Hrvatska!

A couple of months ago, on weekend family movie night, the parents and I were watching this Satyajit Ray classic – ‘Agantuk’. Translated into English, it means ‘The Stranger’ and is about a family dealing with the sudden visit of a long lost uncle. In the film, this uncle, having travelled the world, educates us about wanderlust (Did you know that this term is an English loanword which was already extant in the German language – pronounced wander-loost).
It’s a rush like no other. A bug that bit me early in my twenties, inspired by the company I kept and their love for just packing bags and stepping out. And I cannot seem to stop now!
I believe that nothing makes a trip more memorable than the people in it. Be it the ones who travel with you – or the ones you meet along the way. Having known each other for over a decade now, the moment I see a travel-related article, one of the first people that come to mind are Reetika and Richa. Since last year’s American sojourn, we were encouraged that we could do this sort of thing once a year – and that’s where Croatia came in.
Throughout the trip, locals asked “Why Croatia?”
I quite often pride myself on my geography, but I had never heard of this boomerang shaped European country, until I was in college and made friends with a girl who hailed from some foreign sounding place. Obviously I was curious and asked her more – and fell in love with what she described as home. Dalia taught me to say pronounce ‘Zagreb’, the capital city and ever since I went back to my hostel room and Googled it, it had been on the list.
Hrvatska, commonly known as the Republic of Croatia is located in Central and Southeast Europe, bordering Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the southeast, Montenegro to the southeast, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest and Slovenia to the northwest. Lonely Planet aptly calls the nation Europe’s ‘it’ destination, where beaches and sunshine vie for attention with cultural treasures, ancient architecture and time-tested folk traditions.
What amazed me most about Croatia was the diversity that lay within. Apart from the nearly 2000 km-long coastline, with over 1000 islands which form the most visited areas, inland Croatia paints a completely different picture.
Those looking for glitz and glamour should park themselves in Dubrovnik and Hvar, where night life and celebrity-spotting, designer cocktail in hand is abundant and fancy yachts dock in droves. For those who want a bit of peace and quiet, hideaways aplenty wait to be discovered, including remote lighthouse islets, fishing villages, secluded coves and Robinson-Crusoe-style atolls. I cannot hold myself from stating that it is among the most beautiful places on the planet that I have yet had the fortune of setting eyes upon.

My journey had the most dreadful of beginnings, as I landed in Zagreb via Istanbul, flying Turkish Airlines. I’ve been attempting to forget that the incident ever since, but all I will say is that in case you don’t wish to be detained by airport police for over eight hours, pray don’t carry talcum powder in a zip lock pouch. That’s all.

Thankfully, everything then on went uphill and as I met the girls outside the airport and drove into the centre of Zagreb, I was still shaken but ready to get this holiday started! The first property we were staying at was the Esplanade Zagreb Hotel – a historic luxury hotel which was built in 1925 to provide accommodation for passengers of the renowned Orient Express, while travelling between Paris and Istanbul. Very much modernised, the hotel has maintained a touch of the old world charm – just looking around its Art Deco interiors, one could easily be convinced that it was still the 1920s. We were staying there for one night, most of which was spent in recuperating from the initial shock and resting – but we saw enough to love it. What I was most pleased about was how close the hotel was to the main square – Trg bana Jelačića. A mere five minute walk, with a park running parallel to it as old European buildings with stone façades led the way to the square where people congregated in evenings and weekends made a delightful evening stroll.

The FIFA World Cup third place match was being played that day and obviously, we saw a lot of supporters of the Oranje, beer in hand cheering their team. In dire need of a drink, we found our way through the streets to one of the many outdoor pubs named ‘Bulldog’ and sat ourselves down on a couple of bar stools. As we sat and chatted over having finally made it, I felt an incredible sense of lightness – much like when a heavy load is lifted from one’s shoulders. It’s something I’ve experienced during my travels, sitting in the midst of friends or a group of strangers – just the feeling of being someplace new where there was so much to explore, learn and see. It’s adrenaline to me.

The Esplanade, Zagreb

What else are window sills for..
Round 1!

