Everything WAS in order, for the Croatian border 2.0
We headed for our camp site in Plitvice national park, Big bear campsite, a short 3 hour hop from the coast of Pula, to the edge of the Bosnian border. We were excited to get some exploring done after a week of relaxing on the island of Cres, and the slightly lower temperatures, we had been in 30+ degrees for a few weeks now and my ginger skin was starting to suffer.
Plitvice national park is the actual location where the Croatian war of independence (Yugoslav wars) began, when a police office was the first person shot beginning the war. The evidence of the war could still be seen on nearly every street, with bullet holes the humble reminder that this war only finished a mere 27 years ago.
Big bear camp site was set up 6 months before the Covid pandemic began and was run by a lovely family, the man that owned the camp site was like a proud dad and nothing was too much trouble. The clean toilets/showers, spacious pitches, free washing machining, and chilled out vibe, complimented by cheap but tremendous burgers in the restaurant made the camp site a hit with us.
On arrival to the camp site we spotted something that was relished when travelling, UK number plates, we checked in, pulled up and was greeted by a very northern 'HELLOOOOOO!'. This is where we met a lovely couple (and dog) from Stockport, Nick, Jen and Luna. Like us, had just finished building their van and this was their first adventure outside of the UK. We had a good chat, shared social media's and planned to meet up when we are back home.
Our main plan for Plitvice, was the national park lakes, you have to purchase tickets online and to be honest we was pretty surprised for the price, nearly £100 for 1 day tickets and parking, but whilst we were here, we will grit our teeth and dealing with the hit to our budget.
We had a week on this campsite, so we decided to go to the national park in a few days time and would explore other things in the area beforehand. Our first point of call was to Nikolas Tesla's house, The 'original' Tesla was the inventor of Alternating current (AC), The Tesla coil - which could transmit electricity wirelessly, along with many other things and had filed just shy of 200 patents for some of his other inventions. He was born about 45 minutes away from us in a rural town just outside Gospic and amazingly his childhood home still stood and had been turned into a museum.
The next day, we headed for a bear sanctuary, Ellie has become obsessed with bears, so she was super excited for this day out. There is a total of 9 bears at the sanctuary and have been saved by the owner, Ivan. The bears had lived different lives but had a common theme of living in captivity for their entire lives meaning they can not be reintroduced in to the wild. Ivan, the owner, actually set up the refuge for people, a place to come and find yourself or get away from something toxic, he was then asked to look after a bear and now has a whole sanctuary to accommodate and care for bears and people.
This was a truly amazing day out, and if your every in Croatia we would definitely recommend it, if a day off the beach is needed!
Velebit association Kuterevo
On the way back to the site, we thought we would check out the zipline down the road, we called in to find out prices and I ended up booking on for the next session. A zipline where speeds of 120 km/h can be reached and for a great price of 25 Euro. I ended up on my own for the session, Ellie chickened out, and headed up to the start point. It was a great experience, I have always fancied doing the zip world in Snowdonia but never got round to it.
The Owner of the zipline was a top guy as well, and shown us lots of things to do in the area, around Croatia and even offered to let us stay on the site in the van for free as well.
The next day, the one thing I had been dreading the most, we headed out and *BEEEEEEEP*, engine management light was on ''WARNING CHECK INJECTION SYSTEM'...SHIT! Luckily before we came away we had taken out European cover for the year and after a call to the AA, 2 hours later a mechanic had arrived. Again, luckily, this time he explained to me that it is more than likely bad fuel that has caused the EML to come on, he reset it, left it running for a while and everything seemed to be okay!...THANK GOD!
That evening we took the van for a test drive and everything seemed to be okay, so we booked tickets the next day for Plitvice Lakes. We got to the lakes and our tickets where scanned, or should I say wasn't scanned! I'd only gone and booked tickets for the wrong day. The ticket man said he would swap them so I handed him my tickets and then he gave us some in return, but for 6 HOURS later! I'd already paid for parking and if I'd of known I would of just come back the day after. Anyway, I had read a little tip online about a sneaky back entrance, the only problem with this is we couldn't go on the boats. So we plotted a route around the lakes, where we would plan to not use the boats until after our tickets became active...geniuses!
We made it, we wasn't waiting 6 hours! we had got in and it was RAMMED, but despite this the lakes are spectacular, Florescent blue lakes with bright green forests, separated by magnificent water falls.
We walked the long route, around 25km's and this taken us off the beaten path, away from the slow, rude day trippers we tend to avoid. The route was quiet for the most part and had some amazing views and trails. We accidently got in to an un-official race with a German couple, who knew exactly what was going on!
Apart from, the busy crowds, hefty price and sneaking in, we really enjoyed Plitvice lakes and would tell people to go. Its not a place I'd return to but a place I am happy we experienced it.
