BUSES FERRIES AND AUTOMOBILES and CEVAPCICI

SUMMER NIRVANA 

Too often traveling can be arduous. The logistics of mass transit schedules can be daunting, especially in a foreign country. Time dwindles drastically with the slightest dawdling or misstep. Connections missed can mean hours of delay. But it’s summertime and the living is easy.

BUS STOP HOTTIES

My friend in Trpanj called it Summer Nirvana.

When he texted those exact words to us it took all the angst from this intrepid traveler. Admittedly, I already had agita when I heard Janet’s plan to take a 10 am bus out of Split to make a 1:15 ferry from Ploče, 115 km down the coastal road. The ferry would take us to Trpanj, across the bay on the Plejesac Peninsula. Janet had it all figured out. We would arrive in the dreary port town of Ploče with 45 minutes to make it from the bus station to the ferry terminal. What could go wrong?

DESCENDING INTO OMIS

We were traveling from Split to Trpanj, by way of Ploče to reconnect with my friends from the Sarajevo Winter Olympics. This was the third leg of our three-week adventure in Croatia and after an interminable 35 years and a horrific war I was anxious to meet with Zeljko and Hana again. They were originally from Sarajevo, but fled Bosnia during the war to eventually settle in Zagreb, Croatia. They were putting us up in their summer home in Trpanj and we had already delayed our rendezvous by taking our side trip to the Plitvice Lakes National Park. The first leg of our Croatian adventure was to take a small luxury cruise ship from Dubrovnik through the Dalmatian Islands and disembarking in Split. Rather than hightailing it directly to Trpanj we rented a car and visited the most popular tourist attraction in Croatia, Plitvice Lakes.

OMIS

Zeljko and I worked together at the Olympics for ABC Television and over the years we’ve tried to keep in touch. The siege of Sarajevo and all the wars that gripped Yugoslavia made that difficult but eventually through social media we reconnected. The past couple of years he had been sending me pictures and messages imploring me to visit him in Trpanj and we finally took him up on it and we were to stay with them the final week in Croatia, immersed in local culture and a lot of wine.

We thought of keeping the car and driving directly to Ploce, but the cost was prohibitive, so after one more night in Split we took the 10 am bus to the ferry to the waiting arms of our friends. Well, that was the plan.   

On the road to Ploce

Very quickly after our departure it was apparent, we were not going to make the 1:15 ferry. The bus did a slow cha cha along numerous switchbacks before descending from the mountain to inch along all the traffic on the coastal road. We passed slowly, very slowly through some charming little seaside towns like Omis, Donja Brela and Makaraska. All were incredibly beautiful and all were very busy. Not only was traffic a factor, but the 10-minute “rest-stop” for the drivers and passengers, that may have been necessary, had me doing a slow burn and Janet was getting weary of my boorish behavior. Yeah, I was being a jerk, but, then she texted Zeljko and his response, one of calm and acceptance, was enough to settle me down.

Ploce

Here was a man who had to flee his home in Sarajevo when the city was surrounded and subjected to constant shelling and sniper fire in a siege that lasted years. When he fled, he took his family some personal items and nothing else. His response of no worries, “Summer Nirvana” put me in my place. 

When I speak of arduous traveling, I am woeful, I am embarrassed.

GOOD IN EVERYTHING

Janet often says she tries to find the good in every situation and everyone and I have to do more of that searching. Well, after my sea change of attitude about the ferry I found something really good.

Now, there was an earlier bus at 6 am, but that was too early, so the 10 am was the only option, but even if we had all 45-minutes to make it from the Ploče bus station to the ferry ticket office, we would have been running to catch it. The bus station and the ferry are really not near each other. It’s quite a hike to the ticket office and then back to the ferry loading site and on this blisteringly hot day with no appreciable breezes we would have been panting to make it.

The next ferry was three hours later and so we settled in at a café table beneath a very necessary umbrella and had some lunch. Because of our delay I finally got to eat ćevapćići for the first time on this Croatian trip.