Third place match ongoing..
Once we were sufficiently satiated, we walked back up to the main square and were drawn to a crowd that was gathering outside a bakery. Grabbing a couple of ham and mushroom pizza slices, we moved homeward, stopping briefly at a roadside carnival of sorts where there was music playing and stores had been set up selling food and drinks – apparently for the duration of the World Cup. A little past midnight and it was still packed with young people – chatting, laughing and making the most out of breezy summer nights. 
The next morning, we were up early, skipped the €24 breakfast (!!!) and got on our way to Zagreb International Airport, much to my displeasure. I cringed through the security check, Reetika fought with the vending machine, while Richa expressed vocal unhappiness on having being cheated by the washroom maintenance woman who promised her a snack bar where there wasn’t 🙂

Destination Split, second-largest city of Croatia and the largest city of the region of Dalmatia and also the venue for one of Europe’s largest dance music events – Ultra 2014! We flew the local Croatia Airlines and while Richa was in awe of the propellers that this tiny aircraft had, we were soon gasping as the eastern shore of the Adriatic came into view. An almost unending coastline of the most enchanting azure waters, with shallow beaches highlighted with a lighter turquoise – you have to see it to believe it.

Ready. Set. Go.

Driving through Zagreb

The chequered-tail of Croatia Airlines on the far right

The vending machine that wouldn’t give in! 

Split from the air 


We were greeted at the Split airport by our host’s cousin, Josip – a very nice man who told us much about the historic city on the drive to our apartment. Here, I must talk about Airbnb, and how I think they are so much of a better idea than hotels. We booked accommodation through the website in Split and Dubrovnik – the major chunk of our stay and we couldn’t be more pleased. I fell in love with Ana’s apartment the moment I laid eyes on it and it was every bit as charming in person. We unpacked, set out for some grub before the all-nighter that we were planning to pull on the last day of Ultra.

Now who doesn’t love a pale pink kitchen

So, lunch?
Slippery stone pathways
When I travel with Richa and Reetika, food and drink is as important a part of the experience as is the two-hour long dress up session. Basically, no effort is spared! We chose Konoba Lučac, a cosy little eatery in a lane that was full of such local restaurants and I was most satisfied with my Ravioli with ricotta, in a seafood sauce topped with rucola accompanied with some chilled peach lemon iced tea. Reetika tried a local dessert – Semifreddo and we were all pretty much smitten, promising the server that we would be back for more. Imagine the texture of equal parts of ice cream and whipped cream with chocolate sauce and a drizzle of raspberry jam. Yum!

Yum! 
More Semifreddo!
Prepping for the big night, we rested a little, underwent an elaborate clothes trial and makeup sitting and by around eight in the evening (when the Sun was just setting), reached the Poljud Stadium. And what an atmosphere it was. When I first saw the Ultra Europe 2013 aftermovie, I thought that a lot might have been staged – surely it wouldn’t be THAT many people. I was pretty wrong.
Following the monumental success of their inaugural European event last year, Miami-based electronic dance music behemoth, Ultra, came to Split’s biggest football stadium and over three days the world’s biggest superstar DJs whipped the over 100,000-strong crowd into a frenzy with banging tunes and dazzling light shows. We looked at the line-up which was announced only a couple of days before the actual show and there were names like Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Afrojack, Steve Aoki and Alesso among so many others! The crowds didn’t really build up until an hour before midnight – probably owing to the World Cup finals (which Germany won *punchestheair*) ; but for any EDM lover – it was a gooseflesh raising moment when the crowd sang “This is what it feels like” and when Aoki flipped his perfect hair and played ‘Delirious’.

I was doing pretty good for the first five hours of nonstop dancing, being drenched in beer, meeting people from all around the world in different stages of sobriety, finding Indians in the crowd (of course) and posing with the tricolour, but with time, my poor feet began to give way and around two am, I sat myself in the seats while the girls danced away taking breaks! Just a little before five am, when the festival came to a close, we slipped away and found a cab to get us back to our part of town – not before grabbing some oven fresh pizza (yes, again – it was most delicious) from the corner store.

Ultraaa!!!

Stadion Poljud and the whole mile we walked to get to the VIP arena
Please don’t miss the hi5 ring 😀
Alesso in the house!

Bless you, fellow Indians
If you think, we would have let it rest after all that dancing and staying up all night – you couldn’t be more mistaken! Next morning we were up a little before noon and making our way across Split’s picturesque ‘Riva’ – the sea promenade towards our Travel2Ultra boat for three hours of non-stop club music and the best ‘Sex on the beach’ drinks! Not before we shopped for hats, and bought Crêpes for breakfast.

