After my last post some of us went wandering in search of food into downtown Split. Even though it hadn’t seemed like there was much around when we arrived at the hotel it turned out that if one walked for 15 minutes or so, they ran into an old town and then the water. We meandered through and found this amazing electric rock cello player and listened to him for a while. Further wanderings brought us closer to the water and to our dinner. Afterwards, we walked along the promenade and enjoyed more views of the Adriatic before heading back to the hotel. I actually got the rest of my postcards written and addressed so now all I need is a few more stamps and they’ll begin showing up at your doorsteps. In the morning it was off to Plitvice where we would see the national park. On the way we stopped in Knin, the former capital of the area for both Serbs and Croats, for some lunch and a chance to stretch our legs. After some more time on the bus, we arrived at our Plitvice hotel. It wasn’t really near anything, just off the side of the road but I actually really liked it. It seemed very old school country in feel and décor. We had our own balcony with a view of the countryside, fast internet, and cool air – we couldn’t ask for much more. Since there wasn’t really anywhere we could go for dinner, we all ate together in the hotel restaurant. It’s nice to have the whole group together like that, relaxing at individual tables; it’s less hectic than when we all sit down at one HUGE table for a meal. The professors had pre-ordered for us and it was definitely all good choices; everyone was stuffed by the end of the meal. I spent last night just doing work, we have another assignment due while we’re in Zagreb and I needed to read the article like a good kid.
Today we left our lovely little hotel and headed off to Plitvice Lakes National Park. It’s one of the largest in Southeast Europe and the largest in Croatia; it contains 16 lakes and waterfalls. After our last mad scramble for bus seats we were off. Luckily, everyone ended up where they’re ‘supposed to be’ for our last day of bus travel. I was pretty excited about today’s trip because even though it was definitely more touristy than academic, it sounded like lots of fun with a great chance for some exercise and nature. To slight disappointment, the park was reasonably developed with pathways made of crushed stone in some areas while paved in others and actual stairs and ramps surrounding the falls but it was still a lot of fun. Our little group successfully broke off from most of the tourists in order for some more quiet exploring time. There was a catch though - we may have gotten ourselves lost in the process to find the big waterfall and some quiet. After taking a ferry across the water for the first time, we set off. There were two possible roads, the high road and the low road and we chose the high road for its great views of the whole park. Only we missed one of the turns and ended up walking 2.5 km out of our way and 2.5 km back. On the upside, the road was empty of people and most cars and we had a fun walk through nature. The water in and of itself when we found it was incredible. The water was a clear turquoise and undisturbed except for the falls which were cascading down throughout. I’m adding some pictures so you can see for yourself. After getting lots of great areal views we headed down a lot a lot of stairs to the water. If anything, it looked even better up close. We took a jaunt around the water and then climbed up a switchback of ramps to the top of the valley. A tourist train later and we were back near the parking lot. Here there was a place to refill both our water bottles and our stomachs – we’d worked up an appetite hiking around. As we waiting for everyone in the group to come back, we played games in the parking lot. I felt like a little kid, kicking around a soccer ball and tossing a disc while we dodged cars. After the park, we headed to Zagreb where we’ve now checked into our last hotel which is unfortunately nowhere near the city center. Pretty much the only thing near our hotel is an arena (not much use to us) and a mall which was home to our dinner and entertainment; we saw Captain America or Kaptan Amerika as it’s called here. It’s a bit odd that we’ve said goodbye to Driver Dragan and Tour Guide Dragan and that on Saturday I’ll be bound for Boston. I plan to make the most of these last couple days before heading home.
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