Safe to say this is our first Epic Day of the trip.
Not really knowing what to expect, other than everyone saying this place was super cool, or that it was THE main reason they came to Croatia, we arrived at Plitvice Lakes and took a bus to the start of a trail at Stop 3. Eating blueberries we bought, and following “route H”, we were walking over water on along wooden structures all day, taking ferry rides, gaping at waterfalls coming out of the ground and off of cliffs from lakes all around us. I can only imagine the fun (and danger) of exploring this area as an adventurer before it was built. The wooden bridges were typically about 3 to 4 feet wide and on either side of you looking down was crystal clear water 80% of the day. Fish and underwater features abound, the beauty and uniqueness of this place really can’t be captured by pictures or panoramics and this place is hard to put into words. It’s simply something that one must see at one point in their life and its not like anything else I’ve seen or heard of. After a few hours we reached the Picnic area where we grabbed out the lunch we had packed from the market the other day with some fresh local cheese and bread we had previously grabbed. An ice cream cone and another 1hr+ walk through breathtaking water and mountain vistas led us to a cave that I explored and did some rock climbing on. As we finished the day with some larger waterfalls, we were continually stopping and gaping at the beauty. A shuttle back to the car and some postcards from the gift shop and it was time to head to Zadar!
he roads in Croatia are a pretty enjoyable drive. They are easy to drive on, a little curvy, and most definitely beautiful. Green, fields, little restaurants, little town in the hills type of feel, we cruised on our way to Zadar and decided to stop and grab a quick bite at a restaurant along the way.
Thinking we would get some low-level pizza here, we grabbed our box to go and zipped onto the road only finding that as we bit into the pizza it was Excellent! Devouring the whole box and making it to Zadar a couple of hours behind schedule, our AirBnB host was standing in a parking spot holding it for us for who knows how long. Our apartment was a loft apartment with a spiral staircase located right downtown and a few minute walk to the coast. We had heard about the Sea/Ocean Organ and the interactive light phenomenon along the edge of the peninsula in Zadar and after we were settled we set off on our 5 minute walk and arrived at the two attractions, which are right next to each other.
The light attraction was a huge grid with dozens of little 3x3 lit up squares. Being quite large, it was still crowded with people running all over the place as the lights of all shapes, colors of the spectrum and various patterns constantly flashed under everyones feet. We have been somewhere where it was similar before, except I liked the other location because based on your step it would change so it was much more interactive and the atmosphere was more majestic as well, but this was still quite nice,and on the ocean which is a plus
The Ocean Organ chime thing was more of the highlight of the evening. Imagine sitting along the steps, facing out to the ocean, and underneath you exists a network of engineering to produce musical rhythm and output in relation to the Ocean’s waves that enter the system along the seawall. I really enjoyed listening to the sounds of the Ocean as they were transitioned and interpreted through the huge “organ instrument” we were sitting above, powered effortlessly and organically by natures forces. Since the instrument depended upon the wavelength, size, and speed of the waves, you can imagine that the instrument would yield a different sound or pattern every time you visit. I found, after noticing that the sound comes out from gaps between the steps, it was cool to lay down along the steps with your head near the opening and get a bit of a more intimate listen, eliminating some of the background noise and raising the volume a notch. This “attraction” was Candace’s highlight for Zadar.
Dinner was a nice walk away from the Organ, through the center of the peninsula and the old costal town all the way to the huge wall and fortification guarding the land entrance to the city. The pleasant stroll led along some shopping, roman ruins, and huge architecturally interesting buildings that we would check out the next day in a bit more detail and daylight. Dinner at Pet Bunara was awesome. We had some great appetizers, amazing wine grown from a few kilometers away, and had likely the best main course of the trip yet - a local fish, fully cleaned and prepped, baked with butter and local seasonal veggies, brought out on a self heating platter. Melt in the mouth, and a little flaky, this was excellent.
