Plitvice National Park, Croatia

In planning our big trip to Croatia, the part I was most excited about was Plitvice National Park. If you see a list of the most beautiful places in the world - this place is usually on it. It's a series of lakes at different altitudes, with waterfalls flowing between them and an eerie blue-greenish water. It's just amazing. So, after our stop in Lake Bled - it was time to head south into Croatia.

2nd leg of the trip: driving from Lake Bled, back through Ljubljana and Zagreb to Plitvica

Driving with a Quick Stop in Zagreb
The drive was supposed to be about 4-5 hours, so we needed to break it up. Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, was about halfway, so we decided to stop there for lunch. We knew the park would be in the middle of nowhere without reliable grocery stores, so we needed to come into a big city and stock up on baby food, diapers, and other snacks to keep us going. I don't have much to say about it - it was just miserably hot. As we trudged on to find the grocery store, we ended up passing a bunch of the major landmarks for the city. Can't say this is one I would go back to - but maybe if it weren't the middle of the summer.

more water please.

church thing

the Zagreb market

One critical error we made was on the drive - it was all toll roads along the way. At one point we were entering a toll booth and the guy sort of waved us through - we thought we were getting a free pass and happily sped along. We got like 5 minutes down the road and came into another toll booth, where they asked for our ticket. Realizing that we were supposed to get one at the first booth but didn't - we tried to explain in absolutely nonexistent Croatian what had happened. They didn't buy it - so instead of paying like $5, we had to pay the maximum fare which was over $200. So-- yah, major lesson learned there. Eventually we made it to our hotel- grabbed dinner and crashed.

this is how we eat most of our meals- someone has a baby in one hand (and huge glass of wine in the other!)

Plitvice!
We had bought our park tickets in advance with the earliest start time possible, but it wasn't enough to avoid the crowds. This place was just packed. There were huge tour buses that dropped off thousands of tourists - so we had to literally wait in line to begin the park trail. Fortunately, most of those tourists disappeared after the first waterfall and things quieted down. (Note: I have not done anything to these pictures - the water really is this color).

a more-crowded spot near the start

So we knew that there would be lots of waterfalls to see, but didn't full realize how close we would be to them. All of the trails are on wooden walkways that are either just above the water or literally climbing up the waterfalls. It was amazing to feel so close to the water. ON the other hand - there were very few handrails - so I was terrified most of the time that the big kid would go in at any point. I think the water isn't actually that deep- but still. I was happy the baby was secured.

hold that kid's hand!!

seems like a nice place for a handrail, no?

There were a couple spots where you had to take a boat to cross a lake and pick up the trail. This ended up being a huge delay as there were so many tourists and not that many boats. So we stopped for a long lunch break, and the baby fell asleep. It probably was helpful to give everyone a break.

 on the boat - baby naps, boy gets a rest

We were so excited to see this beautiful park, but knew that actually hiking with two small kids was going to be hard. I had the baby on me in the carrier, and Spouso was ready to pick up the big guy as soon as he got tired. Instead, he was a total trooper and made it the whole way himself. We just took a break about every 15 minutes with lots of little snacks and water, and he was fine. We were only planning to take the shortest loop trail along the lower lakes, but since things were going well, we debated adding on a longer loop up to see the upper lakes. Sure enough, as soon as we stepped foot on the additional trail, he absolutely melted down-- clearly he'd had enough. So back to the car we went. I would've loved to see more, but just getting to see any of it was amazing.

the one time he got picked up- just to take a photo

view from above

so tired. must be exhausting to get carried around all day. 

After a long day, we headed back to our hotel. We knew we were in no position to sit through a multi-course meal, and instead just wanted to pick up a pizza and eat it in our room. We seriously debated hopping across the border into Bosnia to a pizza place that would've only been like 30 minutes out of our way - but instead just ran to the closest town to get something, then back to our room for pizza and time to crash!

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we made it!

So- one other thing that was bizarre and surprising was the difference between Slovenia and Croatia. Not knowing much about either country, I had assumed they'd be pretty similar. Instead, Slovenia was clearly upscale - things were clean and well-maintained. It was all a bit resorty, actually. But as soon as we crossed the border into Croatia, things were clearly different. This is obviously a much poorer country that has not fully rebuilt from the war. As we drove through small towns, we saw houses just riddled with bullet holes.  It was a constant reminder that there was a war here not long ago, and it's still really fresh. And with that - it was time to pack up again, and head to our next spot.