The boat wasn’t up to full capacity, hence I was able to excuse myself from the dancing on deck – limbs had not yet had the chance to recover from last night’s madness. Head bobbing with the music, supplied with drinks by the girls, I had the most chill time while Richa and Reetika made friends with sprightly young men from Spain who fancied taking their own selfies with Reetika’s phone! On getting back to the pier, we were starving and sat ourselves down at Restaurant Topolino which had a fantastic view of the harbour AND free wifi! My carbonara was perfect, as was Reetika’s steak, Richa even managed to convinced the server to ensure her fish didn’t have the head on and we tried the local red wine from Pelješac – so good!

Crepes!

Boat party? Bring it on!

Section of the Split Riva

*Beats in the background*
Sublime!

Almost convinced me that this was Lake Bled 🙂
The local wine and the spill we caused 😀
More lunch
The evening was spent in some leisurely Split exploration, walking through the old town and popping in to see the markets in and around Roman emperor Diocletian’s Palace -a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world’s most impressive Roman monuments. The remarkable thing about this place is that you’ll see dozens of bars, restaurants and shops thriving amid the atmospheric old rock walls where once forums were held and guests were entertained. We had a quiet dinner at one of these places much in awe of the history that we were laying eyes on, while sampling Prošek – Croatian dessert wine which we loved so much that we brought home a bottle each. We ambled along the narrow alleyways, sat at Mosquito Bar for a bit of Baileys on ice and sauntered around this gigantic structure made of white stone made slippery by years and years of walking on before heading home and calling it a night.

The street that our apartment was in…
More of that fantastic Riva
One of the entrances to Diocletian’s Palace

Pretties and Prosek

Split is often seen mainly as a transport hub to the nearby islands, and that was our plan for the next two days – to visit and soak in Hvar and Brač and take a well deserved break. When island hopping, you will be introduced to Jadrolinija (pronounced yadro-linya, but in a fast, Russian-esque accent) – the Croatian state owned ferry company that connects most of islands to the mainland by regular passenger and car ferry services along the Adriatic coast.

Everyone say it together – Yadrolinyaa
Pose while  the ferry queues to die down

Brač is mainly famous for two things- its radiant white stone, from which Diocletian’s Palace in Split and the White House in Washington DC (oh, yes!) are made, and the long pebbly beach at Bol that sticks out lasciviously into the Adriatic and adorns almost all of Croatia’s tourism posters.
We purchased tickets at the main ferry office, got onto the huge ferryboat and were in Supetar in around 50 minutes. We then got into a carpool to take us to what the locals call ‘The Beach’. Driving through winding roads which reminded me of the Western Ghats during the rains, we saw immense vineyards and steep Hawaii-like cliffs – before actually spotting the Golden Horn. I knew this was Zlatni Rat – one of the top places on my travel bucket list and this picture I had once pinned to ‘Places to go before I die’board was the reason.

Wiki photo of Zlatni Rat

We had all seen beaches in our lives, but this was something else altogether. Once we were able to tear ourselves away from the view, we grabbed a quick meal – lounged at Auro, the beach side bar for a couple of hours with some of the most delicious drinks I have sipped on this entire trip. Then it was just the question of finding the perfect spot to lose ourselves to the crystal waters and the expansive gradients of blue that lay ahead of us. After a swim and posing tomfoolery, I dreamt the afternoon away thinking of whether it would be possible to stay here forever.

Sigh…
Drool…

You can guess what was ordered

#nofilter
I love the gradients on blue in this one

Of course, ‘Blue hai paani paani’ was listened to!

Looking out at Supetar harbour

While the sun sets…

On the ferry back, we got ourselves a couple of Magnum bars and watched the sky turn the most brilliant shade of orange. Then strolled to Split’s local beach  – Bačvice and spent the evening giggling over college jokes, Cosmopolitans and a bunch of boys from Bosnia and Herzegovina who claimed to remember us from Ultra and were totally hitting on Richa! We made the walk back to the apartment singing Bollywood oldies, saying hello to the canines who were out for their walks, stopping at the local open air dhikchik music club and talking nonstop in Hindi!

Orange sky 

Getting back to Split

We woke up fresh and rested, ready to take on Hvar. Known as the longest and the sunniest Croatian island and one of the most beautiful islands in the world, Hvar has an allure like no other. A little further away from Split, reaching Hvar can take over two hours by the normal ferry – so Lonely Planet advises that we take the fast Catamaran which ensures that one gets to Hvar Town (and not Stari Grad, where the standard ferry drops passengers) in less than an hour.

So that’s exactly what we did. As we approached the island, we could see the regular red-tiled roofs and hillsides are covered in pine forests and vineyards; we were also told that it is also home to plenty of olive groves, fruit orchards and lavender fields in the agricultural areas. We were met by tremendous crowds and glittering yachts in the small bay town, as we strutted down the pier open mouthedly staring the epitome of luxury who holiday in this island.

