Innovation on Earth

Plitvice Lakes: Too much hype, but ok, fine, it’s beautiful.

One of the stops on our trip that seemed like it would be awesome was Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia. It is supposed to be ranked one of the most beautiful places in Europe, so we wanted to see what all the hype was about. Unfortunately, about a million visitors a year also want to know.

Plitvice was a little bit annoying to get to, but you know, we conquered. Instead of doing an organized tour, we took the bus there from Zagreb and spent the night in the area. The bus was actually super comfortable, pretty empty, and had free wifi. So, no complaints there, but it was still a tiring travel day. Once there, we took a nap and then we were able to walk around late in the day and early the next morning. Success! It’s really a beautiful and massive place:

Famous view from above at Plitvice Lakes

One of my favorite parts of Plitvice was the amazing color of the water:

I’ve seen a lot of waterfalls in my life, but these ones were definitely nice too:

The sound of the ater was also part of what made me feel the power of this place:

The roots are totally weird and fun:

And there’s all sorts of interesting flora and fauna to photograph:

Even under the water!

Overall, I prefer the little adventures, like the walk to Kozjak Waterfall in Slovenia, but Plitvice was an impressive place.

Tourist Farm Love

There are still more days of sunshine on the horizon, but my summer is ending. This week teachers at our school are back at work, prepping our classrooms for the start of a new school year. I’m holding onto a little bit of summer by remembering my favorite places I visited back in July: Slovenian tourist farms.

Never heard of a tourist farm? Basically, it’s just what it sounds like. All over the countryside of Slovenia, tourists can stay at local farms instead of hotels, where they experience the rural life and chow on local food.

After driving through Triglav National Park, making our way up and down the 50 switchbacks of the Vršič Pass, we made our way to Tourist Farm Kranjc near Kobarid. We passed through a quaint little village called Luce as we made our way off the main road.

And then we arrived. On one side of the house, there was a pretty densely packed neighborhood of local houses.

On the other side of the house, there were the views and the farm.

And just like that, I fell in love with this place. I just wanted to sit on their patio forever, alternating between their swing and hammock.

What a perfect place to relax in nature.

To top things off, the family was nice as can be, and they had the sweetest dog (whose name was something like Moscow or Rosco).

The best part, though? The food! So local and yummy. 

The downside? We only had one night here. We considered backing out of our reservation for the next night, but we pushed on. In the morning, we only had a little time for exploring, and decided to go to Slap Kozjak (which means “Kozjak Waterfall”) for a quick hike before hitting the road. It was a beautiful little adventure:

And then the roads. We had to drive WAY too long to get to our other tourist farm. We did pause for a nice rest stop on the Soca River, but we didn’t have much time to gaze at the ridiculously clear, turquoise waters. (Notice the rocks below. The water is so clear you can’t even SEE it!)

River views

Water so clear it’s invisible!

Eating lunch on the river

More river views

As we drove, I seriously questioned what I was thinking choosing these two tourist farms so far away from each other.

And then we arrived. Yes, Tourist Farm Govc-Vršnik was definitely worth the drive. Our room was huge and we had two porches, both with stunning views:

The place was incredible — it was much more remote than the other tourist farm, and such a peaceful area to walk around.

The main house

Neighbor’s bee hives

Wildflowers

Cows

Garden

Wood

More wildflowers

Erica on a seesaw

Even the food somehow managed to give our last tourist farm a run for their money, which I didn’t think was possible. Plus we had a great view from the deck where the meals were served. They even served something that seemed like matzah ball soup for dinner, and it made me feel like I was home.

Sadly, we only stayed there one night too. The next morning we headed back to Ljubljana to return our rental car and leave Slovenia.

Since I travel often, people sometimes ask me which places I would hope to go back someday. Definitely I would love to go back to both of these tourist farms, and explore many more.

Highs and Lows of the Bridge City in Bosnia and Herzegovina

When traveling, you never know what to expect. That was especially true today, en route to Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country that I knew very little about. Generally, when I’ve talked about this part of the world, I am teaching geography, so we’re using my favorite mnemonic trick thinking of a crow (Croatia) eating Berries and Honey (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Doesn’t it look like that?

Anyway, I shouldn’t have been surprised that today was filled with lots of unexpected happenings, some positive and some negative. Here’s a taste:

NEGATIVE: Google Maps said it would take about 2 hours to travel from Split, Croatia to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina by car. Our packed bus stopped lots of time, and it took us more than 5 hours. We had scheduled a tour for an hour after our anticipated arrival, and we missed it.

POSITIVE: The “scenic route” was actually quite scenic. I mean, really truly stunning. Most of the trip with rocky mountains on the left and the sea on the right. Here’s a taste after we crossed the border into Bosnia.

NEGATIVE: It turns out that you can’t just hail a taxi here. You need to call for one. So, we stood in the blaring heat waiting for a while.

POSITIVE: Some random woman approached us after not too long, told us that, and then had a taxi called for us. 

