Croatia-Plitvice Lakes National Park

How beautiful is this pool? This is the actual color, not doctored by any program. The water in the Plitvice National Park is crystal clear and incredibly beautiful in various shades of blue and green.

Here's a picture of a green lake. Look in the foreground. You can actually see the stones on the bottom. You can also see people walking on a boardwalk on the far side of the lake.

The park is organized to be traversed in a full day of hiking. Although this section is flat, there are steep climbs, although nothing too arduous. You are not allowed to go off the marked path, nor should you do so as Croatia has many unexploded mines leftover from the Yugoslavian war in the 1990s.

This park is a UNESCO World Heritage site. You start your hike at a section of narrow waterfalls.

 Further along you'll see more beautiful falls.

After hiking for a couple of hours you come to a couple of lakes which you must traverse by ferry boat.

You then hike for a couple more hours. At the end of this hike, we reached a sort of rest area where they had a small selection of food. We hadn't packed a lunch, since we were staying in a hotel. So we found some ice cream bars, the pre-packaged kind (Dove Bars). I cannot remember the last time I had ice cream, but we were hot and hungry so we each grabbed one, tore open the wrapper, and my kids and I each took a bite immediately. Hubby was over by the cashier paying for them.

Him: How much?
Her: 200 kuna (Croatian currency, of which we had 0)
Him: How much in euros?
Her: We don't take euros.
Him: Do you take credit cards?
Her: No.

Whoops. We all looked at each other guiltily over the tops of our ice creams. No money to pay and we were already eating them. I have never done that in my life.

We were a long way from civilization. It wasn't like we could find an ATM.

Fortunately, we didn't get arrested. She begrudgingly took the euros. Elsewhere in Croatia, everyone took euros which is why we didn't buy the local currency. Live and learn. The ice cream was delish!

This park is beautiful, pristine, and very well maintained. The Croatian people have worked hard to rebuild their country after the war, and I commend them for the beauty they've protected.

Has anyone been to this park? Probably not. We didn't see any Americans, although there were people from all over the world.

Of course, I had to set a story in Croatia. It's called Love Charm for Gillian. Here's the white cat leading the way to the seaside bar where Gillian is recovering from heartache when an adventurer wanders in...

How to Die in Croatia

How to Die in Croatia

Drive a car. Seriously. It's a lovely country. You should visit. But be careful if you rent a car.

I shouldn't actually use the word 'car'. No, because hubby wanted a van. Not just any van. A nine passenger van. Our family consists of five people. Plus, admittedly, a fair amount of luggage. (You can't travel for 2 weeks with an overnight bag.)

Right from the beginning, he stated that we needed this monster vehicle. All I could picture was us in this van, hogging tiny European roads, and searching endlessly for parking spaces the size of a double-wide. So I talked him into renting an SUV with a trunk. I thought.

We got to Zagreb, Croatia and I took one of the kids to a little cafe for a snack and he went to get the car. You know what happened.  When I came out, what was I the proud possessor of? Yes, a nine-passenger van the size of the Loch Ness monster. You can see it above in all its glory. Here is the cute cafe in the Zagreb airport.

We did a LOT of driving in Croatia. In fact, we virtually circumnavigated the country. However, it wasn't the van that was the problem. It was the other drivers. Ack! Croatia has some of the most scenic roads in the world. The scenery is GORGEOUS. But if you have a nerve in your body, you can't enjoy it. Aside from one awesome new turnpike, the roads are narrow, curvy, one-lane roads that wind through endless mountains and drop off shoulderless, directly into the ocean.

Speed limits are high, traffic is constant, and trucks chug slowly up the mountains, enraging the drivers behind them. The game all Croatian drivers appear to enjoy is to beat the trucks by overtaking every car in the long line, one at a time. You see the car come up behind you, pull into the opposing lane, right in the face of 70 mph oncoming traffic, and try to squeeze in front of you. Of course you let them in, because otherwise an accident is certain. It's a game of chicken, and they don't play to lose. Then the next car behind you pulls into the oncoming traffic.

I suppose there are those who will only participate in this death-defying game when there's a dotted line for passing, but they must be viewed as cowards. Everyone else views the straight line in the middle of the road as a signal to pass immediately, lest you lose this opportunity to kill yourself and everyone in sight. It was so bad that one of my teens actually said, "Maybe in Croatia, the straight line is the one that means you can pass."

Of course, we did see the exact accident you would expect to see. First, we saw the tire, complete with its axle, sitting on the road in front of us. A bit later, in our lane, was the busted car missing its tire. In the opposite lane was the other car, also missing it's driver side front tire. Someone had misjudged the passing and they hit each other in the same spot, front drivers side, knocking a wheel off each car.

Despite all this, you should visit the country. The scenery is awesome, and so are many of the coastal towns and islands. And, oh yeah, hubby was right about the van.

Next time: Hubby tries to return the monster van at midnight at the airport in Split. Poor guy.