Friday 12 June 2015

Plitvice National Park and Zadar

Wednesday, we were off of the highway again for more adventures. Before we left, we stopped for breakfast at Fife because it was the only thing near our place open early enough. Dad asked if he had to have the omellete with ham or if he could without and the waiter said we could either order an omelette with cheese and ham or a plain omelette. Dad replied, "okay I'll have an omlette with cheese." I had to stop from laughing because obviously dad hadn't heard the options at all. 

We hoped our drive would go smoother than Krka. A few interesting things I did notice during our drive was that here in Croatia they have designated U turn lanes. While turning onto this Main Street we were making a left so we went into the far left lane. We suddenly realized due to the painting in the lane that it doesn't actually turn left it was the U-turn lane and the left lane was in fact one lane over to the right. The other thing is that no street names are acutally posted anywheres you can see while driving. Our google maps always tells us to turn at the most unique street names that Dad and I usually have a good laugh over, but if you look at that turn it does not say anywheres that the street is named that..thank god paper maps are a thing of the past! We drove the long 2 hours and 40 minutes, going 180 km/hour. This placed us in the "slow lane"... even though this was Dad literally sticking the pedal to the metal. We decided we needed a car with a bigger engine to keep up. The drive didn't actually feel that long though as the views throughout it were picturesque with rolling hillsides and red rooftops and there was always something exciting, for example a 6 km long tunnel.
We finally arrived and I knew it was going to be gorgeous even from the parking lot, which was laden with large spruce trees and large ghost, white rocks. We decided to start at entrance one, which is further along the road from entrance two, as it starts off at the largest and most magnificant waterfall. 

Plitvice is a UNESCO World Heritage site, that is also formed from travertine just like Krka. 
I recommend mostly just walking on the board walks. We went up the stairs by the massive waterfall for a bit of the trek...and although it was gorgeous to take some pictures from up high we enjoyed being by the water more, so we turned back around and walked all the way to the boat ride at P3 on the boardwalk next to the water. The aqua coloured water is so unbelievable and impossible not to want to swim in, but sadly no swimming allowed as it would ruin the travertine. 
Many of the books we read said it was not enjoyable to do this park in one day. Maybe Dad and I like to rush but we were able to reach St 1, 2 and 3 and P1, 2 and 3 and the boat ride across Kozjak lake in about 4 hours (along the boardwalks and even with two detours from the upper level).

Since we had driven so far we decided to stop on Zadar on the way back home so we wouldn't have to drive back again another day. 

There is a lot of history in Zadar but I honestly can't get myself too excited about all the details of history and was more interested in seeing the Sun Salutation and Sea organ. These were created by Nikola Basic. Enjoying these two wonders at sunset is a must, with Zadar's sunset uncapturable by  camera and a need to see in person. As the sun approached the horizon it turned a deep pink colour that I had never seen before in a sunset. During the sunset, one of my favourite things from the entire day was jumping into the ocean from high on the harbour boardwalk and watching it from the water.

The only problem with this is that for the sunset and the sun salutation lighting up, everyone had full makeup and cute hair and outfits for their pictures, while I was water drenched, like a drowned rat with mascara running down my face, and my bathing suit leaving wet boob marks on my shirt. It was okay though because I knew I was having more fun.
This is me standing on the lower step on the sea organ.

The Sea organ is set within stairs that descend into the ocean. It is formed from pipes and whistles that create sounds as the waves move air through them. It is best on a windy day or if boats go by producing waves. It is so relaxing and peaceful lying on the stairs listening to the waves, as well as the sounds they are producing through this creation. 
This is before it is lite up.
The Sun salutation is a circle set in the pavement filled with 300 multilayered glass plates that collect the sun's energy during the day and then produces a light show from  sunset to sunrise. It collects enough energy to power the entire harbour.

We also had dinner in Zadar at a place recommended by Lonely Planet, Foša. It had a terrace we sat on that was right in the harbour, so you could relax and enjoy the views. 
This restaurant was quite a bit more expensive than the ones we have been going to and a lot of that likely had to do with the setting. We ordered a bottle of wine...if you enjoy wine I would recommend trying the Croatian wine, I don't know the technical terms of wine at all but they all have a fruity taste with almost a kick at the end. 
We shared mussels and both ordered the tuna steak. Dad asked for it rare and when they brought it out it was only slightly pink, similar to the one he ordered at Figa. The waiter said this was as rare as it got in Croatia and that is not how they cook them here. 
This was some kind of appetizer he gave us.

One funny moment in Zadar was getting a parking ticket. It wasn't funny at the time but we've laughed about it every day since. Dad found the ticket and was so mad because he had paid at the booth and gotten the token to place in your car for another 5 hours. He had even asked the local how to buy it to begin with! We asked several locals and all they just said ya you got a parking ticket...how helpful. After looking in other people's cars and dad grumpily looking at the ticket machine he decided to put another 20 in but the machine just took it without giving us a ticket. All the commotion at the machine actually helped us because all of a sudden there was a parking man behind us. We tried to explain it to him and he said you didn't actually buy a ticket. Dad had pressed the cancel button that just shows that you need to get your refund from the parking office the next morning. The man said come at 8 tomorrow to get your money back. We both said we are not even staying in Zadar! He then gets on the phone and speaks to someone in Croatian and all I understand is him saying kuna over and over again and Volkswagon. Once he hangs up he goes "ohhh you cause big trouble." (Dad and I laugh at how he said that phrase all the time now). He ended up being really nice since we are dumb foreigners and we ended up not taking our money back but not having to pay the parking ticket either. 

-A





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