NEGATIVE: A lot of people smoke here.

POSITIVE: The vibe here is so chill and friendly. People are genuinely nice. And helpful! The shopping is so fun, because the market is packed with lots of interesting things, and the prices are MUCH lower than we’ve seen anywhere on this trip. And everyone so far has seemed really honest and not trying to rip us off. There are different ethnic groups, and today everyone seems to get along, whether Catholic or Muslim. Here’s a video of the edge of the market, while the Muslim Call to Prayer is being projected from a nearby mosque:

NEGATIVE: There’s more gelato here. For 50 cents a scoop. We are going to gain so much weight!

POSITIVE: The food here is amazing. I now know how to say Ćevapčići. It’s a kind of Bosnian mini sausage. Yum. We tried it first in Slovenia but it’s even better here.

Translation? Ćevapčići.

NEGATIVE: We’re trying to navigate 4 currencies here. The Bosnian currency is called the Mark, but they quote a lot of prices in Euros, and sometimes they’ll take Croatian Kuna. Here’s the math: 2 marks = 1 Euro, 1 Euro = 1.1 USD, and 10 Kuna = $1.50. It’s even more confusing when you pay in one currency and they give you change in another. What?!

POSITIVE: Did I mention that everything is really cheap? Ok, we’ll do the math if it means we can get beautiful things for 5 Euros.

POSITIVE: Our hotel has a nice room, the hotel staff are helpful, and they even gave us a welcome drink upon arrival. It is very centrally located, close to lots of interesting stuff, including some great live music.

NEGATIVE: The music is really really loud in our hotel room. Will we ever sleep?

POSITIVE: This city feels so welcoming and and we are hungry to keep learning more. After our initial late arrival, we eventually were able to have a tour with Ms. Alma Elezovic, who was personally recommended by Rick Steves in his book and in this video. Alma showed us around and explained that this city, Mostar, was named after the guards who watched over the bridges during Medieval times. This city really feels like a meeting place for many different peoples.

Overall, today was not without its hiccups, but I am glad to be here, away from the crowds and tourist prices on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. I’m very glad to be here (and will feel especially grateful if I can eventually get some sleep tonight)!

Island Life in Croatia

We’ve made our way to the coast of Croatia, with a lot of stops in between. At some point, I will write about…

• Staying on Tourist farms in the mountains of Slovenia
• Visiting Zagreb (the capital of Croatia)
• Plitvice Lakes National Park (beautiful, but a bit overrated)
• The coastal town of Zadar, where the waves play music on a big sea organ

It has been a whirlwind and I can’t keep up with the blogging!

Public art in Croatia’s Capital

Famous view at Plitvice Lakes. Ok, it’s gorgeous!

Cooking up the seafood in Zadar

Now, we are on the island of Korcula, off the coast of Croatia, and we are in full relaxation vacation mode. This afternoon I took a 3 hour nap. This is the view we saw from our apartment upon arrival:

Yesterday, we took a bus and two ferries to get here. It was a pretty fun day of travel, actually. There were snack breaks and listening to podcasts as we watched the views out the window.

Mystic Drago Juice? Yes, please!

On the Catamaran

This isn’t our boat, but ours looked like this!

My travel companion fishing for our bags

On the way over here, we stopped for the afternoon at the island of Hvar, which seemed a bit upscale, but it was beautiful. People like Beyonce and Tom Cruise have vacationed there! We hiked up to the castle for good views.

We noticed lots of interesting vegetation on Hvar, most notably cactuses! This is a coastal area, but it is nothing like the Caribbean.

The island where we decided to set up shop for a few nights is Korcula, which I discovered is pronounced like “Core-ch’la.” It is the birthplace of Marco Polo. Apparently, the Italians take credit for him because his father was Italian and he died in Venice, but he was born in Croatia, so the Croatians claim him too!

We’ve only seen a small corner of Korcula Island, which is 29 miles long. We aren’t staying in a big town, but just in a little village where there are approximately 4 restaurants and 1 grocery store. And 2 ways to get to the sea! This morning, we explored one swimming area. The coast is rocky, but the water is crystal clear. Here’s one spot where we swam this morning:

After my siesta, we took a long walk into the main “city,” Korcula Town. We followed the coastal road, and there were lots of opportunities to stop for photos.

On the way, we passed so many interesting plants. Grapes, pomegranate, olives, and figs all grow here. Wine and olive oil are especially cheap and delicious here.

Grapes

Pomegranate

Olives

Figs

We arrived in the old town and wandered around. Inside a walled area of the city there are many shops and cute restaurants.

I saw this little pulley system at a restaurant in a castle. I guess you’ve got to be creative if your work space has such old rickety stairs!

Tomorrow, we’ll do more exploring, and check out the interesting plants and animals here.  I have all sorts of questions as I see these new places. Trees that grow on walls?

What are these cute bugs?

Looking forward to more relaxation and observation tomorrow.