After a few days in Split, we picked up a one-way car rental to make our way around some other areas of Croatia. Some folks who own an Italian restaurant in Cape Coral, Florida were originally from the Istria peninsula and highly recommended we visit it on our trip. We chose a couple towns in that area along with a couple days near Plitvice National Park. Quite the noticeable differences in terrain, culture, language and average height of people between the areas of Croatia. You can go from sunny and arid southern coastline to mountainous fall foliage in just a couple hours of driving. Many people in Split seemed to be of NBA stature. The great weather continued for us throughout Croatia and glad we took the time to explore a number of areas.
We’re into the last 10 days of this trip and need to be back in Barcelona for our return flight on the 27th. Our latest itinerary was to stay south for some spots in central Italy, but a weather check showed that things had warmed up again further north and we hadn’t booked any travel or accommodations yet. A quick check of train schedules from Rijeka showed that we could make our way to Salzburg in a single day, so we went for it! Looking forward to seeing at least one of the destinations we passed over last month.
Day 1 near Plitvice National Park was chilly and rainy, so we chose to explore the area a bit.
Appropriate weather and safety gear for Charlie’s first cave exploration at Baraceve Špilje
The skies cleared later in the day and we found a lovely cafe with a view and heat lamps
Our hosts in Jezerce kindly greeted us each morning with homemade treats.
Day 2 was beautiful weather for hiking around Plitvice National Park for splendid fall foliage.
Very peaceful park with fewer tourists this time of year.
Lunch stop along a lake at Plitvice National Park
The BIG waterfall!
A never-ending amount of scenery to enjoy at this park!
Our cheap but lasting umbrella stroller wasn’t cut out for this terrain, so we got a workout walking for about 4 hours to explore the park.
Our next destination was a return to the coast to spend a few days in Rovinj.
So many sculptures!
Keeping an eye out for scallywags from a bunker
Choo Choo rides at a park around the bend from Rovinj
Beautiful sunset strolls along the riva
Cold beverages after a day of sightseeing and watching the “Watermelon Moon”
Day trip to Motovun to explore the hilltop village
Lunch at a Motovun cafe
Hooray for scenic cafes! We’d find this to be the first day of hazy/foggy conditions for the rest of our days in Croatia. Has to do with warmer air temps and cooling sea temps.
Post-lunch chocolate ice cream leads to antsy pants
A sunset in Porec with a local beer
Pit-stop in Bale on our way from Rovinj to Pula
Bale was a very quiet village in this off-season Saturday
A deserted camping resort called “Mon Perin” on the way to Pula. Things really shut down here after the summer high season.
No one to be seen for miles, is this some sort of Walking Dead episode with a deserted park?
Our next step was sightseeing for a few days in Pula (our last stop in Croatia)
Charlie and Charlie
A number of historical Roman buildings in Pula which are quite well preserved
Learning a bit about the game of Monopoly
The ferry boat we took over from the mainland to Brijuni National Park
Scenic train tour of the Brijuni Park
Golf course with greens made completely of sand, interesting..
A decent size safari park on the northern end of the island, which was mostly a collection of animals from Tito’s reign back in the Yugoslavian era.
That’s a big bull behind a tiny stick fence.
Dinosaurs roamed here a few thousand years ago
If only it was a bit warmer, we’d be swimming in this clear water!
Roman ruins needing a bit of rehab
Quite serene riding bikes around the island in the late afternoon with a light fog. (This light fog turned into a nerve-racking drive home later that night in the densest fog we’ve ever seen.)
Chris, Cindy, Charlie and Cecily’s Adventure Blog 