Plitvicki Lakes

The pictures don't really do justice to the splendor of this place - water just bubbles up and flows and cascades from everywhere.

Escaped the crowds eventually and had the trail to ourselves

Selling wild strawberries on the roadside

Car park camping

Suckling piggy on the spit!

Leaving the coast

We camped 2 nights on a small island at Trogir. The sun came out and we managed a swim in the pretty bay before a brief storm blew in. Probably our last swim for Croatia, if not the entire summer. 

Then we headed inland and had a great drive through rocky terrain, arriving in quite a different landscape at the Pltivicki Lakes National Park. We pulled into a restaurant car park that sported a camper sign to discover we could camp overnight in the car park for free. And better still, they were roasting a whole pig on a spit in the man cave at the front of the property. The temperature had dropped to a chilly 14 deg with a cold wind, and so the spit roasting shed seemed like a popular spot for the blokes of this small town to gather for a yarn, or just sit quietly and watch the traffic and goings on.

Having secured our accommodation we headed down the road to the lakes entrance. This is like a big DOC site, with paid parking, ticket booths, and an info centre that wasn't particularly helpful. There were a lot of large information boards, but none of them very clear or helpful. However Heather worked out the route we would take, got a ferry across the lake and headed off for what was meant to be a 3 hour walk on one of the shorter routes. The first obstacle was to get past two tour parties meandering slowly 3 abreast on a narrow board walk. Heather charged ahead, narrowly avoiding tipping a few old ladies into the lake, but it was worth the effort, because once we were ahead of the groups, we were rewarded with stunning scenery in a much less congested view. 

The area is made up of a series of lakes on varying levels that overflow and cascade into each other. Water is bubbling through everywhere, and the only way to walk the area is by sticking to the boardwalks. We had never seen so many waterfalls. The views were very majestic, and the surrounding virgin forest gorgeous with tall, mature beech and fir trees filtering through dappled light. 

This area is home to a local brown bear, beaver and bats. Of course with so many visitors through the paths each day, we saw none of these, though I did watch a water snake slither through the reeds. 

At the end of our trail, we caught the park bus back to the car park, and headed to our home for the night, eager to enjoy the spit roasted suckling pig. 

Post script ... I had wondered if I should email someone from home my last known location in the event of something untoward happening in our free car park camp, but had a great sleep, lulled by two different church bells that rang last at ?10 pm, and again at 6 am. On the road by 8:50 - unbelievable.

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Bosnia

Travelling experiences

We had a great 3 night stay at Camping Kate in Mlini. But the weather did deteriorate to heavy rain. I thought was being smart putting up the awning so we could sit with the door open and at least feel a bit of the outdoors. Just as heather was finishing the dinner prep she looked up and saw that the awning arms were buckling under the ballooning weight of about 30 litres of water that had pooled in the cover. We ran out and managed to drain it and then retract it and it doesn't look like there is any permanent damage. Hmm, I looked around and no other campers had there awning up. Check that down to experience.

On the road from Dubrovnik we were required to drive a brief 10 km stretch through Bosnia. I had originally planned to drive onto a peninsular and then ferry back to the mainland further down the coast to avoid this boarder crossing as Bosnia is not Part of the EU. Searches on the internet showed differing stories of up to 1 hour queues, Brits needing additional insurance, scams to get tourists to pay for passes etc, so wasn't quite sure what we would find. I'm also not very good on international history and geography and so thought this country still had internal conflict occuring. But the whole thing was a big anticlimax. We had passports at the ready, and attempted to hand them to very disinterested officials at the drive through boarder crossing. At both points staff seemed bored or busy on their cell phones, and had no intention of checking documents, and just casually waved us through. A few days later some English tourists told us they had caught a local bus through the region, and their bus was stopped and everyone required to show their passports - which they had left at their accomodation - so instead they flashed their credit cards.

Stopped for lunch at a "casual" looking spot, but we were keen to get some local food. Sometimes its hard to tell if restaurants are open or if there is easy van parking until we have passed, so made a decisive action and pulled into the next available stop. Got seated, ordered lunch and felt quite pleased when our plates of skewered meat and traditional dumplings arrived, but then, just as I started to eat was alarmed as I watched a rat saunter across the patio in front of me and into the bushy creeper growing at the doorway. Heather only caught a fleeting glance of it, and wasn't too bothered, but I decided we wouldn't be settling in for coffee and was truly pleased when I got back to the van. 

Split and Omis - Still on the Dalmatian Coast

Today in Omis, I climbed up a fort built into a rock cliff-face that was erected back in the 1400's when defending against the Venetians. Some guy from Naples had sold the Dalmatian coast to Venice, who were keen to expand and protect their waterways.

The Dalmatian Coast

We were so lucky that we got 2 swims in on our first day in Croatia, because since then the weather has been wet and getting colder. We have been at some stunning beaches, in fact the entire coastline from Dubrovnik to Split is amazing, and its been tragic that I haven't been able to get back in that aqua blue water.
Camped  2 nights at Camping Serina - just out of Omis. A gorgeous spot that winds down the bank with flat parks all the way to the beach so everyone gets a room with a view. The manager - Meela - brews his own wine, and walks around the restaurant area with 6 bottles in an old milk crate happily offering samples to anyone who will give it a go. They are quite sweet, and pack a mighty punch, I was feeling light headed after just the first taster.
Theres a kind of faulty towers atmosphere here, but the facilities are very good and its been the friendliest camp of the trip.
They have an open wood fired grill, great staff, are very friendly, and dinner is accompanied by a guitarist who plays a variety from traditional Croatian songs to John Denver hits or maybe the Beetles - with a great Croatian accent, and manages to get everyone singing along. It all sounds a bit crazy, kind of like a united nations sing along as all the various nationalities and accents clang together. Probably encouraged by all the free medicine that Dr Meela is handing out.