29 August - 1 September 2013
Day 1: Ljubljana to Zadar
It was an early start this morning so I could meet my Aussie mate and head to the train station. We caught a train to Zagreb, Croatia which was both cheap and easy. The tricky part came right at the end when we arrived at a station that we thought might be Zagreb but not many people got off and everyone seemed to be confused. We asked some girls who jumped on the train but they didn't even know what station it was so we took and chance and jumped off and luckily, it was the right one.
Locker
Zagreb was only a stop on the way to Zadar so the first goal was to dump our bags so we could go exploring. We found the lockers in the station and before we could read the help signs, we had a local that was a bit too helpful come over and tell us all about the lockers. After we had our stuff locked up and we noticed he was still hanging around, we decided it would be better to give him some change rather than come back to an empty locker.
Bus ticket
The next goal was to get a bus ticket so we could complete our journey to Zadar. We went for a walk to the bus station and figured out how to buy tickets and even made a stop at the tourist information desk to get some suggestions on what to see in our few hours in Zagreb.
New friends
As we wandered into the centre of town we had two German guys ask to see our map. I don't think it ended up helping but that's not important, what is important is we started talking and realised we were all trying to see the tourist sites so the four of us and the other 2 German friends that appeared all headed off to see the city. We saw some churches, made it to the top of a hill to get a view over the city, walked past the Museum of Broken Relationships and ended up back in the main square. We finished the exploring with a beer from the supermarket (classy) before my mate and I had to take off to catch our bus.
Zadar
We arrived in Zadar in the evening and walked the 15 minutes from the bus station into the busy old town. We found our hostel, dumped our bags and headed out for some beers with a pair of German girls that we met in our room. We went to a few different bars and saw the sea organ that is, surprise surprise, by the sea.
Day 2: Plitvice Lakes
My Aussie mate showed me some photos for this national park and they looked so amazing that I instantly agreed that we had to go see it. The only crappy bit was the lakes are between Zagreb and Zadar so we had to catch a bus back half the distance we travelled yesterday, which cost the same as the previous day's whole trip. It was totally worth it though because this park looks so amazing and this was one point where I hated the fact that my cameras couldn't do the teal colour of the water justice.
We started the park with a bus/train (it looked like a train but drove on the road) to the starting point for the walking trail that does most of the park (the 4-6hr one). It gets a bit congested at the start because everyone jumps off the bus/train thing and starts walking the narrow wooden paths at the same time but once you push past all the people who stop in the middle of the path to take 100 photos at a time, it gets better.
The whole park is super lush and green, with a few waterfalls and lots of lakes, that are both crystal clear and vibrant teal coloured. You'll also see ducks and lots of fish in a variety of sizes. In the middle of the walk you get to take a boat ride on one of the lakes and near the end you can take the trail up onto the surrounding mountains for an even better view of the lakes. We finished the 4-6 hour trail in under 3, then made our own trail by climbing up the side of a mountain and did part of the trail again. We finished the day off with a beer and some fries at the cafe at the end of the trail.
We had a really good walk, saw some amazing views, took some photos to make all of you jealous and generally had an awesome day out. If you're anywhere near this place, you MUST see it!
Dinner
When we got back to the hostel we met everyone in our room; two Swedish guys, an Agentinian guy, a Belgian buy and a Finnish guy. We decided to all go out for dinner but it was a bit difficult because the first few places we tried had either stopped serving food or were full. We eventually found an Italian restaurant, something that there's a lot of on the Croatian coast, and grabbed a table. Dinner for me was a spicy pepper pizza that really was spicy. It was a good chance for us to all get to know each other and after a bit of talking, the Belgian and I established that we'd aready met and he'd actually taken a photo for me in Ljubljana.
Day 3: Boat trip
My Aussie mate was leaving today but lukily the Belgian guy invited me to go on a boat trip today so I took him up on the offer. Breakfast was served on the boat and consisted of chocolate wafers, biscuits, a ham and cheese sandwich and, because we're in Croatia, a shot of fire water... FOR BREAKFAST!
We spent the morning cruising out through and around the islands of Kornati National Park. One interesting thing we saw was a decent sized cliff that rises from the sea, which they said was the tallest out of something (that I can't remember), but I can't find it on Google now I'm writing this so they were possibly lying about how special it was.
Lunch was served just before we arrived at the first island we were to explore. It consisted of a fish, a steak and some cabbage. It wasn't fancy but it was still nice. My Belgian friend and I met an English couple on the boat and once we docked at the island, the four of us went for a walk to the top of the huge cliff then down to the (fairly salty) lake where we had a swim.
