We stayed at Hotel Bellevue which was okay, considering we were in the mountains it is not meant to be a place that wants you to be in your room. Arriving at 430 pm the activity for the day was winding down and spending the night inside the park reminded me of being at camp. Quiet mountainside and not a whole lot to do but enjoy the sounds of the birds and waterfalls and the smell of the forest. There was only one restaurant open for dinner, forcing us to break our "no white tablecloths" rule. That was put in place after the incident in Budapest when we walked out of the restaurant. Ben had some kind of beef with white truffles and he was very happy.
The other most interesting part of our night was doing laundry. I pulled to tighten our clothesline, releasing a bar around which it was wrapped. The bar set course for my face, creating a red nose and fat lip, both of which went away very quickly. Today my only battle wound from the quest for clean clothes is a small red bump on the bridge of my nose.
Breakfast was included, a simple buffet similar to what we have had at restaurants a few times before. We have become amateur scavengers at these buffets, sneaking delicious hazelnut pre-packaged spreads and bread into our pockets when the staff isn't looking. This becomes our snacks when needed later, such as on a 4 hour bus ride to Split. I imagine that walking out of a restaurant with bread in his pockets makes Ben feel about how he would if the silverware was in there.
Plitvice Lakes National Park is incredible. Repeatedly during our hike Ben would utter the word "stunning." And, it truly was. Briefly, Plitvice Lakes is 16 mountain lakes very close to one another with rocky waterfalls connecting them. The water is incredibly clear, so much so that we could photograph fish or a sunken canoe through the water's surface. The water is rich in minerals , resulting in beautiful shades of blues and greens depending on how the sunlight hits. Additionally, part of what makes the falls so beautiful are the rocky, vegetation lined drops that are characteristic throughout the park.
There are 1.2 million visitors to the park each year, so it can get very busy. We arrived at the gate as the park was open, additionally this weekend marked the change to their summer hours so we hit before the busy season and while we shared our hike with a lot of people, it really wasn't bad. The park is also laid out with groomed trails and planked walkways to make it a very easy hike when needed. Ben and I made a couple of route choices that increased the difficulty of our hike, but also I think helped in avoiding some crowds. My only complaint about the park is very poor maps and signage. However, my experience has always been that trail mapping is rarely detailed enough to ever provide a precise answer to your question on which way to go. If anyone reading this ever heads to the park, shoot us a note and we would be happy to share our lessons learned.
We finished exploring with plenty of time to catch the 1:50pm bus to Split. This experience has some similarities to our flight plan, but with even greater uncertainty. Basically, you stand at the side of the road next to a tiny bus shelter with an information booth that is never occupied. Then, you wait until your bus is approaching (hoping you can identify the words on the bus as it hauls a$$ down the road), and wave it down and hope for open seats. If you don't wave, the bus will not stop. The Croatia regional buses look just like tour buses, so figuring out which is yours can be hard, you are looking for the carrier name printed on the bus side. Then, you only get on if there are seats. And, you have no way of knowing if the bus was on time. Fun, right?
Killing time, we sit around at some awesome picnic tables in the sunshine and meander down to the bus stop 10 minutes before arrival. A nice woman already standing there with schedule in hand tells us we missed the 1:50, it came early. Now we are waiting for the 2:30 which is our last chance of the day to get off this beautiful mountain. But wait there's more, we see people coming, it feels like from every direction, with luggage heading for our stop and now we are really worried, how many seats will be available? (Ben tells me repeatedly that his heart is pounding which is, of course, a natural cure for my own anxiety) A taxi with a mini van type vehicle stops and offers to get us all to Split in 90 minutes less for about $12 more per person than the bus fare. Ben and I are in...shorter route and guaranteed seat. But, the other bus riders are not on board (ha, get it) and our potential cabby in desperate need of deodorant waits and watches to see if we get on the bus, he may have a guaranteed fare if transportation kharma is on his side. Well, the bus is 12 minutes late, but we all get on...phew! Shortly after boarding we stop for a 20 minute break and we are now aware why the 90 mile route will take us 4.5 hours to complete.
So, Split, Croatia is next. We don't know where this bus drops us or where our hotel is located (but we do have one) and Ben is reading a newly downloaded Croatia travel guide right now to try and figure out what we will do when we get there. There is one certainty, lots of seafood in our future. We plan on spending two nights in Split.
And finally, today marks the start of week 2 of our trip, we are crossing over the threshold from typical one week vacation into an ongoing adventure with 5 more weeks to go. Yay us.
I am so stressed out reading about your bus trip. I would not have handled that well. Good job.
ReplyDelete