Croatia Day 8 - Rain and Waterfalls

Our destination for today was Plitvice Lakes National Park.  The Lakes is actually the largest national park in Croatia and is basically a bunch of lakes interconnected with waterfalls.  It's one of the more popular destinations in Croatia, and for good reason. 

To see the waterfalls, you have to be up for a little walking.  The park is more or less divided into two loops: a short loop and a long loop.  But to see everything, you have to do both.  We started out with the short loop, and while it was still gorgeous, it probably would have been a little disappointing if we had done it second. 

This is when it began raining.  And I'm not talking a light sprinkle, it was pouring.  Thankfully we had brought our raincoats with us, but we still got pretty soaked.  Obviously, the camera was in hiding under Donovan's jacket while it was raining, so we don't have any pictures of us hiding under a tree (which didn't help at all, by the way) or making a mad dash to catch the ferry boat because it had a roof.  We took the ferry over to the start of the second, larger loop and by the time we got there the rain had pretty much stopped.

After a quick cappuccino warm-up, we headed out again.

After we were done at the Lakes, we ended up driving all the way home.  The plan had been to camp close to the park and spend several days exploring, but we managed to see it all in one day.  Plus, it wasn't exactly the most hospitable weather for camping.  So we buckled down and did the drive, getting home a little after midnight.

And sadly, that brought an end to our trip.  Croatia is a beautiful country and we're so glad we had the opportunity to experience it!

Croatia Day 7 - Spanjola, the Fortress of Hvar

Sadly, this was our last morning on the lovely island of Hvar.  We reluctantly packed our bags and checked out of our room, then began driving around looking for ways to prolong our stay.  We ended up at the castle that overlooks Hvar Town.

It's really more of a fortification than a castle.  Back in the 16th century, it saved the lives of nearly all the townspeople when the Turks attacked, and the site has actually housed fortifications as far back as the 1st millennium BC, when it protected an Illyrian settlement.  The current structure was built between 1282 and 1551, but was abandoned during the 19th century. 

Inside the fortification, there's really not much to see.  There's a room with a collection of amphora (big clay pots) that were salvaged from a shipwreck off the coast of Hvar as well as a section of the prison that's open to visitors, but other than that the main draw is the view of town and the ocean.  Oh, and the big cannons were pretty cool too.

By this point, we were about to get rained on, so we hopped back in the car and drove to the other side of the island to catch the ferry back to the mainland. 

Croatia Day 6 - The Big Jump

Today was all about my swimming ability.  Or perhaps my lack of swimming ability.  It's a constant battle between Donovan and I as to whether I can swim or not.  I mean, I'm not going to be winning Olympic races anytime soon, but I haven't drowned yet either.  That should count for something, right?

So far, when I've wanted to get in the water, I slowly go down the ladder or carefully climb off the dock.  For the last 2 days, Donovan has been attempting to convince me to jump off this huge rock.  Umm...scary!  But there's no way I'm going to give him yet another reason to consider me a weakling, so jump I will.

First though, I gotta size it up and make sure I really, really want to do this.

Ehh, what the heck.

I'm alive!

Actually, it wasn't that bad.  And I discovered that once I managed to fight my way back to the surface I could actually stay afloat fairly easily.  The salt water might have helped a little with that. 

Not to be outdone, Donovan went off the rock too.  He dove in though, what a show-off.

But enough of that.  Time to climb out of the water and get back to my number one beach activity.

Croatia Day 4 - Ferry Ride and Beach Life

Today marked the beginning of the part of the trip Donovan and I have been looking forward to the most.  We headed out to Hvar, one of Croatia's most beautiful islands, for several days of beach time.  While Hvar is known for being one of the more popular party beaches in the world, we found a lovely hotel that was more secluded and separated from the chaos of town. 

But first, we had to get there.  While I drove the car in circles around a parking lot because there weren't any open spots, Donovan procured us tickets on the car ferry. 

We then commenced to wait two hours until our ferry boarded.

Thankfully we had an excellent view of Diocletian's Palace to entertain us.

For being built in the fourth century, I'd say it's doing pretty well.  It would have been interesting to go inside and have a look around, but we were in a bit of a time crunch and downtown Split is kind of a mad house.  We tried to get out of there as fast as we could. 

The ferry ride took about two hours, and then we were driving through the rolling hills of Hvar.

Hvar Town is a picturesque port town that, as Donovan describes it, has a very "pirate-ish" feel to it.  Maybe it was the style of the buildings, perhaps it was the castle overlooking town.  Whatever it was, there were times when we felt like we should be on a movie set.  But more on that later...for now we're simply checking into our hotel.

If you ever go to Hvar, this is the place to stay.  It was amazing.

Donovan certainly approved.