At the Split airport we rented a car to take us the 2.5 hour drive to Plitvice Lakes in the interior of Croatia. We had a lot of questions in regards to the pronunciation of Plitvice. We settled on “Plit-vice” which we had used for days leading up to the journey. When we got there we soon realized it was pronounced “Plit-Vick-Uh,” best pronounced at a lower octave in a Russian accent.
Peter was especially excited when the car-rental agent told him about the upgraded car they secured for us. They pulled up a beautiful black Mercedes sports car in which Peter later commented as the nicest car he’s ever driven.
Peter and I at this point had been on a lot of road trips and had somewhat of a routine. Road trips snacks and drinks. Dowloaded episodes of This American Life. We introduced Jess to this and the episode I had downloaded was the introduction to Serial, a spinoff of This American Life, in which they aired the first episode on the show. As you probably know, Serial became the #1 downloaded podcast and a phenomena. Jess and Peter both ended up listening to the season in entirety. I wasn’t able to commit. Point being these podcasts make a road trip go by quickly to the point where sometimes Peter starts driving a lot slower if our arrival time of our destination interferes with the ending of a show. That Ira Glass and This American Life is entertaining.
Plitivice Lakes National Park is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The park consists of lakes, waterfalls, and thick lush forest. Other than the National Park, the surrounding area is small and quiet. It’s definitely an area to unwind.
There weren’t many options on AirBnB and most of the accommodations were characterless lodges, but we did find a gem! It was basically a log cabin and made Jess and I feel right at home, given our Alaskan roots. AirBnB is different all over the world. This one came with nice touches. There were bikes provided. The manager cleaned the cabin everyday and provided us with fresh towels. But the best part was every evening when we returned home the manager had a warm fire going in the fireplace. We spent our evenings chatting by the fire, watching some bad tv, and learning magic tricks from Jess.
Jess and I enjoyed taking the bikes for a spin and acting like we were in grade school again with the teeter-totter in the yard.
Of course Peter didn’t want to be left out.
Our first full day in the area we headed out to visit the park. Touring around the park takes about 4-5 hours depending on your hiking speed and how many pictures you want to take. Undoubtedly you can immediately see why 1.2 M people visit this treasure a year. We were there in October so the numbers of tourists was low and the walking paths manageable and relaxing.
The hikes provided a number of different waterfalls along the way. Including a 100 foot waterfall towards the end of the hike.
Since we were in nature and surrounded by trees there was plenty of inspiration for yoga pose pictures. Even Peter got inspired.
This picture from the day is one of my favorites. We took this in a cave and were trying to be artsy with Jess’s bump and silhouette.
That night we ate a restuaurant, Plum, which wasn’t much to write home about, but none of the restaurants in the area really seemed to be. After dinner we came home to a nice fire and took it easy.
The next morning we took another road trip to the bordering country of Bosnia to a small city called Bihac. We decided since it was so close and we didn’t need another day in the park this would be an interesting way to spend the day. Plus we got an extra passport stamp.
Whenever I travel to new countries I get a feel for the vibe. Like when you go to Vegas or New York city. You feel something in the air and the energy. Unfortunately with Bosnia we got a feeling that something really bad happened here, and it did.
From 1992-1995, not that long ago, the Bosnian War took place which has been called an “ethnic cleansing campaign” and deemed a genocide. During these years Bosnian Serbs targeted Bosniaks or Bosnian Muslims and Croatian civilians. As a result of the break up of Yugoslavia the Serbs wanted control. During these years atrocities were used to murder and torture victims. A war crime used frequently on Muslim women was systematic rape of women as young as 12. Upwards of 50,000 women were faced with this atrocity. In articles, I have read it states that women that were faced with this are still dealing with the aftermath in the form of physical, emotional, and psychological damage. This has caused issues with the development and growth of the country due to such a large group of women being unable to be in relationships with men after what had happened to them. Jess and I were 18 in 1995. I can imagine that 20 years later there would undoubtedly still be a ton of damage. Something like that never leaves. you. Sadly being in Bosnia you could feel the effect of the war. It felt depressed. It felt like we were walking through a funeral. There was no glimmer in anyone’s eye or a genuine smile. As time goes on hopefully this will change and while, admittedly, it might be different in other parts of Bosnia, the sorrow was palpable. Sorry for the depressing recap, but it was an impactful day for all of us.
The day in Bosnia consisted of us grabbing lunch on the Una River in Bihac where the waiter gave us bread to feed the many mallard ducks swimming nearby. The rest of our time we did a walking tour which is when we got a feel for the energy of the city.
During the war the Serbs wanted to rid the country of all signs of the Muslim religion. Therefore all mosques were destroyed. Only churches were left. After the war churches were turned into mosques by adding a minaret to it. We came across one during our walk.
With our hearts a little heavy but also feeling more informed we drove across the border back into Croatia.
That evening we had dinner at Restoran Degenija where we gorged on Pizza and maybe some french fries.
One of my handful of alarming personality traits is that on occasion I wake up screaming. This trait came out in full color this particular night. I am thinking it had to do with visiting Bosnia and reading about the genocide. It’s not surprising that I went to bed a little distressed and woke myself up from a nightmare. Well I hadn’t warned Jess about my little habit so she woke up upon hearing my screams. Her thoughts, in her own sleepy fog, went dark as well. She thought someone was going to come and take her baby. Out of her belly. So I managed to not only freak myself out, but also Peter and poor Jess. We all somehow got back to sleep.
In the morning we woke up to this.
What’s actually kind of funny about waking up to snow is that my friend Melissa had reached out to me when she saw that we were in Plitvice Lakes. She had been here before a few years back, also in October, and told me how the lakes were such a difficult hike and how it snowed really aggressively. I figured we were on a different hike as there was no signs of snow or real challenge on the previous couple days.
So just as we were about to roll out of town we had a snow storm to deal with. We had a two hour drive ahead of us to Zagreb. On travel days Peter gets really focused as he is our fearless leader. I could tell the snow had him stressed out. We had our Mercedes without snow tires to get us to our next destination, mountains to climb, and we didn’t know the extent of the snowstorm. He was responsible for not just he and I but also my pregnant friend. We also later realized that we had the last touring of day of Plitvice Lakes of the season without snow. Talk about timing.
Once again though Jess and I felt at home in the snowstorm.
Surprisingly the storm was actually pretty bad. Snow was everywhere covering all the surrounding hills. This is the only stop Peter would make for me to get a picture despite my many pleads for more pictures for the blog. He was on a mission to get us out of the snow and to safety.
Just about two hours later we made it to the Croatian capital of Zagreb. The drive was smooth and the snow cleared up about half-way to Zagreb.
Up next. A night in Zagreb before we were off to Egypt.
Thanks as always for following along.
