Having loved every minute of Budapest I was a little reserved about heading to Zagreb in Croatia. I'd heard conflicting things about it and some people had told me to skip it altogether but travel arrangements meant that I needed a stop off. I hadn't counted on the train taking quite as long as it did, about 6.5 / 7 hours in total. I also hadn't counted on the fact that I'd be sat next to a rather large Croatian lady. I also hadn't counted on the fact that there was no air conditioning in 30 degree heat. Aforementioned lady and heat did not mix well, and with the window open the little curtain thingy was flapping in my right ear. It was an enviable journey. Honestly.
So I hit Zagreb at about 21:30 and attempted to find my hostel. In doing so I noticed some small print : last check in at 22:00. Hmmm. A quick look around for a tourist information or a map of some sort proved fruitless so I ambled in some vague direction. Eventually I found it down a very dimly lit street, far from the centre of town, where the local cats were having an almighty standoff. I was a bit late too. Well... A lot late. I rang the bell and hoped. What I got was far above anything I could've imagined : the friendliest bloke in the world, Marko. A typical pot bellied, bald, grinning Croat. He must've sensed (probably via the sense of smell) my discomfort from the journey, so he settled me in quickly and gave me a private room instead of a big dorm because he said I thought I needed it! What a dude.
The next day I wandered around Zagreb. It's a really pleasant little town but there's not much money in Croatia and it showed. There's a whole bunch of renovations going on : including the Cathedral which was destroyed in the 1800's during an earthquake. I managed to walk around the majority of the old town in a morning so I started wondering how I was going to fill the two more days I had planned there. I got chatting to a few people who mentioned Plitvice National Park. I'd seen some photos from other travellers and it looked really cool so I booked a bus and a hostel for the following day. That's what I'm most enjoying about having no plans : things change by the hour and if nothing is planned then there's nothing to stop you. When I got back to the hostel I told Marko of my plans and he launched into an hours worth of hints and tips : he'd grown up not far from the lakes. I said farewell to him but not before he offered me a job in a new hostel he's opening in Zagreb. If Vietnam wasn't booked for this summer I'd be hugely tempted!
So anyway... Plitvice. I'm not really going to be able to describe it and do it justice. It's a National Park containing 17 lakes which are all connected by a variety of waterfalls and streams. It was an amazing experience. I put the "Into the wild" theme on my headphones and roamed around for about 7 hours. Aside from the masses of tourists it was just perfect. I managed to get on a hike trail which went up into the mountains a bit and stopped for lunch. When you stop moving you kind of realise the scale of the place : I'm not quite sure how big it is but it seemed to stretch on forever. I can honestly recommend it to anyone and everyone who likes the sound of it.
I'd been in contact with the owner of the new hostel and he seemed equally as cool as Marko, he offered to come and pick me up as the hostel was about 5k from the park entrance. When I got there I realised it was basically just his converted house. There were about 10 of us staying (my dorm just so happened to have 4 adolescent Canadians... A theme perhaps?.) there so we started up a BBQ and broke out some beers and we sat in his garden until the starts came out. Having been in cities for a month, the change of pace was ideal.
I woke early the next morning and went with one of the chaps to find a 'hidden viewpoint' which is where all the picture postcards are taken from. It's a bit off the beaten track and we had to scramble through some undergrowth but we got there and it was just so totally worth it. I was so glad I'd booked an overnight stop because we got there at about 7:30 before all the tours got there so you could see and hear so much more. If anyone wants to go, let me know and I'll go back anytime! However... You do need an element of self-restraint not to push Japanese Selfie Stick people over the waterfalls. It's another common theme.
So from there I had a 7hr bus journey to Split on the Croatian coast which is where I'm writing this from. Updates to follow...