Northern Dalmatia and Zagreb with Claire
Biograd na Moru and Zadar
Sunday September 24
Claire arrived from Ancona, Italy, at 0700hrs having taken the overnight ferry. Dobrodošli moja prijateljica! We visited the old town of Zadar where we met up with Nikola and his son Oliver. Once the largest city-fortress in the entire Republic of Venice, Zadar's walls allowed it to retain more of its independence than most of its neighbouring cities and meant that it was never captured by the Turks. The remaining fortifications have made wonderful bases for parks and promenades.
After breakfast the clouds rolled in and Colin was keen to return to the boat so we could take down the dodger and bimini before the rain started. We made it just in time to get them packed away.
We took Claire to our now favourite restaurant where the staff and chef have been very friendly and the fish the best I've tasted since Molat. They knew us from our two previous visits and looked after us well. We all thoroughly enjoyed the food and the experience and I loved that the chef rattled on to us in Croatian even though he knew we didn't understand a lot.
Late night, early morning, busy day, early night. Lovely to have Claire aboard.
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Sunday September 24
Claire arrived from Ancona, Italy, at 0700hrs having taken the overnight ferry. Dobrodošli moja prijateljica! We visited the old town of Zadar where we met up with Nikola and his son Oliver. Once the largest city-fortress in the entire Republic of Venice, Zadar's walls allowed it to retain more of its independence than most of its neighbouring cities and meant that it was never captured by the Turks. The remaining fortifications have made wonderful bases for parks and promenades.
After breakfast the clouds rolled in and Colin was keen to return to the boat so we could take down the dodger and bimini before the rain started. We made it just in time to get them packed away.
We took Claire to our now favourite restaurant where the staff and chef have been very friendly and the fish the best I've tasted since Molat. They knew us from our two previous visits and looked after us well. We all thoroughly enjoyed the food and the experience and I loved that the chef rattled on to us in Croatian even though he knew we didn't understand a lot.
Late night, early morning, busy day, early night. Lovely to have Claire aboard.
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Plitvice Lakes
Monday September 25 - Tuesday September 26
Colin and I finished the final chores of packing up the boat for the winter, including defrosting the fridge and storing the remainder of the bedding. Claire patiently waited, unable to help (though not for lack of offering) and unable to leave the boat due to persistent abundant precipitation, again. Finally locking up Loch Fyne Lass for the season we bid her farewell and headed off to the Plitvice Lakes after a quick stop to buy rain jackets. We arrived late afternoon, settled in, and later had dinner downstairs. Our Air BnB digs were fine, though not as salubrious as expected.
Tuesday the weather seemed against us with a forecast of endless rain so we weighed up our options. Trekking the lakes in wet weather seemed unappealing but we'd come a long way to see them. On assessing the conditions Claire declared this was the best day as the forecast for Wednesday was fog, so we donned the wet weather gear and headed out. We quickly decided the weather was an advantage as it kept the madding crowds down, and seeing the lakes shrouded in mist was truly spectacular. Having been advised to get there early to avoid queues we were on a bus to the top of lakes by 0800hrs, and the only others on the bus happened to be three Aussies! Two from the Perth area and one from Adelaide. We ended up spending five hours wandering the lakes with them and having a gorgeous day of both scenery and company. It couldn't have been better. Amazingly we saw people taking their dogs around the lakes! I'm telling you it's a dog's life in Croatia. Warn the ducks!
We finished our day with a beer and a long nap back at our digs. Much to our surprise another couple moved in that afternoon and we found out what was behind the one locked door - another room and bathroom, not in the description on Air BnB! Aside from having to move all our stuff out of the now shared kitchen it wasn't really a big deal. I think we disturbed them more in the morning than they disturbed us that night.
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Monday September 25 - Tuesday September 26
Colin and I finished the final chores of packing up the boat for the winter, including defrosting the fridge and storing the remainder of the bedding. Claire patiently waited, unable to help (though not for lack of offering) and unable to leave the boat due to persistent abundant precipitation, again. Finally locking up Loch Fyne Lass for the season we bid her farewell and headed off to the Plitvice Lakes after a quick stop to buy rain jackets. We arrived late afternoon, settled in, and later had dinner downstairs. Our Air BnB digs were fine, though not as salubrious as expected.
Tuesday the weather seemed against us with a forecast of endless rain so we weighed up our options. Trekking the lakes in wet weather seemed unappealing but we'd come a long way to see them. On assessing the conditions Claire declared this was the best day as the forecast for Wednesday was fog, so we donned the wet weather gear and headed out. We quickly decided the weather was an advantage as it kept the madding crowds down, and seeing the lakes shrouded in mist was truly spectacular. Having been advised to get there early to avoid queues we were on a bus to the top of lakes by 0800hrs, and the only others on the bus happened to be three Aussies! Two from the Perth area and one from Adelaide. We ended up spending five hours wandering the lakes with them and having a gorgeous day of both scenery and company. It couldn't have been better. Amazingly we saw people taking their dogs around the lakes! I'm telling you it's a dog's life in Croatia. Warn the ducks!