JA VOLIM JESTI CEVAPCICI

While working the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984 many times I enjoyed this sausage of minced meat, of beef, lamb and sometimes pork that was grilled and served with a pita bread. Sometimes potatoes and onions and sour cream were added and sometimes a spicy peppery condiment, Ajvar, was available, but mostly it was just the meat and bread. This hearty and tasty and cheap dish found in any of the numerous grill shops in Sarajevo got me through a couple of pub crawls with Zeljko.  

YUM

Although found throughout the former Yugoslavia and considered a national dish, I had yet to see it on any of the menus, but then again, we were along the coast and eating a lot of seafood. Turns out that Ploce, despite the dreary Communist era apartment blocks fronting the port is also the port of entry for Bosnia I Herzegovina. This mostly land-locked country only has a small coastline further down the bay in Neum. Because of this Bosnian connection ćevapćići was prominently offered in the café. It made the wait for the next ferry very pleasant.

It’s an hour trek across to Trpanj. Zeljko and Hana were there, waiting for us, and the embraces were warm and the conversations picked up right where we left them off in 1984.

PLITVICE LAKES

AS BEAUTIFUL AS IT'S HARD TO SAY

The second leg of our three-week adventure in Croatia, to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park, was all Janet’s idea. I had never heard of Croatia’s most popular tourist attraction, but then again, I was entirely focused on boating through the Dalmatian Islands and then reconnecting with my friends from Sarajevo after 35 years.

PLNP LOGO

So far, this trip has been everything I could have hoped for; we had explored the enchanting walled city of Dubrovnik in the south and Split’s Diocletian’s Palace in the north. The week long cruise with the aptly named Unforgettable Croatia cruise line had us visiting islands like Mljet, Korcula and Hvar with convivial crew and passengers alike. The Adriatic we slipped along was beautiful and swimming in it daily was soothing. The wines were strong reds and delicate whites, some native to one island, like Bogdanusa on Hvar, our favorite while there. The brandies or grappa, we tasted, were appropriately intoxicating and often made in someone’s personal still. And, the dramatic coastline of Croatia, soaring into forbidding mountainous ranges was always far away, at the edge of the Adriatic. It was here at the water where I wanted to remain.

PLNP

LOVE

I have to admit that I was not thrilled when Janet expressed an interest to visit Plitvice Lakes. It was taking me away from the Adriatic and cutting into my time with my fiends Zeljko and Hana. We were going to spend time with them in Trpanj on the Peljesac Peninsula and were promised sailing adventures in his little boat, and more swimming and more wine, and still the rugged forbidding coastline would remain far away across the bay.

But Janet is the captain of our travels and had decided on this sideways excursion to Plitvice Lakes. She had made my dream of cruising through the Dalmatian Islands a reality and agreed to visit my friends, the least I could do was to “endure” this side trip. What’s love got to do with it?

PLNP

ENDURING BEAUTY

Plitvice Lakes National Park is beautiful. Founded in 1949 and added to the UNESCO World Heritage Register in 1979, PLNP is a series of 16 tiered lakes, little rivers and waterfalls. The park encompasses nearly 74,000 acres and there are miles of trails and wooden boardwalks leading visitors alongside and sometimes over the water of the upper and lower areas of the park. The water is remarkably clear and the colors range from teal to turquoise blue to emerald green with a myriad of nuances. There is a lot of limestone and especially travertine in the area and the flowing calcium carbonate rich water simultaneously erodes the limestone and “grows” the travertine which is deposited, encrusting the mosses and plants slowly growing natural dams, and the algae that thrive at Plitvice Lakes blooms and releases gases as it decomposes and mixes with the mineral rich waters to create a stunning palette of color that changes with the light and weather conditions. PLNP is a unique, strikingly beautiful place.

