I can tell you honestly that I knew little of Croatia before visiting, although have always been interested in getting to know this part of the world better. Zagreb, the capital, was our first stop. When we (Jamie, Chris and I) ventured out in the historical downtown we were soon greeted by loud whistles and rowdy groups of people wearing colored t-shirts. Our first impulse was to avoid them and we quickly slipped into a cafe for a hot drink. The rain may have had a little to do with it too.
We eventually traded the warmth of the coffee shop for the windy, drizzly weather. We walked around town and although I felt there was no one extraordinary thing, I did enjoy Zagreb's clean streets and walking around the historical area. We came across the downtown rioters again and saw that they were drinking in the streets...some even carrying I.V. bags around their necks or jugs filled with alcohol. There were several police walking about and sitting in their vehicles watching them closely. We found out the noisy groups were university students, celebrating the end of school. It looked like they were having fun, but we definitely kept trying to avoid the bigger groups - those whistles were shrill!!
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| The party goes on... |
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| Government building, Zagreb |
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| Great church mosaic |
Many people here speak a bit of english and the local people we've met and spoken to for more than half a minute have a very funny sense of humour. First there was the grocery store clerk who, after being startled by Chris walking around the corner, threw her pen in the air and hit him in the face. Then there was our hostel (
Hostel Lika in Zagreb) owner who not only welcomed us with Croatian Fanta (plum based booze of some sort?) , but also gave us each a free beer because she wanted to cheer us up - no doubt because we were damp from the rainy weather. She joked saying "You vill be paying for them (the beer) one way or another..." She also warned us to wear our rubber boots out and joked about how Croatia should have a monarchy with her as queen!!
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| Bottoms up! |
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| Jamie and Chris giving a local a boost! |
We parted ways with Chris as he was heading to Budapest and we decided to visit more of Croatia. We rented a car and Scott from Saskatchewan (who now lives in Calgary) joined us for a day visit to Plitvice National Park. What a place! 16 stepped lakes that cascade down into each other by several small and large waterfalls. The area is criss crossed by wooden paths and dirt hiking trails so the public can get up close. The water was very high due to recent record rains and often spilled over and down past the walking trails, threatening to flood. This is the same weather that has caused flooding in Bosnia and parts of Croatia that you may have heard on the news. Several paths were closed because of the high water levels, even so, it was an absolutely brilliant place! It was named a Unesco site in 1979 and was Yugoslavias top tourist destination until March 1991 when it also became the first armed confrontation site in the Croatian War of Independence. To top things off, we met a memorable character here as well; a very helpful ranger who claimed to speak 11 languages and joked around with Jamie who proved he spoke French by telling him "Je mange le pamplemousse". The antics went back and forth between the two until our ranger had to run to help a lady who stumbled and tripped nearby. Don't worry, she was fine.
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| Scott and Jamie at Plivice |
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| Just one more step to your right guys... |
We dropped Scott off at a bus station and moved on to Split, Croatia. We had booked a hostel in the downtown core that boasted free parking. The GPS led us down some of the narrowest roads where you'd be hard pressed to squeeze an orange between our mini car and the walls. One road led us to a dead end where Jamie had to work a 28 point turn to get us turned around. After finding our room, we had our host drive the car to the free parking spot as we were so turned around.
Split's historic center is built around a 4th century palace and is great for strolling. There is also a long waterfront promenade where we spent some time people watching. The port is full of ferries going to several of the nearby islands and the place was busy even though its low tourist season.
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| Great spot for a glass of wine! |
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| Great promenade in Split |
The drive from Split to Dubrovnik was absolutely spectacular, to say the least. The Dalmation Coast is dotted with small towns, (no high rises), curvy roads and is hugged by the Dinaric Alps one one side with the stunning turquoise Adriatic Sea on the other. Its unspoiled continuous views made this drive one of our absolute favorites in the world. (Is that O.K. to say?) There are many small signs along the way advertising rooms in several languages as most tourists stay in family run rental properties and homes. If your planning a visit here, avoid the toll dual carriageway and head for the coast. We hear it gets very busy during the summer months, but I can't imagine missing out on this highlight. Our pictures do it no justice.
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| One of the many pretty towns along the Dalmation Coast |
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| Islands galore! |
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| What a view! Even better in real life! |
Dubrovnik and lower Croatia are separated from the rest of their country by a tiny 20 km slip of land owned by Bosnia and Herzogovina. Since Croatia joined the European Union last year, we had heard that this border was getting more formal as Bosnia and Herzogovina are not part of the E.U. Jamie had barely passed our passports to the border official when she pushed them back in his hand after glancing at the cover and said "Canada, no problem". Easy peazy. We figure that its because Canada has had such a huge role in regards to peace keeping, investing and community developments. Wish all borders were that easy!
