Plitvička Jezera

The Plitvice Lakes national park is the oldest and largest in Croatia, and its a great stopping point on the way to Split. I had found a tour which included the transfer from Zagreb, so it was the perfect way to see the lakes and find our way to Split.

Saying that, we were up at 6.45am to make sure we were packed and didn’t leave anything behind (my Kindle was left on the plane, I think!). We had already picked up supplies for the journey knowing we would be too early for breakfast. we checked out of the hotel, saying goodbye to my “ black sista,” the girl on reception called me her white sister, as she had a sister called Angela.

The meeting place was beside the meteorological clock, so it was only a 5 minute walk with our suitcases. The minibus and our guide Samanta, was on-time and we loaded ourselves and our cases onto the bus; we were joined by a group of Americans, some people from Hong Kong and some other random Spanish speakers. I wont go into details, but one of the group was late and was incredibly annoying; she also caused trouble most of the day, but onto the fun stuff!

The lakes were around 2.5 hours drive from Zagreb, and we had a stop at a petrol station on the way. We had already paid for the trip, but not the entrance to the park which was 23 EUR per person, and it was only payable by cash. On our arrival, our guide organised the tickets, while we made sure we had everything we needed; water, snacks, sun lotion. 

We started by walking down towards the biggest lake which has electric boats; there are two boat journeys, but we took the shortest, only a five minute ride, from one side to another. From here we were going to walk all the way to the upper lakes, before getting the hybrid bus back down to the lower lakes. Then we would walk around the lower lakes, and see the highest waterfall in Croatia, before ascending the serpent path, back to the car park.

I would like to note, that we had no breakfast, and “lunch” was not until 3pm; thank goodness for our snacks (Belvita, Pringles and croissants!). Hunger was quickly forgotten though as the lakes and waterfalls were stunning; I would like to note that some of the walking was rather treacherous given there was not always something to hold onto, but we were lucky the weather was cool and it wasn’t raining!

Now for a bunch of photos of waterfalls and lakes!

At 3.30pm, we left the park and headed on the minibus to a local restaurant. It was called Vila Velebita, and we were both starving. Iain order pizza (surprise, surprise!) and I had chicken skewers with the most amazing potatoes! 

Either we were starving, or the food was absolutely delicious, I don’t know, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was another bus-load of people at the restaurant who were going to Split so we transferred our cases, and ourselves to a different bus. Split was another 2-3 hours away, depending on traffic, so we hoped for a sleep to pass the time. No such luck, our new guide was called Ivanka, and I’m pretty sure she loved the sound of her own voice, which was probably about 100 decibels all the time. And then she found a microphone… Sleep did not come, and we were relieved to get to Split, although she did give us some help to navigate to our hotel in the old town!

It was only a 10 minute walk, and we managed to avoid cobbles and also stairs. The Heritage hotel Santa Lucia is on the main square outside of the palace walls, and is in an Austrian (Vienna!) looking building. We were joyous to arrive, and the free prosecco on check-in reaffirmed my choice of hotel! After Ivanka, silence was golden!

Given it was still reasonably early, we decided to take a walk to the promenade and have a relaxing drink…or two!

We then had a nightcap at the hotel, where I tried a local Dalmatian wine, then we turned in for the night after an exhausting but fun day.