Croatia, Part 2

 

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Schengen

I should mention that the reason we were able to stay four months in Europe was that neither Ireland, England nor Croatia are part of the Schengen region. I carefully calculated the minimum number of days I would be in one of these three countries so my Schengen days did not exceed 90. 

Since our original plan was to spend the last two weeks in Ireland and England, we would have hit Croatia earlier and been in cooler locations in August. Now we were hitting hot weather in Croatia so we added new campground criteria - a pool.

Our first stop northward from Dubrovnik was to revisit Split for one night with plenty of time in and no near the pool and no trip into the city. 

Warning: Dangerous Chocolate

Chocolate is a staple in our camper so when I spotted this, it was a must try. On the back of the wrapper it says:

"THIS PRODUCT IS INTENDED FOR PURCHASE AND ENJOYMENT BY PEOPLE OF LEGAL PURCHASE AGE FOR ALCOHOL BEVERAGES. PLEASE REMEMBER TO DRINK GUINNESS® RESPONSIBLY."

😂😂😂

Click here for our photos, (i) for information.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Actual water color with mallard for color reference.

We camped at Bear Camping - a small campsite, without a pool but set among fruit-bearing trees and home to more bees than I’ve seen in all of Croatia so far. They were all shapes and sizes and extremely inquisitive - zooming in and hovering closely to inspect everything in detail. At first it was charming. We were never stung but they were so brazen and constant in their attention I began to think they had designs on my hair serving as a hive and retreated into the van.

The lakes in the park are clear and a beautiful turquoise color but the many waterfalls they create are the star attraction. We had timed entry tickets purchased the day before and nearly missed our hour-long window. We're blaming our Garmin. 

The park has miles of paths and wooden boardwalks and staircases which often spanned the creek with water cascading right beneath our feet. If you love waterfalls and the sound water, whether it be softly gurgling, mad rushing or even crashing, this is your dream come true. It was pretty crowded at the most spectacular waterfalls. After weeks of touristry in cities, it was wonderful to wander in the woods around the lakes, marvel at the many waterfalls, and enjoy a day wrapped in the sights, smells, and sounds of nature. 

Rovinj

The following day we headed for Rovinj with a stop along the way to meet up with a friend for lunch and conversation. Marina regaled us with both a delicious meal and stories about her very interesting life in Croatia and elsewhere.

Polaris Campsite turned out to be huge with multiple pools, many amenities, and restaurants but ineffective front desk staff. Public transportation just wasn't available and, surprisingly, there were no übers either so we drove in and parked far outside the city. 

Istria had been ruled by Venice for years and you'll find Italian just as often as Croatian here. Following our guide book, we walked through the market and outside the town walls which once were solid defensive walls but now had windows looking out on the sea. Inside the walls, there is an old world city with narrow twisting lanes and a lovely port with many colorful boats and offers of excursions. 

Though the guide book warned us of crowds when we entered the narrow shop-lined street up to the church, we were lucky, and never felt crowded or rushed - just hot. I love towns with centuries old buildings chipped and crumbling, repaired and repurposed. I always wonder at the stories behind changes, like why someone chose to fill in a window with stone disrupting the facade’s symmetry and rendering the stone ledge purposeless. 

According to our guide, this town was very crowded even in medieval times and every available space was purposefully used but there are little alcoves that allowed families some respite from jam-packed public streets. We visited the Church of St. Euphemia at the top of the town. Dermot decided to climb the 400 year-old rickety wooden stairs up into the bell tower to see the views from the top. I opted to hold his bag and swelter without the exertion. He said going up wasn't too bad but looking through the big gaps between the slats made the descent hair-raising.

Motovun 

The interior of Istria is dotted with hill towns. We intended to tour several, stay a few nights and maybe do a bit of wine tasting. Once underway, we read the descriptions of the roads and looked at the maps more closely and decided to go go to just one. The one with a campsite near the walled town of Motovum with a pool. 

We arrived in the morning and found ourselves ascending the steep switchback road that signs indicated campers were not allowed on with nowhere to turn around until we reached the top! Returning to the bottom of the hill, we found the sign for the campground we’d driven right by. In our defense, our Garmin had directed us up to the top so we’re very disappointed in it for failing us many times here in Croatia. 

The day was hot and the shuttle was booked full for an unknown amount of time so we headed for a restaurant in town at the bottom of the hill on foot. Here we had some of the local speciality - truffles shaved over risotto and fuži (a type of pasta associated with this region) in a cream sauce. I guess we expected something more distinctive and flavorful but what we got was rather bland. Turns out the best season for truffles is October. It probably didn’t help that there was no air conditioning.

We packed up our bathing suits to check into the campsite at the associated hotel at the top of town and were delighted our stay included use of the indoor pool which was completely covered (giving our skin a break from the sun) and felt heavenly. We relaxed and snoozed and when we checked the outdoor temperature it was 99 degrees. We stayed until late afternoon and finally roused ourselves because the temperature wasn’t dropping and this town wasn’t going to see itself. We had the place nearly to ourselves but it was so hot the few tourists moved slowly and sweatily about. The views from the rampart walls of rolling hills, farmlands and adjacent hill towns was picturesque (as the photos show). Back at our campsite we dropped gratefully into the outdoor pool to cool off. 

Coastal Resort

I still needed some time out of the Schengen region so we spent a few days on the coast trying not to get too sunburned and overheated by applying liberal amounts of pool time, sunscreen and relaxation.