Holy Moly.....

Budapest to Croatian border...the only country on our travels with border control...and it was a bit like Communist Era all over again  hehe...well in light of the intense war here a decade ago, i guess i can undertand why.  



Abanadoned Serbian house

 Speaking of which, as the title says...holy moly.....driving thru Croatia you can see the results of this war all over the place.   For every 3 Croatian houses with beautiful germaniums there is beside them an empty shell of a Serbian house....maybe the roof missing, the windows definitely just gaping holes....bullet holes riddling the outside walls.    It is one after the other and in some towns up to 1/3 of the houses are like this.   There used to be 20 or 30% Serbian population in these Croatian towns, now they are all gone.
 Ethinic cleansing....first the Serbs did it to the Croats, then the Croats did it to the Serbs.  What a living history lesson!  Most of the landmines have been removed, but you still have to be careful where you wander, they tell you to stick to paths and roads....eek!  But the country feels very safe these days ...otherwise this tour company would not be here ...

And yet what a beautiful country...green rolling hills, trees everywhere...becoming more beautiful as you go east towards the Adriatic Coast.   Our bus driver, Slovenian, Bojan, passed around the bus, his photo album of himself as a young army officer under Tito.   Photo of Tito in there too.   One of the towns closest to the coast called Slunj....just blew us all away!   i swear it was just like Rivendell out of Lord of the Rings....wooden houses settled into the hillside with hundreds of silvery waterfalls coming out of every corner and some quite big, others little...it was completely magical and impossible to capture in a photo.

We drove into Plitvice National Park....we are over the Big Cities part and into the Back to Nature part of the tour.   ....and wow.... this is nature at her best....things i have never seen before...gems!  Plitvice is one of the reasons i signed up for this tour.    



Plitvice!


Friday Morning!
This was our 3 hour walk through Plitvice...for a few miles along boardwalks, up hills, down hills...waterfalls EVERYwhere you can imagine and pools of dark green water, lakes the same.   If you read CS Lewis, Magicians Nephew from the Narnia series, you will remember the dark pools of water they jumped into, each pool a new world....that is what one wooded part off to the saide was like.   This place is so stunning i can hardly describe it.   Halfway through the walk we got onto a boat which took us across the largest of the lakes, it was serene....quiet....beautiful.  REally steep climb at the end to get back up to the parking lot.....which was no problem!   Incredible view from the top, almost as high as Niagara, though the water is split into hundreds of falls, not just one big one.



More Plitice!


Back in the bus and more gorgeous Croatian scenery on our way toward and down the Dalmatian Coastline to catch our ferry to the Island of Rab which is in the Adriatic.  Feels and looks like Italy here ...which is not very far away at all.  Clear water......30 minute ferry ride and we are on this island for 2 nights.   "Beautiful sunny Adriatic vacation from your vacation these 2 days are supposed to be ...haha!! we were completely deluged with rain.   I decided to risk a walk the next morning, was just a drizzle...but wow did i get caught!! i was completely soaked right through to the skin....and after dragging myself back into the hotel ...long walk back from the Old Town.... i spent the rest of the day trying to get my stuff dry again (especially my walking shoes!!)  using the room hair dryer ha!.....i have a great pic, which i wish i could download onto this...of my little clothesline strung up in my room with all my unmentionables and jeans and jacket strung out along it ....i just had to laugh : )

Dinner ...fresh caught fish, caught that day.....yummmmmmmmm! with some excellent local white wine sitting out on an outside patio under a almost full moon and looking out over the Adriatic.....pretty much perfect : )

Last night, walking through the old town part of Rab...and come upon a Croatian wedding celebration...which was just amazing!  the entire families with bride and groom in the middle dancing in a big circle....back and forth, with the local musicians playing and people cheering  for them...it was really lovely!   Then after watcing for a bit, i started to walk back to the hotel and they ended up going in the same direction...this fella leading, dancing and waving a big Croatian flag, followed by the bride and groom and then all the guests...no matter which way i turned, they were right behind me...it was pretty funny!! and so colourful and full of life they were....

Special note....i ate 2 gelatos on the way back, my first on this trip : )  
Travel Tip #3  Always buy the more expensive gelato.   I did a taste test and the one that cost 6 kunas was WAY better than the one that cost 5 kuna .....both ended up at around 1 dollar each  lol

k that's enough of that....i'll start one more post before i go to bed....hold on....