I have a travel buddy who doesn't like to road trip. Being from Kiwiland, aka New Zealand, everything is so close together, they don't drive far distances. I used to drive 7 hours to college one way, so road tripping for me is no big feat. There has to be a happy medium here, right? Maybe? The drive was only about 3 hours, could he survive? Would I survive his mood swings?
He wasn't too keen on getting up and getting moving to the Plitvice Lakes. But we got checked out and on our way. Yes, with my big bag that got drug down the three flights of stairs.
Then went to Petrcane again to see the rest of his friends before they left and we left. He would see them again in London when he went there to visit his newest girlfriend, or bird as he refers to them as. We ate at the little restaurant again by the beach. This time we got to see the owner, she was a nut. Running around the place in a terrycloth robe with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth and a hair towel around her head (very sanitary for a restaurant kitchen?).
The food was really good and they brought us fresh, "hot out of the oven" mini croissants.
One of his friends from London was a hoot (and she had the prettiest skin -- truly the English Rose look - but she is Irish). She worked in the software industry with a company that did applications for cell phones and other devices. I found that fascinating. I never knew anyone that worked in that industry before. Hewlett Packard and Dell, but not the applications for your phone. (Of course, who would have thought 10 years ago I would be referring to applications for your cell phone.)
Another restaurant there -- they need a dictionary:
We went back to their "villa" -- a villa is just a condo, it was a disaster (what does one expect after too many people staying after an outdoor music festival in the heat for 4 days?). They didn't have any of the windows open nor any view of the water. My theory is if you are staying near the water, pay a few extra dollars and get a view too.
Savage got some UK drugs for his sinus infection (I guess he was suspicious of the US ones I had) and off we went for the mountains and lakes (and hopefully cooler weather).
On the drive up to Plitvice, we had great scenery. It reminded me of the west -- parts of New Mexico, Colorado -- you had a great open green pasture, hills and the storm clouds were coming in and lightning (unreal how spectacular it was).
We had to stop for lunch and there wasn't a lot around, so we ended up at a grocery store. (FYI I love grocery stores, my grandmother loved them and would drag us to them in different cities we visited. So I always think of her when I am in a "foreign" grocery store.)
We got some bread and cheese and mustard. And he got some kind of baconish type meat. It didn't look appealing to me, it looked like crawfish bait, ugh. I like my bacon crisp and brown. The store was interesting and the items too. The mayonnaise came in a big tube like toothpaste. If you wanted some Hellmann’s or Fruit of the Loom you could pick it up there.
In line in front of us was a serial killer type -- a Croatian man, with flipflops (jandals), long stringy greasy hair, a 1/2 goatee, and obligatory button up shirt (unbuttoned to the waist), scary look in his eye too.
There were some predatory looking teenagers in the parking lot. Juvenile delinquents are everywhere. It is true -- idleness is bad for teenagers, no matter where they live.
Made it to the Plitvice Lakes area, it’s a national park area and one of Croatia’s most famous (and frequented) tourist attractions. We used the iphone tripadvisor application for the first time looking for a room. It was helpful as we were looking for a less expensive option than the park hotels, but maybe we should have just ponyed up the money.
Ended up in a very nice picturesque valley area, but there was no air conditioner (a good lesson for us both). I did thank God for small blessings, the shower looked amazing -- there was the European wand but fortunately a hanger to hang it up so I could wash my hair :).
Our hosts didn’t have much personality but they had a large guesthouse behind their home. There were two big rooms downstairs and two bigger rooms upstairs. We chose the one upstairs hoping for a breeze. There was a small TV with a few stations on it in English. The twin beds looked comfortable and the room was very clean and fresh.
I ditched a sickly Savage there ... I mean, I left my sweet “under the weather” friend there to rest (3 hour nap, he’s younger than I but definitely has manly habits, an afternoon nap?). I went back to the park area to do recon.
I have not seen that many people in one place since Disneyworld. What were we getting into? Someone in our group is not big on crowds, I admit it, I am not too big on it either sometimes.
I got a parking voucher and you had 30 minutes free. Let’s just say that with all the traffic and oddly designed parking lot, I ended up having to pay when all I did was drive around the lot. My first pass through was so crowded, I just wanted out of the area. I escaped and drove back toward what I thought was the “town” area to discover there was no town area.
So I manned up (or as someone has told me to do on this trip - hardened up), and decided to make another pass through the park. I found a decent parking spot and went to the main office. The ranger was very brusk at first but lay on a little of the Scarlett O’Hara, “how are you doing” and “isn’t this a nice place” and “can’t you give me a little help” and Shazam- couldn’t have been nicer and more helpful. Grandma Jo always said bat those big brown eyes. :)
Got a map and the opening hours. The ranger gave me great tips -- get there early and we could avoid the crowds. Start at one end and it’s all downhill. If we wanted to only do half, which half to see with the best waterfalls. Cha-ching, we would be in business for seeing it quickly tomorrow and then hitting the road back to wherever the wind would blow us.
For a foreign country, the gift shop was very like a gift shop you would find at any US national park. They had food supplies and souvenirs. I went ahead and picked up what I wanted, as I knew my travel buddy was not into retail therapy like I was.
Checked out the eating areas and there wasn’t much of a choice here. We would have to brave something else for dinner. I think he would feel better if he had a real meal. We would see.
When I got back to the guest house, he was up and ready to go. I let him drive now, I had enough of that tourist traffic. We drove past the park and back toward what we hoped was civilization. He wanted to find a restaurant with a pig on a spit.
Didn’t find that exactly -- the pig wasn't on the spit that night, but we found a little restaurant that had outside seating. There was a couple beside us -- an older American gentleman (sounded like he was from the West Coast) was making time with a pretty young Slavic girl. Didn’t look like he was going to see that to fruition though.
After a long travel day and a good meal, I thought I would get to sleep good. No a/c and we had the window shut because of the mosquitos, not good. At one point I woke up and dug in my bag for dramamine. Finally fell asleep but it was a miserable night with no a/c --- this taught us a lesson -- a/c was not going to be a luxury but an essential on this trip. And if we needed drawers - we only had to go to the local supermarket produce section to pick them up.
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