As dinner came to a close, and we ordered dessert, we moved ourselves outside to the now more open patio to enjoy the finish of the meal. Suddenly, about 10 minutes in, fireworks started blasting off not to far away. We quickly grabbed our wine “to-go” and set off on a jog to catch what we could. Coming into view, we were able to catch a bit of the finale, but missed more than we wanted. Time to stroll a few minutes to the east club district of Zadar. The two clubs, both outside and right next to each other, are totally unique from anything else anywhere and are incorporated into the landscape of the city and utilizing the old structures to lend them the special feel and atmosphere. The first one we saw was up against a ginormous castle wall stretching up probably 4 stories or more with light-show machines rocking the wall and a stage with live music below on the ground floor and in the center. Included in this outside area was high-top tables, a large bar and lounge seating. Inside there was another bar, different music, and a dance floor. We decided to skip this one and check out the tunes we heard coming from across terrace heading to the other garden. The DJ here was playing some dance music and we checked it out for a bit before making a stroll up the huge hill connected to the club that had a spiral pathway around it leading up and up and up to the very top from which you could stand on the plateau and see Zadar, the club below, and still hear the the DJ spinning his tunes. As we wound down the pathway we were drawn away, back to the “castle wall club” as a live violinist was dancing about playing tunes to the DJs music. It was here we hung out at the outside and inside areas, dancing, meeting locals and not noticing the time until we were walking back through the city and wound up back at the apartment close to 6am!
The next day we checked out, tossed our bags into the car and headed back into Zadar to experience the city. Passing an old Roman pillar, a bunch of roman coffins and other huge stone objects, we pictured ourselves back in time and imagined the people who made them two thousand years ago.
We caught lunch off a busy street at a cafe which had some interesting “black risotto”, a local favorite and unique because it turns your whole mouth and teeth black! We did some funny smiles at eachother, finished our meal, and continued our walk over to the Glass Museum, Learning the history of glassmaking and seeing pieces dating back thousands of years, it was great to get out of the heat and into the AC for a bit of learning. Then heading onto the castle walls, we walked along the peninsula with a view from the wall. I’ve noticed that a lot of the cities that are costal cities here in Croatia are built on a peninsula, and most have some sort of castle fortification. It’s cool to imagine the reasons for this and what it was like back in the day, before the world was more civilized. Basically with a peninsula you would only have to defend the base of the peninsula from attack from any sort of ground assault, cavalry, or siege machinery and so on. For the rest of the land you can build a castle wall around it to protect from any invaders landing by ship on your shore. An effective strategy and a necessary one if you look at the history, raids, wars, and struggles for power internal and external throughout the last couple of dozen centuries. Nowadays, more of a tourist attraction than anything else, it’s simply interesting to note and consider as we walk atop the walls of such castles and swim in the oceans gazing back at the costal cities and their medieval resemblancies.
Before heading out of Zadar, we ate at Garden of Zadar Restaurant, which had awesome smoothies, great and fresh food, a great ambiance with a view of the Ocean. It was just going to be just a “check it out few minutes”, and, still, an hour later were were happily getting our check and heading on the road to Split.
We arrived a couple of hours later and after parking the car we walked through Split and immediately were able to grasp that this city is far larger than the capital, Zagreb. We could have spent 3 or 4 days here. Our AirBnB was impeccable with location. Sometimes it amazes me what we can find. This one in particular was closer than any existing hotel could have been (there were none even near or allowed to be) and, in fact, was inside the Diocletian Palace Grounds. We walked outside our apartment, one of only two apartments in the building, into a courtyard for two restaurants and then walked literally only 1 minute to find ourselves face to face with multiple Roman Columns surrounding the Cathedral of Split and the main hub to the underground palace and central square. If only everyone knew about Airbnb and the opportunity, it we would be paying 5x the price for places like this.
We Walked to Dinner, had some great local Wine, Gazpacho soup, Rissotto, etc and sat at community table about 10 people on each side. We met a few english speaking people at the table for some great conversation with one gentleman in particular telling his interesting story about his Russian experience meeting a russian who took them to a private apartment that had government officials and rock stars, etc.
After dinner we just walked around the town and eventually found ourselves at the Pier area checking out the situation on how it would work for our boat ride, with our vehicle to the Island of Hvar the following day. We finished up in the Basement of Diocletian Palace where I purchased an Elephant for my mom that was very special and walking through, up and out to the courtyard where an acoustic guitar Player had his classic rock tunes aplified out across the Large Rectangular open area/courtyard near our Apartment. Watching and singing along to some songs, including Hey Jude and taking in the atmosphere of ancient architecture all around, it was quite an end to a great day.
With quite an interesting start to the day…. I woke up early let Candace sleep in while I went and purchased our ferry tickets. Then I came back to the apartment to wake her and we split up, me to go quickly get the car to take on the ferry, and Candace to get herself packed up, ready and then head down to the pier to meet me with the car at the boat. Unfortunately I didn’t make the ferry in time with the car… and Candace was on the ship as it pulled away from the dock, on a 3 hour boat ride to Hvar without me!
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