Unesco World Heritage Park

Day: 339
Rastovača
Time: Most of the morning

We were treated with one of the most grand displays of nature I have ever been fortunate enough to see. The Plitvička Lakes National Park is a series of lakes tucked into the mountains in central Croatia. The lakes lie in valley of limestone cliffs and are separated by natural limestone dams. The water has, over time, created waterfalls, spouting rocks, hanging gardens and caves throughout the park. Plitvička was listed as a Unesco Heritage sight in 1979. This was during the first round of Unesco Heritage Sight listings. The park service has a series of tours and paths that lead around the park and tours can take anywhere between 2 and 8 hours depending on how many little nooks and crannies you care to check out. We ended up making a hybrid tour and checking out certain areas more in depth than others. We were glad we did our homework yesterday since the information booth told us to get there early before the tour buses showed up. We rose early and were in the park by the time it opened. In fact we had to wait at the ticket booth until the attendant showed up. Our first couple of hours in the park were spent in solitude. We didn’t see anybody until two hours into our visit. We were able to stroll the kilometers of boardwalks taking pictures, and exploring the little side trips. We timed it perfectly and arrived at the boat dock in time for the first boat of the day. In our tour we ended up walking a couple of hours, taking a boat the length of the biggest lake, walking a couple of more hours, and then finally boarding a motorized train for a ride back to the entrance. About two hours after the first tour buses were scheduled to arrive the trails and boardwalks filled with all humanity and we quickly made an exit for a bite to eat.
We headed on back to our room and spent the afternoon watching the international news coverage of the American Presidential Campaign. We were able to get a lot of coverage on BBC and CNN Europe.
Happy B-day to my sis. I was able to talk her for a little while. It was weird to hear our cell phone ring all the way over here, but it was cool to have a familiar voice on the other end.
Vote early, vote often, vote the environment
CK

All Things Plum

Day 338
Rastoke (Slunj) to Rastovača
Time: 2:22:00
Distance: 30.3 kilometers
Avg Speed: 12.8
Terrain: Rolling Hills
Location: 44˚ 54’ 33.15” N, 15˚ 36’ 34.10” E

It must be plum season here in Croatia. Last night we had the šljivovica and this morning we had a fresh plate of plum jam. It was actually the consistency of apple butter – very tasty. Chris and I managed to annihilate the entire plate of fresh bread just to make sure the fruity spread was used in its entirety. The wonderful little breakfast also included eggs, smoked meats and blintzes. All of these items were homemade and, as you can imagine, we were giddy like school children.
We weren’t in a rush to get on the road today as we only had 30 km or so to our next stop. We enjoyed a third cup of coffee on the bridge and then got the bicycles loaded. By 9 am we were headed south towards Plitvička National Park. There was no aggressive pedaling and we enjoyed looking at the heavily forested countryside. I was not expecting this sort of landscape in Croatia. It’s definitely a “getting back to nature” sort of area.
We planned to see how close we could get to the park without having to ride too much to the entrance tomorrow. Our last day off hiking was a bit too much so we’re going to try a different strategy. As luck would have it, we found a really nice guesthouse about 5 minutes away. We scoped out all of the logistics this afternoon at the park entrance and will get an early start in the morning. The main draw of the park is a series of lakes which are connected by cascading waterfalls. The park was formed in 1949 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage area.

Happy Thursday,
LK

Buffet Strategies: Eat the High Dollar Items First

Day 336
Zagreb to Mostanje
Time: 4:04:00
Distance: 70.90 kilometers
Avg Speed: 17.4 kph
Terrain: Flat
Location: N 45˚ 27’ 59.7”, E 15˚ 33’ 34.2”

We enjoyed our second morning of a great breakfast buffet. Unfortunately, we haven’t been riding enough in the last few days and our per plate average was pretty low. Last evening I was getting psyched up for the feeding frenzy and discussing options with Chris. Should I start with the healthy stuff and then work my way to the eggs, butter and croissants? His cold, calculated response was “eat the high dollar items first, period.” I guess if you grew up in Reno you would know how to tackle a buffet.
Our first day riding in Croatia was very pleasant. We rolled out of town with a bike lane part of the way and then found the country roads fairly quickly. We are once again in farm country and passed row upon row of corn. We enjoyed all of the little villages along the way – familiar territory.
Time for the geography lesson…
Croatia is almost as much sea as it is land. The land area is just under 57,000 km² while the sea area is a bit over 31,000 km². The landscape is diverse and has both continental and maritime climates. Interestingly enough, it is possible to see ocean, karst topography, forests, mountains, and plains, all within 100 kilometers. The highest peak, Dinara, rises to 1,831 meters.
On the political front, Croatia has seen its fair share of war and conflict in the last 15 years. Independence from the Yugoslavian communist regime was declared in 1991 but heavy fighting broke out as minority rights were not guaranteed and many Serbs were dismissed from public service. The conflict lasted for six months in which 10,000 people died, hundreds of thousands escaped, and massive amounts of homes were destroyed. I’m sure remnants of those days will be visible at some point along the way. I’m also sure it will be a candid reminder of how good we have it in the States.
Finally, there are definitely a few interesting people in history that were Croatian. Nikola Tesla, scientist not band member, is responsible for many contributions to science. His most significant was the innovation of alternating current. Ivan Vučetić invented the modern fingerprint method called dactiloscopy.
Tomorrow we hope to pedal to Plitvice National Park, spend a rest day, and then make a push for the coast. We’re looking forward to discovering, as Alfred Hitchcock once declared, “the most beautiful sunset in the world”.

Hope all is well with you,
LK