The afternoon was spent exploring the beautifully ornamented Gothic palaces, churches and traffic-free marble streets, where shop owners displayed their wares and the essence of lavender wafted through the air. What you cannot miss is the magnificent piazza, a square generally considered the most beautiful of it’s kind in Dalmatia, dominated by St. Stephen’s Cathedral and bordered by cascading stone-built houses.

Feeling adventurous, we climbed a series of stairs to get to an old Spanish fortress known as Tvrđava Španjola which offers a view towering above all the reveling and the mega-yachts. It was a really sunny day, and on our way back to St. Stephan’s Square we paused at Restaurant Faria which was a local family home garden converted into an eatery. It was the most delightful place with vines and pomegranates growing overhead, porcelain garden gnomes and red and white chequered tablecloths. After a meal of local cheese and olives with some orange coolers, we set off to find the much talked about ‘Hula Hula’ beach bar which was at the end of Hvar’s sea walkway. It turned out to be a series of sun beds on rocks looking out to the Sea – I’ve never seen anything as peculiar and fascinating before. Not finding enough beds there and itching to get into the waters, we shifted base to the beach in front of Hotel Amfora – found a private corner and proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the next five to six hours. Bliss!

High Power III
The old Spanish fortress and the red tiled roofs

St. Stephen’s Square
This way..
Would have loved a little less Sun
View from the fortress. Make the climb 🙂
Luncheon
Garden table setting
Amfora pebble beach
Stone stairways to the best views

Hvar Town harbour
Hula Hula!
Before we caught the boat back, we spent some time in the heart of Old Town Hvar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listened to some street musicians, got ourselves some authentic gelatos, downed some seriously amazing AMFs at the very popular bar – Carpe Diem and had quite a giggle fest on the ride home.
AMF. Goodbye everyone. 

In the morning, we bid farewell to our lovely apartment and Split as we got into a bus to go to Dubrovnik and I was elated to have a seat on the right side which gave me access to over 200 kilometres of sapphire lined coastlines – and I was hardly able to look away or keep my camera off for more than a minute. Here it is important to remember that the bus passes through Bosnia & Herzegovina so a valid passport is essential to gain passage – and with my track record, I was quite nervous. But all was well, and we crossed the scenic Makarska Riviera and innumerable other inviting stretches of beach and coves which have made Croatia popular as an idyllic holiday destination.

Stretching legs!
Four hours of different variants of this view…
Trash music quota of the trip, dedicated to Akshay B. 

So much wine!

In four hours, having befriended a Russian lady who has already extended an invite to visit her in Moscow in return for me Whatsapp-ing her the pictures I took on the bus journey, we reached King’s Landing. Or Dubrovnik. Whatever you’d like. As we were driven into the old town, the City Walls came into sight and all of us felt immediately wrenched into ancient European history.

Known as the ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’, this walled city became an important Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although severely damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Centre since 1979, it is not difficult to imagine why it attracts the admiration of people across the globe.

Entrance into the old city..

Clock tower which showed time in Roman numerals as well
Bellini brunch

‘Ello chaps.
Imagine living in the midst of this
Approaching old town
Our host met us at Pile Gate, one of the entrances of the town and as he walked with us through Stradun, the main street, he told us about many fascinating things that only locals know and helped us get to the apartment which couldn’t have been any more central, being bang in the middle of the main square, next to Sponza Palace. While the flight of 50 stairs was not an encouraging sight, the view of the Cathedral from our window cured us of any fatigue.

View, anyone?

We had an evening appointment with Adventure Dalmatia with whom we had booked a sunset kayaking and snorkelling tour, and after a quick fish and chips lunch at Caffe bar Cele, one of the many eateries along the main street with shaded tables, we set off to our ocean escapade.
The first impression on seeing the bay where they kayaks were laid out was – “OMG, this is Blackwater Bay!” .If it wasn’t enough that they whole town made us feel like we were (clothed) extras in a Game of Thrones shoot, this bay was actually used to create a scene with Sansa and Shae in Season 2 – as we learned in the Viator GoT tour we took the next day. So there we were, in life-jackets, belongings in a waterproof barrel, getting into our two-people kayaks where Reetika was paired with a rather chatty Irish gentleman. While I’ve kayaked before, Richa and I had problems coordinating and were towed by the instructor who didn’t seem very pleased about it – but free ride, who’s complaining!

