Natural and Ancient Wonders + A Complication

As you've probably noticed, I've been traveling pretty much every chance I get. So, when we had a week off in mid-February just days after the start of the second semester (the first week is taxing, OK?), I took advantage of the stretch of several days to go a bit further afield. Happily, Jessie, one of my best friends going back over 20 years, was able to take off some time from her insane work schedule to travel with me!

After several days of batting around possibilities and tweaking dates to find affordable flights, Jessie and I decided to meet in Zagreb, Croatia on Valentine's Day and then spend a full week exploring the country. Let me tell you, we were trip-planning machines. It took us all of maybe ten days from the moment we landed on Croatia as our destination to nail down an itinerary, book our flights, find lodging, reserve bus seats, and arrange tours! Our itinerary looked like this:

• Arrive in Zagreb in evening; spend 1 night
• Plitvice National Park en route to Split; spend 2 nights in Split
• Travel to Dubrovnik; spend 4 nights in Dubrovnik
• Fly to Zagreb; spend 1 night
• Explore Zagreb; head to the airport for evening flights home 

Plitvice National Park

Promising Zagreb that we'd spend some quality time there the following weekend, we caught a super early bus Sunday morning towards Plitvice National Park and arrived a few hours later. We had expected that the bus would go more or less to the park gates, so we were a little disoriented when the bus instead dropped us off on the side of a forested road. After the initial confusion and some searching, however, we successfully dropped off our bags at a hotel offering daily luggage storage (thank goodness for insider tips on online travel forums!) and eagerly headed into the park.

Plitvice National Park is divided into two main areas, the Upper Lakes and the Lower Lakes. The Upper Lakes area was closed due to snow, but we decided to start out the day by hiking along the trail towards it as far as possible anyway. (Rebels!) Although we couldn't get all the way to the falls, we still enjoyed the stillness of the frozen lake and admired the snow-covered terrain.

The ferries and buses that shuttle visitors between the two areas of the park are suspended during the winter, so we walked the path connecting the Upper and Lower Lakes. Since the park map wasn't very detailed, we kind of guessed at which trails to follow. Hiking downhill towards the water and back uphill along the ridge line, we were rewarded by stunning panoramas of the falls from all different vantages!

Crossing the lake above the start of the Lower Falls

The Lower falls from afar

This trail was blocked off due to snow but we took it anyway. Worth it from a close up of the first set of falls!

The angle is admittedly terrible, but if you squint, you can see the falls down in the canyon and the snow-covered walkway running next to them.

Taking a "shortcut" through a cave with steep, icy steps to get down to the main event. Treacherous, but we survived!

The Lower Falls!

Overall, we really loved the unique experience of seeing the falls in the winter. Although limited off-season transportation options meant we only had about four hours in the park, the scenery was breathtaking and we had the whole park practically to ourselves for a third of the regular price! Definitely worth the trip! 

Split

After a beautiful ride through central Croatia, we arrived at the Split bus terminal Sunday evening. Thanks to a few locals who helped point us in the right direction (for future reference, P-J-A-C-A is pronounced "piazza"), we found the apartment we had rented on Airbnb for the next two nights. The location was fantastic, literally inside the walls of the ancient Diocletian Palace! And before he left, our host helpfully sat down with us and pointed out on a map of Split the best places to see and eat.

Tower Gate entrance to the palace, just steps from our apartment!

We spent the whole next day exploring Split. Sipping coffee and people-watching on the Riva (the main waterfront harbor where the locals go to see and be seen), marveling at Diocletian's Palace, and taking in the views from Marjan Park on the edge of the Old Town, we really enjoyed getting to know the city. It sounds like most tourists tend to view Split as little more than a transit stop on the way down to Dubrovnik or the islands, but we were really glad we gave ourselves a solid day there to walk around!

Morning coffee, pastries, and people-watching at the waterfront.

View of the palace walls from the Riva

 

The best preserved of several Egyptian sphinxes that Diocletian had imported to his palace

The cellars of the palace, which according to Rick Steves, were once filled with "layers of pungent waste"...attractive, right? More recently they have hosted fashion shows and other events and served as a filming location for Game Of Thrones!

Fish market!

Third-oldest continuously-used Sephardic synagogue in the world. There is only one rabbi in all of Croatia!

Relaxing at the Riva waterfront

Ancient monastery built into the side of a rock face in Marjan Park!

View from Marjan Park in Split

Tired but content, we decided to head back to the apartment to relax a little bit before dinner. Unfortunately, that's when the day took a turn south. Hearing voices coming from the top landing of our building (where our apartment was), we exchanged glances and hurried up the staircase to see what was going on. We found our bags, hastily-packed, sitting outside the open door and our host and two of his friends worriedly waiting inside. Our host explained that someone had broken in, but that a friend had alerted him to something suspicious and he'd arrived before the burglar had time to take anything. Clearly distressed, he urged us to check our belongings carefully to make sure nothing was missing. We anxiously went through our bags, but, thankfully, everything was accounted for, including our passports and the excess cash we had left in the room. (Reminder to always lock up your bags when you leave to tour around!) Luckily, our host was able to accommodate us in another apartment nearby for the night.

If we had been planning to stay in Split longer we might have tried to find a room elsewhere, but since we were heading to Dubrovnik the next day anyway, we decided to just stay put in the second apartment. The whole experience was disconcerting, but one of the toughest moments was responding when our host asked us not to mention the incident in our Airbnb review. Understandably, he was afraid that if we wrote about what had happened, he wouldn't be able to rent out the first apartment in the future. Ultimately we decided to say that we had to move apartments due to a "complication," but I'm curious. What would you all have done? Would you have stayed in the second apartment or moved to a hotel for the night? Would you have recounted the situation in your online review?

Croatia Part 2 coming soon!