CROATIA - Part One

On Wenesday, June 3rd we left Ljubljana, Slovenia and drove about 1 1/2 hrs. to the airport in Trieste to drop off the car we had rented in Italy. There is a real issue with renting a car in one country in Europe and dropping it off in another. While we were planning our trip, Robin noticed that part of the Trieste Peninsula is Italy, so we realized we could use the car rental while in Slovenia and could return it to Trieste. Then had to figure out how to get from the airport in Trieste to our next stop, Rovinj in Croatia, a couple of hours away. During my research came across a couple of companies that provided transfer services, so tells you that there certainly is a demand for this type of transportation. Worked like a charm, the driver was at the specified location at the right time.......whew, one always worries a bit with these type of arrangements....ok, maybe not everybody, we did have the driver's personal cell number.

Always amazed at the Europeans and the fact that most of them speak more than one language, if not several. Our driver spoke Croatian, Italian, English and was in the process of learning Russian, as a lot of Russian tourists now coming to Croatia. Mostly those involved in the tourist industry know several languages, but we know that in Italy and Slovenia, they teach English as a second language in the schools. In Croatia they offer several languages in the schools and give children the option of which one they would prefer to learn.

Croatian history is very complex and because of its location has been under several foreign powers: Hungarians, Venetians, Ottomans, Germans and Yugoslavs. Croatia regained its independence (violently) only in 1991. Their currency is the Kuna....10 Kuna = $ 2 Cdn. Sounds like some tourists try to use Euros, but signs in a lot of the shops and restaurants that they do not accept Euros; and why should they! The country joined the European Union in 2013, but opted to keep their own currency.

The Croatian language is very close to the Slovenian language (hard for us to pronounce), so the few key words we learnt in Slovenia are coming in handy, but once again everyone we have run into has spoken some English. We still think it is important to know and use key phrases in their own language.

ROVINJ

Arrive early afternoon to our accommodation for the next two nights in Rovinj. It is an old villa which has been transformed into a bed and breakfast. In all honesty, the B & B in Ljubljana and this villa are more like boutique hotels, very nice. This hotel is owned by a family of wine and olive oil makers, so they have a wine bar downstairs with wine tastings. We were told that we would be tasting the oil at breakfast.....what?

I got a kick out of a sign as we were driving into Rovinj.....Information Bureau (o.k.), Parking Lot (o.k.)......Dentist(?).

We are only a ten minute walk into the old town, so head down there for the afternoon. Beautiful small port village with lovely narrow windy cobbled lanes leading up to a church. Not too many tourists here....oh wait...the bus tours have arrived and are disgorging their guests.....a bus load of English and a bus load of Chinese. They are long gone to their next destination after an hour in town, tick!

They refer to Rovinj as the most Italian town in Croatia. Our driver today told us, that in the Istria Peninsula of Croatia, a lot of the people speak Italian and a lot of the signs, menus, etc. are in both Croatian and Italian. The town was part of the Italian Republic for five centuries, way back when from the 13th to 18th centuries.

 

 

 

 

Robin was very happy this afternoon, after spending the afternoon walking around Rovinj (30 degrees C.) came back to an air conditioned room around 4 p.m. and watched the Jokovic/Nadal tennis match and later tasted some of the wines that the owners of the villa produce, very good. They produce six different wines which have won awards, they have olive groves and grow organic fruits and vegetables on their farm. I did sample some their oil at breakfast, they served fresh tomatoes with the oil, very smooth.

Following pictures taken last night.

 

 

Today, we explored more of the town, took a one hour boat cruise around the various islands in the bay and took bikes out for about one hour into the nature preserve along the peninsula. We just happened to be lucky enough to rent bikes that happened to be provided through the City at a subsidized price. It cost us the equivalent of $2 Cdn. for the two of us for one hour, where the tourist shops wanted $10 an hour for each. A bit of a thunderstorm on our way back to town and started raining, so we take shelter under a tree......are you supposed to do that? Well, at least I am not the tallest person, so I think I am safe. This is me rationalizing that any lightning would hit the tallest person around and not me, guess I'm in for it if the tree gets hit!

 

 

There are big hotels along the peninsula, on the other side of the old town. Seems that a lot of the people come here for a week, year after year and spend their days on the beaches, both rocky and some lovely sand beaches as well. This really is a beautiful little coastal community, would definitely recommend anyone spend a couple of days here.

 

We pick up a rental car and on our way out of town see a sign for an optometrist.

 

PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK

Took 3 hours by car to get here. We are inland and very close to the Bosnia-Herzegovina border. Our drive here was very interesting as the last hour was through the countryside and very windy roads (Lisa, our daughter-in-law, would not have liked this last part of the road). What one sees in the countryside is very different than the tourist areas. Farmers still using very old small tractors, we saw an elderly couple using hay rakes in a field to turn over their hay, an elderly woman riding on the back of an old trailer being pulled by an ancient tractor, huge vegetable gardens, many many buildings/houses that have been abandoned and some abandoned factories as well. Most farmers seem to produce cheese as many signs along the road for goat and cow cheese. Just had to post the following picture of the old lady on the back of the hay trailer. She didn't look very happy with me when I took the picture from inside our car, but got a big smile from her when we waved!