Blackwater Bay. Yes. 

We started at the cover beneath fort Lovrjenac next to restaurant Orhan, paddled to a hidden cave beach called Betina, where we had a break to snorkel and watch daredevil Spanish tourists jump off a cliff. We resumed in about forty minutes, most of which I spent looking our kayak which had our footwear so that I could stop hobbling around on the pebble beach. We stopped around Lokrum Island, while the instructor told us old wives’ tales about the island being cursed. Then we steadily paddled alongside the City Walls as the sun set giving us a sense of their enormity and grandeur.  

Kayaking past the City Walls

Getting closer

As the skies turned pink
Must-do this sunset tour!
Back to base
Upon return, we were handed little bottles of wine and we dried ourselves and played with the resident mutts before heading back to look for a place to have dinner. We settled on a nice looking outdoor restaurant which served seafood as a specialty and proceeded to order what would be the most experimental meal of the trip. While I am still getting acquainted with Calamari, the cuttlefish risotto which was made with squid ink (not mentioned in the menu) appeared on our table and I felt terrible for the server who saw our noses turn up at the completely black dish that had been set before us.  It turned out not all that bad, but we had to make up with a dessert of caramel pudding and chocolate cake before we turned in for the night.

We awoke the next morning with aching arms from all that paddle action, so decided to take it slow and skip our trip to Mljet Island. We brunched and then braved the City Walls – which was quite contrary to taking it slow – but the views made up for all the panting. Reetika’s ‘Don’t stop till you get to the top’ routine was very encouraging and we soon found ourselves wondering what a fab job those guards of the Walls had – with such a view to greet them. The city walls were originally constructed in the 10th century (Yes!) and are 3 metres thick along the sea wall, and 6 metres thick inland with fortresses at its four corners – one of which was Revelin – more on that later.

Halfway there

Fountain of Onofrio

Kayak party – wave! 

Feeling very Westeros-i

Better view of the Stradun

Finally managed a picture of the purple bougainvillea-like flowers that were so abundant

Halfway through the Wall walk, we found ourselves wanting a break and something cold to drink – so of course Buža was the answer. In old Dubrovnik dialect, buža means ‘hole’ and true to its name to get to this unique cliff bar, you have to go through the hole-in-the-wall that leads to a swimming hole – without any directions, if I may say so. But once you do, it will be all worth the effort as this bar is almost hanging on the cliffs right above the sea, with an incomparable panorama of the open Adriatic and a pretty good bartender who can shake up a mean ‘Sex on the Buža’.

It was really crowded when we got in, and we squeezed in under an umbrella – but much to my pleasure, there was a bit of a thunderstorm that chased off most of the sunbathers and gave us much more space to spread out with our drinks, while giving me my droplet picture of the trip. The swimming off the rocks was sublime – I jumped off the ladder and Reetika did the cliff jump, sacrificing her red sunglasses to the ocean, but the water felt so good that we nodded to each other in satisfaction – this was the good life. Getting to this place was easier from Stradun was easier as we later discovered – so no one should leave Dubrovnik without a visit to one or both of the Bužas.

“So, how do we get to Buza?”

The perfect frozen strawberry daiquiri

Front row seats…

There jumping cliff was on the far left

Literally a ‘Hole in the Wall’ – see the entrance?

Bless the sudden showers – vacated the whole place..
Heading back home

We got all dressed for a fancy dinner – the last one in this beautiful town and after much speculation, settled on Proto – an old fashioned restaurant, said to be in business since 1886. The food and wine were delectable; I couldn’t have enough of my grilled chicken in vermouth and the girls loved their choices as well, closing with a perfect Tiramisu. It was one of the best meals I have ever had and sitting on the cobbled street, watching the people go by simply made it an unforgettable experience – as were the 72 Kuna we were charged as a ‘Table laying’ charge – Richa was not impressed J

Slurrrrp
Tiramisu love

That night we walked to Revelin Fortress, built to command the town moat on its northern side now used an art gallery by day and night club by night. When we got in at first, we were three of the total five people in the club – discussing the ventilation, but boy, did it fill up. I’m not big on parties, but I’d love to say that I did two rounds of tequila shots a really old fortress!

Drink up, me hearties!

The following morning, we checked out early, left our bags at our hosts’ who were very kind indeed and marched ahead to do the Game of Thrones walking tour. Slightly tired, we decided to relax with a view and took the Dubrovnik Cable Car which was built in 1969, rising up to the top of Mount Srd above the city. And what a sight it was. Some (even more) spectacular views of the Old Town and the shoreline were visible to us after the three minute ride and we spent most of the afternoon in Café Dubravka, absorbing what lay in front of us.

