter was staring back...it was a taxidermy RAT! Ok, some of you may know about my rat love...but this was downright spooky. Give me goose bumps thinking about it! Bill insisted it was a "vole"...Alison and I laughed at him and said there was not such thing...and he sent us the link to prove it. Darn it! Hate it when others are right! :) From there, we walked though town, visited little shops, took pics with dogs and cats, I got my infamous ornament and a little cross with Croatia on the side for my Dad and we went bid Dubrovnik adieu.

We arrived in Zagreb a little late b/c our flight was delayed, but the good news was we got cookies on the plane that I knew and loved from our friends Ed and Senela's wedding. We picked up our car (and I got some of the delicious cookies for my Mormor in the terminal) and we set off for Plitvice lakes. There is a funny thing about most European cities...ok, at least Croatia; there are no signs for any of the freeway numbers before you get on...just signs with the name of the city you're heading toward. We saw the name of a city that was definitely not on the way, so we went the opposite direction. Oops. We were heading in totally the wrong direction. So we luckily found a uturn and set off for the lakes. The rest of the drive was a breeze! We passed through adorable villages and really incredible views of mountains and valleys on the way. Much of the area had a German feeling, including restaurant names and just the general architecture. Then we saw a sign that mentioned the Germans had helped to 'rebuild' the area. Kind of neat. The most beautiful part of the drive was when it started to rain lightly and the most vivid rainbow I have ever seen spread across one of the valleys. It was unreal. It was brightly shining end to end, with the mountains in the background and the tiny village below...breathtaking!


It took about an hour and a half to get to the lakes and when we did, there were about 5 other cars and all the tourist info centers were locked up tight. What!!?? We were a little confused! There was also a restaurant called Licka Kuca, recommended by the same wonderful Croatian friend, Senela, mentioned above and it was closed too. :( We didn't know what to do, so we drove on to the second entrance to the park. Different parking lot, same story. We still weren't sure what to do, so we went back to the main entrance and parked and thought we'd just wing it and look around a little. We crossed a bridge over the street and headed to the entrance. It was about 5:00 when we walked up to the entrance and the lady said the park was closed. All I could see was Clark Griswold (me in this case) punching Marty Moose. NOOOOO...we did not just drive all the way from Zagreb to not see this park! Then it ended up she was telling us this b/c it was free once the park closed!! Jackpot! We got to see the park, seeing only 2 other people the entire time and for FREE! This place was so pretty it had to be over run during the peak months. If you go, and get lucky with the weather this is the best time of year to see Croatia...sometime in April.


We hiked down to the lakes and every step I thought, uh oh...this is going to be a beast of a hike back up! But there was no way I was going to miss seeing and hearing the falls up close! There was the coolest footpath all around the lakes and falls. It was all made of wood and no way something like this would fly in the US! There were no railings anywhere or fences to keep you from plunging into the water. But it made the experience so up close and personal. I think I got some incredible shots. It would be embarrassing if you didn't, seeing that it was just so naturally pretty! There was one tall fall and lots of little cascading falls down the river. We walked on the "floor" of the valley for an hour or so then found a cave with a light at the stop...so we decided to take these stairs instead of the switchbacks we had taken down. This again, was a nice little stairmaster-esq exercise, but was much more fun that scaling the mountain on the path.
We headed for the car, ready to pack it in for Zagreb, when we saw a few people heading to the "closed" restaurant. Double jackpot!! It had opened for dinner! Yippee! The building was very pretty with wood walls and a big fire for the food in the center and kind of a buffet style kitchen in the center of the restaurant. We started with a local cheese plate...and oh my gosh was it good! It has a flavorful hard parmesan like cheese that just got better the more you chewed, a soft goat cheese, a buttery soft one and one that was like a combo of sour cream and cream cheese. All so fresh and wonderful. Alison and Bill had the traditional Veal and Lamb from the spit and I had the trout. Little did I know it would come with the head staring straight at me...but it was quite delicious! :) We finished with a cheese strudel. Our stuffed little selves then hopped back in the car and heading back to the capital for a good night's sleep.