Sunday 6th October: We left the lake and parked just outside the City of Zagreb so we could go and explore the city; it was beautiful and had some pretty amazing buildings. We walked along the markets and bought some fruit before going along the main street.
My husband wanted to find the old town but unfortunately he had misread the map and had lead us in the wrong direction so we had to turn around and walk back the way we had come. I didn’t mind and wanted to go find it but my husband felt a little defeated and needed a little persuading. Luckily, my persuasive skills worked this time and so we headed back following a different route.
The route lead us through a park around the bottom of the cathedral and so we stopped and let the little ones have their down time as is our usual. It turned out to be a brilliant detour because this happened to be the place and day that our little girl finally learnt to swing on the big kids swings. We were super proud parents that day as was our little girl herself. She was beaming from ear to ear as she constantly asked us to watch her and repeated none stop that she “did it!” I just had to record that moment because I never wanted to let it go. We stood and watched her for a long time, giving her this time to relish in her achievement. I had been teaching her for ages the motions your upper body and legs do as you swing; she understood the legs but didn’t really get the rhythm of the upper body. This day though she found her own way- she stood up and started swinging because she found it easier this way and I grew excited and told her “that’s it, now just sit down and do the same thing” and she did!! Just like that she was swinging. She stopped and started so she could see if she could do it without standing and she did! She understood what her body needed to do and just like that our baby girl seemed to have grown up just that little bit more. We were very emotional.
After the fun at the park, we walked around towards the cathedral and it seemed a marathon was going to take place anytime soon as lots of streets were taped off. Thankfully we had done most of the city at this point and only had the old town to explore before heading out. We found the old town and realised that we were literally next to it when we first got there; it was right next to the markets (which was now packed up and completely bare). We walked through the small old town, bought some beautiful soft bread (that was in serious competition with the amazing Swiss bread we had bought) and a freshly chargrilled corn on the cob for myself (YUM!) and headed back to the motorhome.
We drove to a campsite called Plitvice Holiday resort and thankfully it was still open, even though we had arrived late and it was very dark. In fact the reception was open 24hours which was amazing! We walked through the campsite to find a place to park and it looked absolutely amazing even in the dark. You could see treehouses and little lake houses around a small lake which had wooden walkways going across it, but now was not the time to explore- we needed to find a pitch and park up. It was so dark though that we needed the flashlight on our phones to help us see. It was difficult though and so we chose a spot and settled there for the night. We were on a bit of a slope it seemed but there was nothing we could do about it now and would sort it the next day if we could.
We woke up and the first thing we did was look up the cost of the treehouses. They looked amazing online but were far too expensive for us at cost of €300 a night!! The lake houses were half the price but only slept two so we decided not to bother; we probably would have done if the treehouses were the cost of the lake houses as a little treat and a new experience, you know. However, we were glad we chose not too in the end as they didn’t look as good as we first thought when we went out to have a look at them. The lake was disappointing- I know it’s not a natural lake and wouldn’t have any of the natural beauty but it didn’t look aesthetically pleasing at all as little effort was put into it. One side looked nice to be fair with little pebbles at the base and small waterfalls flowing from it but the main part had a bottom like a swimming pool and had nothing going for it at all. The “trampoline” feature wasn’t in fact a trampoline at all and you weren’t allowed to go on it so we didn’t really see the point in it.
It was a shame really and just goes to show you should never judge a book it’s cover- this one looked amazing at first glance and from its pictures online but in reality it wasn’t- we had been to better campsites. This one may look the part but that’s about it. The showers were awful too- one block was freezing and the other too hot- I settled on the block that was too hot as I couldn’t stand having a freezing cold shower.
We packed up and drove towards Plitvice Lakes, a place I have been wanting to go to ever since I had Pinterest (which had been a few years). We parked in entrance 1 car park after a much heated argument on the way there, geared ourselves up and went to go buy tickets. We bought tickets for 2 days and had to wait until our allotted time to go through; it wasn’t guided or anything but I imagine they controlled how many people went through within a certain time frame to prevent a congestion of people especially during peak times. I imagine it had its pros and cons but we experienced a mad rush of people going through all at once. We went and bought snacks whilst we waited; baked peanut crisps anyone? They turned out to be okay but you couldn’t eat a lot of them in one go. However, they went down a treat with the ducks!
We decided to do the lower lakes this day and then the upper lakes tomorrow, that way our little ones wouldn’t get too tired or bored. The lakes and waterfalls were absolutely breathtaking and we all fell in love with Plitvice straight away.