Time to get back on the boat where we started to head towards the second island and home. The stop on the second island was fairly quick, only long enough to get an icecream and go for a short walk to see the local church.
We arrived back in Zadar at about 6pm, so it was a full day out on the boat. We got to know the English couple pretty well, had a few drinks, saw lots of cool islands and rock formations and it was generally a fun day. Seeing all the islands out into the distance is great because we don't get that in Australia and it reminded me of Thailand a lot, the only other place I've seen something similar.
Dinner
A big bunch of us at the hostel all pitched in for supplies and cooked a huge pot of pasta. It easily fed the 8 people we had plus still had leftovers and all for the cheap price of about $2 Australian. It tasted pretty great too.
Sun disc
After dinner we grabbed some beers and went for a walk to the sun disc. The disc is actually part of a display of the whole solar system where each planet (and the Sun) are represented by solar discs in the ground. At night they all glow but the Sun is the most impressive because it's so large and actually has a light show of sorts.
Day 4: Last day
I felt like I'd seen all of what Zadar had to offer so it was time to head onto the next spot. My Belgian friend was going the same way so we booked a hostel (I actually booked twice, whoops) and booked some bus tickets. I went for one last walk around the old town, enjoyed a fantastic chevapi sandwich and found a Zadar patch for my collection before we jumped on the bus.
Thoughts about Zadar:
Day 1: Ljubljana to Zadar
It was an early start this morning so I could meet my Aussie mate and head to the train station. We caught a train to Zagreb, Croatia which was both cheap and easy. The tricky part came right at the end when we arrived at a station that we thought might be Zagreb but not many people got off and everyone seemed to be confused. We asked some girls who jumped on the train but they didn't even know what station it was so we took and chance and jumped off and luckily, it was the right one.
Locker
Zagreb was only a stop on the way to Zadar so the first goal was to dump our bags so we could go exploring. We found the lockers in the station and before we could read the help signs, we had a local that was a bit too helpful come over and tell us all about the lockers. After we had our stuff locked up and we noticed he was still hanging around, we decided it would be better to give him some change rather than come back to an empty locker.
Bus ticket
The next goal was to get a bus ticket so we could complete our journey to Zadar. We went for a walk to the bus station and figured out how to buy tickets and even made a stop at the tourist information desk to get some suggestions on what to see in our few hours in Zagreb.
New friends
As we wandered into the centre of town we had two German guys ask to see our map. I don't think it ended up helping but that's not important, what is important is we started talking and realised we were all trying to see the tourist sites so the four of us and the other 2 German friends that appeared all headed off to see the city. We saw some churches, made it to the top of a hill to get a view over the city, walked past the Museum of Broken Relationships and ended up back in the main square. We finished the exploring with a beer from the supermarket (classy) before my mate and I had to take off to catch our bus.
Zadar
We arrived in Zadar in the evening and walked the 15 minutes from the bus station into the busy old town. We found our hostel, dumped our bags and headed out for some beers with a pair of German girls that we met in our room. We went to a few different bars and saw the sea organ that is, surprise surprise, by the sea.
Day 2: Plitvice Lakes
My Aussie mate showed me some photos for this national park and they looked so amazing that I instantly agreed that we had to go see it. The only crappy bit was the lakes are between Zagreb and Zadar so we had to catch a bus back half the distance we travelled yesterday, which cost the same as the previous day's whole trip. It was totally worth it though because this park looks so amazing and this was one point where I hated the fact that my cameras couldn't do the teal colour of the water justice.
We started the park with a bus/train (it looked like a train but drove on the road) to the starting point for the walking trail that does most of the park (the 4-6hr one). It gets a bit congested at the start because everyone jumps off the bus/train thing and starts walking the narrow wooden paths at the same time but once you push past all the people who stop in the middle of the path to take 100 photos at a time, it gets better.
The whole park is super lush and green, with a few waterfalls and lots of lakes, that are both crystal clear and vibrant teal coloured. You'll also see ducks and lots of fish in a variety of sizes. In the middle of the walk you get to take a boat ride on one of the lakes and near the end you can take the trail up onto the surrounding mountains for an even better view of the lakes. We finished the 4-6 hour trail in under 3, then made our own trail by climbing up the side of a mountain and did part of the trail again. We finished the day off with a beer and some fries at the cafe at the end of the trail.
We had a really good walk, saw some amazing views, took some photos to make all of you jealous and generally had an awesome day out. If you're anywhere near this place, you MUST see it!