We finished our day with a beer and a long nap back at our digs. Much to our surprise another couple moved in that afternoon and we found out what was behind the one locked door - another room and bathroom, not in the description on Air BnB! Aside from having to move all our stuff out of the now shared kitchen it wasn't really a big deal. I think we disturbed them more in the morning than they disturbed us that night.
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Rastoke
Wednesday September 27
Highly recommended by our lovely waiter at our favourite Biograd Konoba, Rastoke is the historic centre of the Croatian municipality of Slunj and is clearly a tourist highlight judging by the crowds wandering through. It is sometimes known as "the Small Lakes of Plitvice" due to similar natural phenomena that occur there. We walked through the delightful historic village and had coffee above a waterfall, then carried on to Zagreb for our next adventure.
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Wednesday September 27
Highly recommended by our lovely waiter at our favourite Biograd Konoba, Rastoke is the historic centre of the Croatian municipality of Slunj and is clearly a tourist highlight judging by the crowds wandering through. It is sometimes known as "the Small Lakes of Plitvice" due to similar natural phenomena that occur there. We walked through the delightful historic village and had coffee above a waterfall, then carried on to Zagreb for our next adventure.
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Zagreb
Wednesday September 27 - Thursday September 28
Zagreb was made the capital of Croatia in 1945 when the demographic boom and the urban sprawl made the city what it is today. Although I was not enamoured at first, the city quickly grew on me and I wished we had more time there. Our Air BnB accomodation was fabulous and only a short walk from the centre of town. We headed to the Museum of Broken Relationships in upper Zagreb via the funicular railway, constructed in 1888 and connecting the lower to the upper town. Housed in a baroque palace this exhibit is devoted to failed affairs of the heart and displays personal objects with brief synopses sent from people all around the world. We followed this with a superb dinner at Trilogija near The Stone Gate, the most significant oath site in Zagreb where you can light a candle and pray for health, happiness, good luck and love.
Thursday morning we took in some of the sights including St. Mark's Church, a medieval-style, Serbian Orthodox church constructed from 1931-1940. Making our way back to the lower town we had brunch at Otto & Frank, recommended by Sudha for its crispy poached eggs which did not disappoint.
Sadly we had to cut our touring short and head to the airport for our respective flights to Melbourne and Perth. Since excess luggage was US$70/kg Colin and I spent a fair bit of time before check-in moving our luggage between bags, trying to keep below 60kgs for checked bags and 7kg for carry on. Colin felt I might be about to learn a very expensive lesson, but I stuffed my pockets with heavy items and Claire kindly took a couple of kilos of books home for me, and we scraped through without our hand luggage being weighed. Phew! Don't worry Colin, the lesson was not lost.
Both homesick we were happy to jump on the plane having had the most extraordinary experiences and counting ourselves extremely lucky!
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge
Wednesday September 27 - Thursday September 28
Zagreb was made the capital of Croatia in 1945 when the demographic boom and the urban sprawl made the city what it is today. Although I was not enamoured at first, the city quickly grew on me and I wished we had more time there. Our Air BnB accomodation was fabulous and only a short walk from the centre of town. We headed to the Museum of Broken Relationships in upper Zagreb via the funicular railway, constructed in 1888 and connecting the lower to the upper town. Housed in a baroque palace this exhibit is devoted to failed affairs of the heart and displays personal objects with brief synopses sent from people all around the world. We followed this with a superb dinner at Trilogija near The Stone Gate, the most significant oath site in Zagreb where you can light a candle and pray for health, happiness, good luck and love.
Thursday morning we took in some of the sights including St. Mark's Church, a medieval-style, Serbian Orthodox church constructed from 1931-1940. Making our way back to the lower town we had brunch at Otto & Frank, recommended by Sudha for its crispy poached eggs which did not disappoint.
Sadly we had to cut our touring short and head to the airport for our respective flights to Melbourne and Perth. Since excess luggage was US$70/kg Colin and I spent a fair bit of time before check-in moving our luggage between bags, trying to keep below 60kgs for checked bags and 7kg for carry on. Colin felt I might be about to learn a very expensive lesson, but I stuffed my pockets with heavy items and Claire kindly took a couple of kilos of books home for me, and we scraped through without our hand luggage being weighed. Phew! Don't worry Colin, the lesson was not lost.
Both homesick we were happy to jump on the plane having had the most extraordinary experiences and counting ourselves extremely lucky!
Photos by Claire and Nic. Click images to enlarge