PLNP

THE BUSINESS OF BEAUTY

Understand the science? I don’t, but that doesn’t matter. You can just come for the beauty. In fact, PLNP should be a must-see destination for any visitor to Croatia. Well, judging by the crowds that visit the park, everyone has the exact same idea. It’s packed even at the early hour we entered the park. During the summer months the crowds can be stifling. Over a million people visit PLNP yearly and the daily entrance and even the hourly allotment for patrons is limited. It’s strongly suggested to purchase tickets online at least 48 hours in advance to be assured entry. Passes can be purchased at the park, but there’s a risk it will be sold out for the day.

 

VELIKI SLAP

When the day or two-day pass is purchased online there are choices as to what is the preferred entrance (1 or 2) and the time. We chose entrance 1 and the earliest time slot available: 7:00-8:00. Depending on the season the park is open roughly from 7 am to 8 pm. Avoid midday for that’s when the tour buses arrive and the crowds on the narrow boardwalks congeal. Also, prices for park passes and parking fluctuate with the season. Our passes cost us 250 KN apiece, but drop in the fall and winter. After 4 pm in July and August passes are also discounted to 150 KN. PLNP is open all year round although in the winter months entrance 2 and the upper lakes are closed. Here’s the official link to purchase passes and a dashboard to see what is available for particular time slots.

ONLINE TICKETING FOR PLITVICE LAKES NATIIONAL PARK

 

PLNP

Entry to the park is limited to the time slot awarded with just some leeway. Arrive later than the allotted entry time and permission to enter the park may not be granted, so factor in traffic jams. PLNP is a very very busy place. Once at the park take the online voucher or receipt to the park office to trade it in for an actual pass that is scanned at the entrance. Avoid our mistake of hiking from the parking lot, over the pedestrian bridge and wait in line only to be sent back. Once inside the park there’s a lot of hiking to see everything and there’s no need to add unnecessary steps to this day.  

HO HUM MORE BEAUTY

There are several well-marked trails that wind through the park that are 3km to

18km long. We did the 8km “C” trail, starting at Entrance #1 and it took about 5 hours for us, but there is so much astonishing beauty that it could easily take forever, even if the crowds weren’t factored in. Included in the entrance fee is a scenic boat ride to the upper lakes portion and then near the end of the trail a greatly appreciated tram ride.

After a long while we began to wave a tired hand at the resplendent displays of prancing waters and muttering jokingly “Oh Ho Hum… More beauty.” And, whenever the crowd traffic got too heavy and we had to wait our turn on the narrow wooden boardwalk, we welcomed the pause from hiking.  Yet, despite the hordes, people were polite and paused whenever someone needed to get “that shot” Janet was asked several times by a couple that liked her camera skills and she obliged every time.

The water is clear and colorful and inviting, but there is no swimming allowed anywhere in PLNP. Mists from the falls is the only respite from the heat, although there are several places throughout the park to get something to eat or drink. Personal food and drinks are not prohibited.

WHICH WAY TO WINNETOU?

We started at the lower lakes area and made our way first to Veliki Slap or Great Falls. Yeah it was dramatic at 87 meters high and beautiful like everything else at PLNP, but near Veliki Slap is a steep series of steps that lead not only to vistas but an old filming location of German “Schnitzel” Westerns that involved a much beloved character named Winnetou. German film crews used Plitvice Lakes as a stand-in for American western backdrops and to this day it’s almost a Germanic pilgrimage to visit these sites at PLNP.

 

COLORS OF PLNP

Winnetou was a fictional American Indian character created in a series of novels by Karl May, one of the best-selling German authors of all time and the films are hugely popular. There are evidently caves situated near the crest of this hilly area that German visitors seek out. How do I know this? More than once huffing and puffing climbers asked us, “caves? Caves?” We never found them, although we only gave the area a perfunctory look over as this was the beginning of our day at PLNP. We weren’t that interested and we had many rivers to cross.

If interested you can pretty much watch EVERY Winnetou movie ever made on Youtube.

WINNETOU ON YOUTUBE

If you can’t make it to PLNP in Croatia anytime soon, you can always go on a virtual tour here, but be aware once you see this and all the pictures posted on this entry, you’ll want to visit PLNP too.