We climbed up into a cave which was tough going with little man on my back but it was an experience we weren’t willing to miss, especially seeing as our little girl was so keen to go in. It was also a funny experience going around the lakes as we realised just how strange and annoying some people are. For example, photo taking people- you got the ones like us that would stand and admire what they were looking at before taking a picture and every now and again get one with the family in them but those people were far and few between. Instead there were a lot of people who stopped and posed in various positions for absolutely ages trying to capture the perfect Instagram worthy photo of themselves or getting their friend/partner to take it for them. It was very annoying though as queues literally formed. The poor people in line had to wait in order to take a photo for themselves or wait to walk on past. This happened to us at the top of the stairs in the cave where we were stuck at the top whilst this woman stood there posing in lots of different positions whilst her partner snapped away furiously at the bottom.
Then there were those (mostly from the Asian community) who cut across right in front of you to quickly take a photo before walking on and they took photos of literally everything as well as recording their entire walk. It was very frustrating as the wooden walkways had no barriers (this wasn’t what annoyed us) and so I was often afraid for our little girl who I thought might be pushed into the lakes at any given moment due to people’s persistence to get a photo NOW and rushing past us rather than wait a minute more. AND they never really took in what they were capturing- it was as though they were just taking a picture to say they’ve been there and that’s it which is a shame because it really was beautiful. I just wish that people would put their phones down every once in a while and just took a moment to be in the here and now and actually look at where they are, absorb everything they see and actually experience and enjoy it instead of seeing everything through a lens.
The water was such a beautiful turquoise colour and so clear you could literally see the bottom wherever you were with little fish swimming around. We spotted two wild baby snakes on our walk which was incredible (they were so tiny).
We then caught the boat (which was included in the entry fee) over the lake to entrance 2 where my husband spotted rowing boats. It was too late to go on them now but maybe we would give them a go tomorrow. We then caught the shuttle bus (again free) back to entrance 1. We were all absolutely nackered after our fun filled day but couldn’t wait to explore the upper lakes the following day.
We got back to the campsite and after exploring the site some more asked if we could move pitch. Luckily, they said yes and so we moved. We then had a beautiful cider that we bought from the campsite shop and cooked dinner. That night I had my husband back in our bed after having my daughter in ours ever since the window leakage incident. It still wasn’t fixed but it hadn’t leaked since so we thought it was safe for now.
The following day we drove towards entrance 2 to start the upper lakes. My husband had our son on his back this time, giving mine a much needed rest and off we went. The upper lakes were absolutely stunning and had more waterfalls than the lower lakes with lots more to see. The wooden walkways literally went over the waterfalls themselves and was so cleverly done that it must have been incredibly hard for them to do in the first place. We were glad to be wearing our walking boots though as it became quite rocky on the way back.
We were tired again by the time we had finished and caught the bus back to entrance 2 BUT we weren’t quite done yet. We had to go and row on the lake! Luckily we got there just in time and off we went across the lake. I was sat holding our little boy, our little girl was next to me and my beast of a husband had the strenuous job of rowing us. I didn’t appreciate how hard his job was at first when I mocked how slow he was until he told me to have a go. Well, He. Told. Me! I couldn’t even move the boat at all and probably only turned us ever so slightly but I mean we literally didn’t go anywhere. From then on I respected his pace but he had caught the knack of it by this point and had picked up the pace. I admit I was in awe and lust, looking at him as though he were superman; my hunk of a man. I know we shouldn’t objectify people but I couldn’t help it and I found it very attractive as I watched him row us across the lake especially after I had tried and tested it myself and failed. It was hard work and here he was going at it at a very decent pace now. I was all in a fluster! However, our son didn’t let me enjoy the moment for very long as he started swaying from side to side trying to remove himself from my grip so he could clamber out and touch the water! It was hard work just trying to hold him and so I started to find it all too much and worked myself into a sweaty mess because I was getting stressed.
It seemed as though we had inspired others to row though as there were a few more boats on the lake now where as there were none the day before and none before we took to the lake today either. That in itself made us smile. We turned back, did a loop around the island in the lake and then called it a day.
We got back to the motorhome and drove south stopping in a campsite called Camping Lika. This one wasn’t ACSI but it was the closest one to us when we had got tired and wanted to stop. It didn’t look much from the outside but the owner was lovely and my husband got chatting away to him before we all turned in for the night. Plitvice was amazing and had exceeded my expectations and so I went to bed with a huge smile on my face and feeling very lucky to be having this wonderful adventure. This day will be forever stored in our happy memory banks.
K.E.E.N Explorers 