Finally Arrived in Plitvice, Croatia, 10/31/2006

We were able to get a rental car and drove the back roads to Plitvice lakes. Made it with only one missed turn in Split, which took us through a park (pretty, with lots of trees, which has been rare where we have been, so did not mind the detour). The drive was interesting. Went through several small and medium sized towns. Saw kids walking home from school with backpacks - could almost have been home, except there were no sidewalks. Drove by an unusual church for this area. Made out of white plaster or something like that. The front had a tall rounded section about two to three stories high, with a cross taking up the whole area. Most of the churches in this area are older medieval type of buildings, making this really stand out.

Many of the towns on the way up were abandoned. I guess this area was heavily fought over by Bosnia and Croatia, so many moved away. Some of the area we drove through was flat, but most of the time we were driving through and around mountains. It is interesting, in Split all of the mountains looked gray and brown. Very little green, which I would have expected given their proximity to the Adriatic Sea. On our drive up, one side was similar to Split, while the other side of the road would have mountains covered in green trees. Not sure if this is because of the season or something to do with weather patterns.

Arrived in Plitvice right as the park was closing. Decided to eat dinner (5 pm), but found that the dining room did not open until 7. So started looking at some maps in the entry, and ran into an American (Kathy). Began talking to her, and it ended up being 7 before we knew it and she was going to dinner with some Americans she had met on the trail (Kay & Bob), so we joined them. Kathy is in her 50´s and traveling around the same areas we are by herself. She said when she married her husband, the agreement was that she could travel by herself if he did not want to go. She lives in Rochester, NY. Her husband was raised in Trotwood, OH (for those outside the family, my mom grew up and we went to church there). Kay and Bob have a house in Wooster area, but are teaching in Slovenia for a couple of years. They also lived in southern OH at one time. I felt like I was surrounded by people I should know based on the similarities with our family background.

It was interesting talking to Kay and Bob about some of the political and ethnic issues here. Where they live used to be part of Italy, but is now Slovenia. I guess the Italians treated the Slovenians horribly in the 19th C through WW2. Unfortunately, in a country thousands of years old, that is nothing, so the memories have been passed down through the generations and are very fresh.

So tomorrow, we begin to hike around the lakes. Our room has a balcony overlooking one of the lakes in the distance and I can hear the waterfalls from there. I can't wait to actually see them, but since everything closes around hear at 5 pm except dinner, I am having to wait.

Well need to go, my money in the Internet machine is running out. Write more later.