Saturday, July 11, 2015

Croatia: Zagreb to Zadar

Well, after deciding that Zagreb is a fantastic option for our retirement (it is somewhere in the Top 10), it was time to escape and head south.




If you only have time for one place to go in Croatia, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Plitvice Lakes National Park. Waterfalls abound, wonderful hiking trails, and the clearest water that you will ever see. Trees, and caves, and butterflies, and huge iridescent dragonflies...the beauty and awe of nature abounds and overwhelms. Just walking into the park almost made my physical being explode with complete peace and relaxation. Traversing the park (it is massive!) is a mix of walking, hiking, boating, and trolley-ing. We only spent 3-3.5 hours here, but could have EASILY spent the entire day, and I wish we had the time to, but we were able to see all of the key highlights within this timeframe. It actually seemed like a perfect combination of New Hampshire and Hawaii.




Walking with our awesome guide, Jurica.
Me: "What's that noise?"
Jurica: "It is frogs making babies."
Hahahahaha! English as a second language is SO much better than as first!


Boating down the lakes





See the darker green, narrower leaves? It's mistletoe! Happy New Years!







From Plitvice Lakes we ventured to the small city of Zadar for a relaxing afternoon exploring the seaside town. We just meandered around lazily taking in the sights, enjoying the refreshing salt air and loving being back on the water.

Old City entrance, there is a wall between new city and the ocean




Beautiful marbled streets

This is the Sun Salutation:

  • There isn't much I can saw to describe this, just see it in action HERE



This is the Sea Organ:
  • Read about it HERE. It is a musical organ composed of concrete that makes sounds from the waves hitting it
  • See/hear it in action HERE

Sea organ sound holes

Watch this AWESOME VIDEO about both of them.

Incredible meal of grilled calamari and chard

Adam loved the squid ink gnocchi with shrimp