Annoyingly, in our opinion the best view was on the way out about 5 minutes from the car park...
We had a couple days left and the camp site and decided we would get some admin work done. We completely removed everything from the van and cleaned, getting rid of the clutter we had picked up over the last 2 and a bit months. We also wanted to make the most of the ''free'' washing machine, so lots of washing was achieved.
In the next couple of days we met some great people, a couple from London/Australia who were doing a one stop shop around Europe for 3 months before they moved to Sydney and another couple from Anglesey who were doing ANOTHER big trip around Europe, who were just the nicest people you could ever meet. We have planned to meet up with both couples again at some point on our journey and we will certainly look forward to it.
So our time at Plitvice was over and we have agreed not to stay in one place so long next time, we found ourselves getting itchy feet the last couple and we had decided 7 days in one place is just to long. We were heading for yet another national park but this time Paklencia just outside Zadar. where we had found, for once, a cheap place to stay in Croatia. an overnight off grid spot costing 10 Euro with a private beach.
After a sleepless night, due to heat and mental wind we headed, slightly bewildered, to the National park.
Paklenica national park is famous for climbing, hundreds of single pitch and multi pitch climbing as well as numerous hiking routes. A big bonus to this park, was no tickets in advance required and the price costs £15 for 2 people and parking. We had arrived early and the park was still pretty quiet and the temperatures were low so we headed up on a hike.
The route we had taken was a 11km walk with 450m of elevation to the mountain hut which is situated in the foothills of the tallest mountain in the area, Sveto Brdo. Unfortunately no climbing this time, I wasn't feeling great and decided today probably wasn't the best day, however I will return when we head back up.
The walk itself was pretty easy, but both of us still being shattered from a sweaty and rocky nights sleep, we were grateful to reach the mountain hut for a cold drink and a sit down as the temperatures soared above 30 degrees, and I did get stung by a wasp! I plan to return to this hut at some point possibly in September on our way back north through Croatia to stay the night and hike the route to summit of Sveto Brdo at 1753m
After our day out in Paklenica we needed to come up with a plan, we headed to Zadar to see if we could find a spot to stay, but once we got there it was absolutely heaving and what seemed to becoming a reoccurring theme, Croatia was rammed and becoming quiet expensive in the summer months. Literally every camp site and every activity was much more expensive in July & August, sometimes by double. So we made the decision there and then head to Montenegro and hit all the places we wanted to visit on the way back north in September when things would be quieter and cheaper.
It was about 5 hours to where we wanted to go to in Montenegro, and we knew we wanted to break this journey up. Croatia is split in to 2 by Bosnia, although a newly build EU funded bridge (Peljeski most) had been built between the northern part of Croatia and an island which connected to the southern part (perks of being in the EU ay). So we headed for a camp site just before the bridge, in Opuzen, The site was called 'The good energy factory campsite' time for a bit of a hippy vibe! As you head south through Croatia the country becomes more and more breath taking and Opuzen was no exception, all though it felt like a slight step back in time, the rivers, flat lands and mountains just made the views utterly fantastic.
We said that we might stay at the 'Good energy factory campsite' for 2 nights but after arriving, we quickly realised this wasn't going to happen. The campsite was chic, beautiful, charming and the owner was great, BUT I got eaten ALIVE! We have had a few bites on this trip, but this was something else, I am not over exaggerating here, but I must of been bitten over 50 times!
So with what felt like a bit of a shame, we had decided to head to the island, another turn up, pitch up and pay up kind of site but this time on the coast of Ston in the Dubrovnik region. On the way to Ston, we seen a sign post 'Winery 3km', and we headed up the tight single track road to 'Rizman' winery. We arrived at 10.30am and was greeted by some wine to taste, why not ay, its 5 oclock somewhere! The wine was great and the view from the balcony of the new bridge and the island was even better.
We didn't want to rush to Montenegro, as we could spend 15 days there on our insurance, and if we arrived to soon we would be back in Croatia when it was still the summer months. We pitched up at 'Camping Prapratno' which had a beach that wasn't just any beach...it was SANDY!
The campsite it self was alright, nothing special and didn't really have a good feel about it but it did the job 2 night we spent here and then we moved on.
Our first part of Croatia was complete, a couple weeks in Montenegro, to hopefully enjoy a bit of peace and quiet away and see what this newly formed country has to offer. Our Montenegro post will be out shortly, and we can tell you something...Montenegro is AMAZING!!
Your support means the world to us, I was sceptical about setting up a buy me a coffee page, as I don't want to come across that we are asking for money. Although your support really does help us out on our journey around Europe. To everyone that has bought us a coffee, from the bottom of our heart, Thank You!