Up, up and away!

The best shot we could manage..
Iced coffee in perspective

Phew!

Wild lavender that filled the air with aroma

The Croatian painter’s work space
From R – L: HOME and Sponza Palace 😀

Sitting on the steps of the Cathedral, looking straight at our apartment..
Gelato cheers!

The rest of the day was spent sightseeing in old town, gathering souvenirs and consuming more gelatos until it was time to fly back to Zagreb. George Bernard Shaw was enchanted by this beautiful city, about which he said “those who seek paradise on Earth should come to Dubrovnik” – there’s not much I could say to add to that.
The flight from Dubrovnik to Zagreb was fairly uneventful, save Reetika’s discovery of a badly named soda, pouncing on Richa with the perfectly timed ‘Dobrodosli’, playing some ridiculous game on the iPhone and expertly hiding face from the Policija.
We barely got to Hotel Jadran in Zagreb, crawled into bed and recharged for the crazy last day of the trip that the next one would be. Having being winging it this far, we decided to treat ourselves with a guided tour to Croatia’s pride and yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Plitvice Lakes National Park with Zagreb Tours.
The National Park contains a series of beautiful lakes, caves and waterfalls covering a total area of 300 square kilometres, whilst the lakes join together over a distance of eight kilometres. Having woken up with much difficulty we had barely scrambled into the breakfast hall and our guide for the day – Jakov came to the table to tell us that he would be waiting in the lobby.  
Jakov was the best sort of person to accompany you a trip that you could ask for.  His stories and experiences boasted of his diverse knowledge of the country and tidbits that only an experienced traveller could know. He mentioned that Plitvice (pronounce pleetveetze) comprised of continental and maritime weather forming sixteen remarkable cascade lakes and that the Lakes change colours from emerald green to azure blue depending upon the time of the year one visits.
On the way to Plitvice we stopped at small miller’s village – Rastoke usually called ‘Little Plitvice’ as it is situated at the Slunjcica River estuary which flows over into the river Korana creating a series of small lakes and picturesque waterfalls similar to the overall structure of the National Park.

Enroute

Rastoke village

Some of the homes here use this water to turn turbines and grind flour – age old tradition

Once we got to the Lakes, Jakov silently got us tickets while there was a rather lengthy queue and we began to walk on the trail. There really is nothing better than to walk (or hike) through the Park, taking in the beautiful surroundings and admiring the lakes and waterfalls. For the first couple of lakes, we were so overwhelmed by the blue-green colour that Reetika kept mentioning what a big tease it was since swimming isn’t allowed.  After a couple of kilometres’ hike, we stopped for some ice lollies and got onto an boat that took us from one side of the largest lake – Lake Kozjak to the other and that’s when I decided to part ways with the group as I could feel my feet giving way. I was to meet them in an hour at the train station, which I did, but not before an ugly ankle twist and several bruises. Basically, it was my body telling me that it had reached a tipping point.

Our ride

Everyone say hello to Mr. Owl

Welcome to Plitvice

Jakov being the perfect guide
And yes, no filter
The dry season was on, hence the waterfalls were scant
Boat across the largest lakes

So many Carp!
Probably the most famous of view of this beautiful park – tad overexposed
Rushing cascades

And hidden caverns
Us three!

Must visit once in lifetime. Sigh.

Almost back in Zagreb. Jakov told us we were the first part to not doze off, during the two hour long drive..

Back to Zagreb after lunch, Jakov narrated many more stories about how Croatia had invented the tie and local trivia on the places we had already visited. After a rather comical episode of us trying to pay him in a mix of currencies which he very kindly accepted, we said goodbye after what was a wonderful day trip. We also took recommendations from him for a proper Croatian dinner and made our way to Vinodol – a posh yet pleasant restaurant just steps away from the main square. The food was great, much like our meal in Dubrovnik, and the red wine was beyond delicious. By the time we were down to dessert and our last glass of Prošek, we couldn’t believe that it was time to go home.  

As I limped onto the Turkish Airlines aircraft to take me back to Muscat, I felt immensely blessed. 
Blessed with the thirst to see new places, to have the right kind of friends to do it with, and to have the means to be able to make the dreams come true.

Croatia was like a slice of heaven on Earth and I would return to the Balkans in the blink of an eye. Hvala!