Dinner
When we got back to the hostel we met everyone in our room; two Swedish guys, an Agentinian guy, a Belgian buy and a Finnish guy. We decided to all go out for dinner but it was a bit difficult because the first few places we tried had either stopped serving food or were full. We eventually found an Italian restaurant, something that there's a lot of on the Croatian coast, and grabbed a table. Dinner for me was a spicy pepper pizza that really was spicy. It was a good chance for us to all get to know each other and after a bit of talking, the Belgian and I established that we'd aready met and he'd actually taken a photo for me in Ljubljana.
Day 3: Boat trip
My Aussie mate was leaving today but lukily the Belgian guy invited me to go on a boat trip today so I took him up on the offer. Breakfast was served on the boat and consisted of chocolate wafers, biscuits, a ham and cheese sandwich and, because we're in Croatia, a shot of fire water... FOR BREAKFAST!
We spent the morning cruising out through and around the islands of Kornati National Park. One interesting thing we saw was a decent sized cliff that rises from the sea, which they said was the tallest out of something (that I can't remember), but I can't find it on Google now I'm writing this so they were possibly lying about how special it was.
Lunch was served just before we arrived at the first island we were to explore. It consisted of a fish, a steak and some cabbage. It wasn't fancy but it was still nice. My Belgian friend and I met an English couple on the boat and once we docked at the island, the four of us went for a walk to the top of the huge cliff then down to the (fairly salty) lake where we had a swim.
Time to get back on the boat where we started to head towards the second island and home. The stop on the second island was fairly quick, only long enough to get an icecream and go for a short walk to see the local church.
We arrived back in Zadar at about 6pm, so it was a full day out on the boat. We got to know the English couple pretty well, had a few drinks, saw lots of cool islands and rock formations and it was generally a fun day. Seeing all the islands out into the distance is great because we don't get that in Australia and it reminded me of Thailand a lot, the only other place I've seen something similar.
Dinner
A big bunch of us at the hostel all pitched in for supplies and cooked a huge pot of pasta. It easily fed the 8 people we had plus still had leftovers and all for the cheap price of about $2 Australian. It tasted pretty great too.
Sun disc
After dinner we grabbed some beers and went for a walk to the sun disc. The disc is actually part of a display of the whole solar system where each planet (and the Sun) are represented by solar discs in the ground. At night they all glow but the Sun is the most impressive because it's so large and actually has a light show of sorts.
Day 4: Last day
I felt like I'd seen all of what Zadar had to offer so it was time to head onto the next spot. My Belgian friend was going the same way so we booked a hostel (I actually booked twice, whoops) and booked some bus tickets. I went for one last walk around the old town, enjoyed a fantastic chevapi sandwich and found a Zadar patch for my collection before we jumped on the bus.
Thoughts about Zadar:
- It was great to be travelling with a friend
- The old town is small but nice
- It's not too expensive, the weather was great and the beaches are ok
- There's a few things to do and it's close-ish to Plitvice Lakes
- I was only in Zagreb for a few hours but I feel like I've seen it and I'm glad we stayed in Zadar instead
- The Old Town Hostel that we stayed in was quite nice and definitely in a great spot
- I met quite a few great people so I have good memories
- It's clean (they clean the streets every night) and feels safe although fairly touristy
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| A church with a mosaic roof in Zagreb |
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| A cool stencil in Zagreb |
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| Some golden tower in Zagreb |
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| The restaurant that we stopped at on the bus trip had a bear out the back. He didn't seem happy :( |
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| A panorama of the hills behind the restaurant we stopped at |
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| The view from the bus on the way into Zadar |
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| Plitvice Lakes |
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| Plitvice Lakes, this doesn't even do the colour of the water justice |
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| Plitvice Lakes, my Aussie mate taking a photo |
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| Plitvice Lakes |
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| The big waterfall at Plitvice Lakes |
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| The water at Plitvice Lakes is so clear |
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| A smaller waterfall |
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| It's so green! |
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| Some dedicated photographer with his tripod in the water |
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| We climbed a hill to get good photos |
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| Heading out of the bay on a cruise |
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| A funny looking island |
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| The trucks of the island |
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| The tall sea cliffs in the Kornati national park |
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| The first island we stopped at on the boat ride. You can just see the lake in the middle of the island too. |
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| The English couple we met on the cruise and my Belgian mate |
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| My Aussie mate and I at the big waterfall in Plitvice Lakes |
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| The awesome chevapi sandwich |
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| The group sitting on the Sun disc for a chat |
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| Panorama of the Sun disc during the day |
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| The Sun disc gets fairly popular at sunset |
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