Croatia: Zagreb & Plitvice Lakes

From the moment our plane landed in Split, all of the Croats we met tried to convince us to forego Zagreb for more time on the coast. We loved Split, so it's not like we weren't tempted, but we wanted to visit the Croatian capital for ourselves before writing it off completely. We only had two full days in Zagreb anyway and one of them was already set aside for Plitvice Lakes National Park.

An honest review: We don't know what the locals were talking about! Zagreb was enjoyable, like a mini-Budapest. It's small to be sure and there isn't as much to do as in some European capitals, but we liked wandering the streets for a day.

Disclaimer: The food in Zagreb is pretty sub-par and service is unbelievably slow. In fact, one lunch took 55 minutes to arrive from the time we sat down and actually caused us to miss our train to Ljubljana on our last day.

The bus from Split takes about 5 hours. There is only one bus station in Split and one in Zagreb, so there isn't the confusion of a dozen different "main" stations to contend with (like there would be in London or Paris). Getting on the bus in Split was honestly a little confusing even though we'd pre-booked our tickets, so I would give yourself lots of time. Also be prepared to pay per suitcase to put luggage under the bus, it was 8 kunas each bag for us (about $1.50). Other than that the bus journey was really pleasant and inexpensive. (The train is more expensive and takes longer.)

beautiful rest-stop near Skradin

Our first full day in Zagreb was a Sunday, so most retail shops were closed and many of the restaurants were as well. We weren't interested in the museums, but I had read about Nine Views, a model solar system installation across the city. The "Grounded Sun" was installed in central Zagreb in 1971, but it wasn't until 2004 that an artist placed the planets around the sun all with the correct relative size and relative distance/placement. It wasn't advertised or promoted, so many Zagrebians (Zagrebites? Zagrebis?) don't even know that they walk past the planets on their way to work or home. Pluto, which was included in the installation, is nearly 8 km out of town. Because of time and distance, we only located the first 5 planets in the series. (FYI, Jupiter is actually closer to 69 Vocarska Street, not 71. We spent nearly half an hour scouring 71 Vocarska and then felt like idiots - and accomplished explorers - when we finally saw the huge model of Jupiter we'd walked right past.)

Joe with the Sun

Charlie sunbathing (and showing relative size)

the sun and Mercury

Venus, Earth, Mars and Jupiter

Very excited to find Jupiter!

Jupiter was also HUGE compared to the other planets, so we can't believe we missed it at first!

The unintentional benefit of searching out the planets was that we discovered two of our favorite spots in Zagreb: The Cookie Factory and Tolkien's House.

I had seen reviews of the Cookie Factory on TripAdvisor when I'd looked for restaurants, but we only ended up there by accident because Mars was literally attached to their door frame. Once we were there, though, it seemed wrong to leave without at least trying something.

that's an ice cream sandwich for which I was allowed to choose the flavors of both cookies and the ice cream

Similarly, we found Tolkien's House, a craft beer bar with lots of recognizable breweries and special beers on the menu, because it was on our way from Mars to Jupiter. Joe hadn't even considered looking for craft beer in Zagreb, but we were happy to have found such a great place by accident.

The true highlight of staying in Zagreb, though, is relative proximity to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Croatia is a very long and narrow country, so it is surprising sometimes how far things are. It took about two hours to get to the park from our hotel by small group transfer.

Plitvice (or Plitvicka) Lakes are the gem of Croatia. The park is a chain of lakes that spill into one another like descending down stairs. The entire area is protected and most human activities are forbidden, including any type of boating or swimming. In fact, I read a (probably exaggerated) account that even if you "fall in or claim religious baptism" you could be expelled not just from the park but from the country. We grouped up with a solo traveler named Christina for the day and she passed along the awesome advice to do the recommended hike backwards, starting with a bus to the highest lake and then hiking downhill towards the entrance instead of hiking up to the highest lake and taking the bus down (doesn't that seem silly?). This was invaluable information for us. We chose route C, a 4-6 hour circuit. The rest of this post will be pictures of said course that need no explanation at all.