VIRTUAL TOUR PLITVICE LAKES NATIONAL PARK

PLITVICE MIRIC INN

We rented a car in Split to get PLNP and thanks to Janet’s smart phone we found a route that was not on the major highway. It took us an extra hour or so, but the ride along spectacular mountain ranges and numerous switchbacks and through little towns was at a leisurely pace. We drove up to the area and stayed at Plitvice Miric Inn for two nights, a few kilometers away from the park. Prices are higher the closer to the park’s entrances, but the Miric Inn was a good price and offered an incredible buffet breakfast of different meats cheeses, eggs, cereals breads and sweets and good strong coffee. Their website says they have all organic produce and can cater to vegetarians and gluten-free diets. If you stay at Miric you will eat well, but don’t worry the calories will get burned off with all the hiking in the park.

 

MIRIC INN BREAKFAST BUFFET

English was readily spoken by the friendly staff and we had our laundry done there. The woman who did our laundry liked all my colorful Aloha shirts. We also had dinner that first night at the Inn. For a very reasonable price and with a full bottle of slivovitz proudly offered at the table by the owner who said he’d made it himself, we had a traditional Croatian meal of Peka, a beef, lamb, chicken and vegetable dish baked in a bell-shaped dome called ispod čripnje.

PLITVICE MIRIC INN

Janet planned this flawless side-trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park. She rented the car, plotted our route, found the Miric Inn. I’m just along for the ride.

CAR RENTAL AGENCY

Thanks for reading. There's much much more ahead in Croatia. 

SPLIT HAPPENS

HAPPY TRAILS

Travel destinations are personal things. You want to visit a place because you’ve read about it or heard about it or have seen pictures. Perhaps, a destination is alluring because it was a location of a beloved television show or movie or a sporting event. Perhaps you’ve heard the vistas are spectacular or the color of the water is exquisite. Perhaps wine is the magnet, or the people, or the food, or the history, or the siren song of long-lost friends is calling you to a particular place. Well, Croatia has all of that for this humble traveler, but Split was not on my radar at all.

It’s a busy port city after all. Ferries and cruise ships to all the islands depart from here, and buses and trains stop here, and seemingly everyone is scrambling to leave Split to get to somewhere else in Croatia as soon as they arrive. Personally, I would never have considered Split as anything more than a transit point, but thankfully Janet insisted on lingering here to see the city.

 

BEFORE

Even Diocletian’s Palace, a massive Roman edifice built in the 4^th Century as a retirement home for the first emperor of Rome to voluntarily abdicate his position, and is today Split’s most important tourist destination was effectively called a “dump” by the tour guide arranged by Unforgettable Croatia. Still this palace that also housed a military garrison in the 300’s remains the best-preserved example of Roman architecture.  

 

AFTER

We ended our trip with the Unforgettable Cruise line in Split. It is an attentive, small ship luxury cruise line that had us stopping at several islands in Dalmatia. The trip began in Dubrovnik and ended in Split. As alluring as Dubrovnik, Mljet, Korcula, Vis and Hvar were to me, Split was just not there at all. We remained on the M/S Infinity for a final night while in port, checking out early the next morning. Then after a two-day drive up to the Plitvice Lakes National Park we returned to Split for a final night. Yes, Split is a very busy port city, with the area down by where the Infinity docked having all the charm of Port Newark in New Jersey. It was a bustle of trucks delivering supplies and passengers going back and forth and it was almost too much frenetic activity. But, I have to admit, by the time we left Split, the second largest city in Croatia, I had changed my mind about it and when we left I wanted to linger there a while longer.

UNFORGETTABLE CROATIA CRUISES

HISTORICAL and VIBRANT

After Diocletian’s death, the massive palace was eventually abandoned by the Romans and people in the surrounding area made it their home. The outer walls were kept intact, but many interior walls were torn down or added to by people moving into the former palace to create homes.