 

The young man at our hotel has been the epitome of good service. Arranged to get laundry done for us, told us where to go to hike in the National Park and to ensure we bought a ticket for two days (better price), and tonight when we got back from dinner offered us a small glass of brandy on our way in. We started talking to him about Croatia in general and eventually got to the subject of the war. He told us that his family's home had been burned down twice, once in the Second World War and the other in the "Last War" as locals refer to it. We mentioned that we saw a lot of abandoned homes today, and he told us that was due to the war. A lot of people left this area and have never come back. As mentioned earlier we are very close to the Bosnian border here in Plitvice. We actually noticed one house where the walls were ridden with bullets. Very sobering, we cannot imagine living through something like this, we are very lucky. In my research, I find out that this is one of the poorest and most remote areas of Croatia.

 

Plitvice is made up if 16 terraced lakes, joined together by cascading waterfalls from one lake to another. The lake system is divided into the upper and lower lakes: the upper lakes lie in a dolomite valley and are surrounded by thick forests; the lower lakes, smaller and shallower, lie on the limestone bedrock and are surrounded only by sparse underbrush. The colours are just amazing and fish of all sizes in the lakes. The routes around the lakes are well marked, and they have built a system of boardwalks for the tourists. One has to be prepared to walk beyond the boardwalks to explore more of the region. They also have a system of boats and shuttle buses that will take tourists from one area to another.

 

 

Plitvice became Croatia's first National Park in 1949. In 1991, the first shots of Croatia's war with Yugoslavia were fired here and the first casualty was a park policeman. The Serbs held this area during the war, so most Croatians fled to the coast, although some did stay and others have returned. During the five year war, basically no tourists, and it is said that the eco systems of the park and lakes were able to recover. Hopefully the Government ensures this pristine park stays that way.

 

When we went to the lakes this afternoon, a lot of tourists and tour buses, but they mainly keep to the easy walkways. Oh my gosh...what do I see?......A sign indicating that the Plitvice Lakes are on the Unesco World Heritage List....Yeah! Another "tick" on that list! All kidding aside, this place is so beautiful, I can understand why it is being protected. One always wonders if so many tourists, how can they keep this place natural?

Just below the "big waterfall", we ask a young man to take our picture and find out he is from Toronto. He gladly took three pictures of us here from different angles, isn't that nice. Well, when we get back to the hotel, I look at the pictures and in the background looks like friends of his have photo bombed each picture. Robin just cropped them out of the picture as they were more on the side then right behind us, love technology!

 

Got the laundry back....my pyjamas have been ironed, don't even ask about the underwear!

Headed out this morning by 9 a.m. to beat the arrival of the tourists buses at the lakes. Yesterday we viewed and hiked around the lower lakes and today we are hiking around the upper lakes. We do have to take a small pontoon boat about 1 minute across the lake to get to the start of the hiking trail. Only about 10 of us on the boat and trails relatively quiet. It is hard to describe these lakes, colours are such a beautiful blue/green colour and the water is so clear. The water is the runoff from the mountains.

A couple of hours later we arrive back at our starting point and the crowds are unbelievable. We have to take a large pontoon boat this time to get across one of the larger lakes, about 15 minutes across, to get to our next hiking trail. As we are boarding the boat Robin hears a man say "Sit at the front of the boat" so he does. I start laughing and ask Robin if we are joining the English tour, as the man who said this is a tour guide for one of the large groups. Robin has a good point when he says we will be amongst the first disembarking, so we can easily pass the hoards, good point.

I get a kick out of listening to some of the guides. Today one is telling the group that there are numerous forms of wildlife in the park, including bears.......did someone say BEARS! She then goes on to say that they aren't as aggressive as North American bears....excuse me.....if it looks like a bear, it's a bear! I told Robin as we are passing this group that we should make growling noises, just to see what would happen.

 

O.K., you need to guess the Nationality of the next tour group coming towards us....a hint....a proliferation of dark socks with sandals.

 

We soon get off the tourist track and set out on the second half of our hiking for the day, a total of about three hours today and a couple of hours the day before. Great to be out in the outdoors in a natural environment. Definitely glad we made the effort to come here, well worth it.

Not sure the pictures I have chosen to do this wonderful place the justice it deserves!

 

We were very happy with the staff at the hotel this morning. As we had just finished breakfast, they informed us that the road to Split would be closed about 9 a.m. as the Plitvice Marathon was taking place. Got packed and away we went. Have to say the roads in Slovenia and Croatia have been in very good condition and the rest stops are great. We will be giving up our car today once we reach Split and travelling by ferry to the next three destinations after a couple of days in Split.

 

 

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