 

SPLIT

Today the interior of Diocletian’s Palace is a mish mosh of narrow curving streets filled with shops, cafes, wine bars, restaurants, sobes and apartments and is home to roughly 3,000 people. Countless tourists stumble along this warren of haphazardly arrayed network of alleys where over time apartments were built wherever possible. The tourist hordes choke the walkways and locals working the shops have a withered look to them and greatly appreciate a simple “dobra don,” or ‘good-day’ from the relentless babel of foreign voices that fill this choked, but fun area. If you can say “Doviđenja” to them or ‘good-bye’ faces light up into huge smiles..  

One large open area in the middle of the former palace grounds is the peristyle. A peristyle is a columned veranda, sort of like a front porch, that would lead to the house. Usually decorated with plants or shrubs or even fish ponds, Diocletian’s peristyle was within the palace grounds and the entrance was guarded by several sphinx imported from Egypt. Over time many of them have been lost or destroyed, but one remains at the peristyle still protecting the apartment area of Diocletian.  

 

PERISTYLE SPLIT

Music and shows are performed nightly at the peristyle. During our last night in Split we watched for a time a performance of the opera Aida with a full orchestra before the stage. We actually just walked slowly past the stage. We couldn’t move very quickly because of all the people; it was that crowded. The alley that our sobe, Croatian for room, was on, actually led to the stage. So rather than being a part of the show, we had to walk around to reach it from the other side. When we got to the door of the Base Rooms Sobe there were several members of the chorus hanging on the steps of the Temple of Jupiter which was right at our door, waiting for their cue. Dressed in appropriate Egyptian garb, one woman started singing the Bangles, “Walk Like An Egyptian.” Janet slapped me when I started to dance with her and pulled me inside the Sobe.

 

BASE ROOMS & TEMPLE

Despite the proximity with the thick walls of our very centrally located sobe we heard none of the opera. Base Room Sobe wasn’t fancy, but it was clean comfortable and very reasonably priced. We stayed in Room 201

BASE ROOMS SPLIT

PARTY OUTSIDE THE PALACE

The palace was the main attraction of town, but the spacious quay beyond the walls was festive. Palm trees lined the walk-way near the water and were also interspersed among the many busy tables of cafes and restaurants. It was cooler here with the sea air, although the sun was fierce and the umbrellas were needed. Sitting at a table made for good people watching as people still incessantly walked around. We walked along this area our final evening and a traditional band was playing and women in folk dress waited their turn to take the stage to dance. It was a good relaxed breezy feel to this area which contrasted to the stifling air inside the palace.

DRINKS AND FOOD

Any café or restaurant in town is good. Here are three notables for us:

PORTOFINO  

Located in a little courtyard near the Silver Gate of the Palace. Outdoor seating and serving pastas, steaks and seafood. We got a 10% discount with our Privilege Card from Unforgettable Croatia. Great wine list and attentive staff.

 PORTOFINO SPLIT

PIZZERIA BOKAMORRA

This is also a 10% discounted place, but this is a restaurant that specializes in pizza. Fancy atmosphere and the place got extremely crowded after we were seated. They had an extensive listing of toppings and had drink or wine recommendations with each. We dined with another couple from the Infinity, Simon and Maureen from Fremantle, WA, and Simon and I had a dram of Ardbeg after dinner.

 

SPLIT

BLACK DOG

Located outside the palace, also near the Silver Gate, the Black Dog was a craft beer bar, of both domestic and foreign brews and a number of specialty cocktails. This place was quite the find.  

BLACK DOG BAR SPLIT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

CUT BAIT AND RUN!

At 1:15 this morning the sun returned to the same position it was when I was born 63 years ago.

 

Getting it right

I have been blessed. I have a great family and have much love in my life. I have had a great career and have traveled quite a bit and seen a lot of this world with my wonderful traveling partner Janet. Yet, despite all these “accomplishments” I feel I can improve myself as a father a husband a colleague a person and a writer. I have this nagging feeling that God keeps me alive just so I’ll have a better opportunity to finally get it right. I’ve lived a full, prosperous life, but I am very thankful that God hasn’t given up hope and cut his bait and headed back to port.

Love to all. I’ll get back to writing about our trip to Croatia after I drain this bottle of tequila.

Greg